Forty five years ago a fire New Orleans gay bar took 32 liv – and was met wh apathy | New Orleans | The Guardian

Contents:

• FORTY FIVE YEARS AGO A FIRE NEW ORLEANS GAY BAR TOOK 32 LIV – AND WAS MET WH APATHY
• NEW ORLEANS SEARCH FOR REMAS OF 4 VICTIMS OF 1973 GAY BAR FIRE THAT KILLED 31
• UP STAIRS LOUNGE FIRE KILLED 32 GAY PEOPLE 1973 NEW ORLEANS
• A ‘FOTTEN TRAGEDY’ AT A NEW ORLEANS GAY BAR AND A NEW EFFORT TO HONOR VICTIMS’ REMAS

FORTY FIVE YEARS AGO A FIRE NEW ORLEANS GAY BAR TOOK 32 LIV – AND WAS MET WH APATHY

An oasis for the cy’s sizeable but, for the most part, strictly closeted gay male populatn, a lack of visibily was many ways s most valuable 1973 when the club was set ablaze an act of arson that st a staggerg 32 liv, that lack of attentn endured, the news barely makg to the papers or, seemed, even to the nscns of the lol muny. “An ordary reactn New Orleans society would have been effive sympathi and a large outpourg, ” said Robert Fieler, whose new book Trbox: The Untold Story of the UpStairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberatn, chronicl the blaze and s aftermath. “Homosexualy was not supposed to be talked about openly, and when was thst to the open ma a lot of people panic, ” he told the Guardian an the time, New Orleans was a place of strange dualy for LGBT people.

NEW ORLEANS SEARCH FOR REMAS OF 4 VICTIMS OF 1973 GAY BAR FIRE THAT KILLED 31

“A gay man uld, 1973, live a very full life that he might not be able to enjoy other plac. Acrdg to Fieler, unrver police would regularly nduct stg operatns to tch gay men solicg for sex public spac, and if ught and arrted on a dread “crim agast nature” charge, the ramifitns the wir world were absolute. You’d lose your job, your home, everythg, ” Fieler the time, a rince occupied by two spected gay men (or two “spsters”) uld be clared a hoe of ill-repute and seized wh ltle to no due the relatively safe space of the UpStairs lounge, a quietly well-known place where gay men (Fieler not that durg this era, the lbian scene was polilly and socially isolated om the gay scene) uld openly be themselv.

“It almost highlights even more the gree of opprsn that many homosexuals lived this time perd. ” Fieler were reports 2016 that, like Nunez, the Pulse shooter was a sexually nflicted man who may have been engaged gay relatnships prr to his rampage. Nearly a half-century after arson killed 32 people a New Orleans gay bar, the Cy Council has renewed the search for the remas of four victims, cludg three who were never intified.

UP STAIRS LOUNGE FIRE KILLED 32 GAY PEOPLE 1973 NEW ORLEANS

Nearly a half-century after arson killed 32 people a New Orleans gay bar, the Cy Council has renewed the search Thursday, Aug, 4, 2022, for the remas of four victims, cludg three who were never intified. Rooted pervasive anti-gay sentiment" ma sufferg worse for victims' fai and iends, stat the motn wrten by Councilmember J.

The blaze was the 20th century's largt mass killg of gays, the Cy Council's apology and Thursday's motn noted. LeBlanc was tranged om his fay California — not bee of his homosexualy but bee he hadn't paid money owed to his grandfather, Fieler wrote "Trbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberatn.

The other replied, g a slur for homosexuals, "Let 'em burn. Daniel Baer, who worked on LGBTQ human rights and transatlantic issu as one of several openly gay U.

A ‘FOTTEN TRAGEDY’ AT A NEW ORLEANS GAY BAR AND A NEW EFFORT TO HONOR VICTIMS’ REMAS

I gus, the sense that Ukrae is better than Rsia today, if you’re gay, if Rsia is gog to occupy or ntrol Ukrae we n expect that will get worse bee will bee more like Rsia. More than 40 years before 49 people were fatally shot at Pulse nightclub Orlando, Florida, the Up Stairs Lounge arson New Orleans was the largt mass murr of gay people U.

On June 24, 1973, the French Quarter gay bar the Up Stairs Lounge was crowd wh dozens of people enjoyg the Sunday beer bt.

He said was the largt gay massacre U. I didn’t know, and that wasn’t part of our gay history. It didn’t spawn a gay rights revolutn.