Poppy Z. Brite - Personal Life

Personal Life

Brite has written and talked extensively about his gender dysphoria and gender identity issues. He self-identifies with gay males, and as of August 2010, has begun the process of gender reassignment. In 2003, Brite wrote that, while gender theorists like Kate Bornstein would call him a "nonoperative transsexual", Brite would not insist on a pedantic label, writing "I'm just me". However, as of May 9, 2011, Brite prefers to be referred to by male pronouns.

He lived in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and Athens, Georgia prior to returning to New Orleans in 1993. He is a fan of UNC basketball, but says his greatest support is for his hometown football team, the New Orleans Saints.

Brite was the longtime partner of Chris DeBarr, who is a chef at The Green Goddess, but they broke up in 2011 due to a variety of reasons. They have a de facto cat rescue that houses between 15 and 20 cats, and sometimes also dogs.

Brites current partner is Grey Cross, a New Orleans visual artist and photographer. Grey Cross Studios

During Hurricane Katrina and the failure of the federal levee system in 2005, Brite at first opted to stay at home, but he eventually relocated 80 miles (130 km) away to his mother's home in Mississippi. He used his blog to update his fans regarding the situation, including the unknown status of his house and many of his pets, and in October 2005 became one of the first 70,000 New Orleanians to begin repopulating the city.

Since 2005, Brite has been an outspoken and sometimes harsh critic of those who are leaving New Orleans for good. He was quoted in The New York Times and elsewhere as saying, in reference to those considering leaving, "If you’re ever lucky enough to belong somewhere, if a place takes you in and you take it into yourself, you don't desert it just because it can kill you. There are things more valuable than life."

On August 30, 2008, as Hurricane Gustav approached the city, Brite and DeBarr elected to remain in New Orleans. They survived the ordeal unharmed and with minimal damage to their home and property.

On January 6, 2009, Brite was arrested at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in New Orleans as part of a peaceable demonstration in which churches in the Uptown area of the city were occupied to protest their closings. In August 2009 New Orleans's Gambit Weekly publication published reader-poll results naming Brite in second place as an ever-popular "Best Local Author."