A ‘fotten tragedy’ at a New Orleans gay bar and a new effort to honor victims’ remas | PBS NewsHour

Contents:

• NEW ORLEANS SEARCH FOR REMAS OF 4 VICTIMS OF 1973 GAY BAR FIRE THAT KILLED 31
• IN 1973, AN ARSON KILLED 32 PEOPLE AT A GAY BAR. FOR YEARS, IT WAS FOTTEN
• FORTY FIVE YEARS AGO A FIRE NEW ORLEANS GAY BAR TOOK 32 LIV – AND WAS MET WH APATHY
• THE UPSTAIRS LOUNGE FIRE: THE LARGT MASSACRE OF GAY PEOPLE U.S. HISTORY
• ALMOST 50 YEARS LATER, ADLY ATTACK AT NEW ORLEANS GAY BAR REMAS UNSOLVED
• A ‘FOTTEN TRAGEDY’ AT A NEW ORLEANS GAY BAR AND A NEW EFFORT TO HONOR VICTIMS’ REMAS
• INIC TEXAS GAY BAR SUDNLY SHUTTERS AFTER NEARLY 40 YEARS BS: MYSTERY SURROUNDS CLOSURE OF SPOT THAT SURVIVED GETTG BURNED DOWN
• WH THE WOODWARD’S FUTURE UNCERTA, TAKG STOCK OF DETRO'S DISAPPEARG GAY BARS
• A NEW ORLEANS GAY BAR INFERNO KILLED 32. ROY REED WAS FIRST TO REPORT THE TTH.
• WT HOLLYWOOD GAY BAR MICKY'S BADLY BURNED FIRE
• 25 VLENT ATTACKS AT GAY BARS THAT PRECED ORLANDO’S HORRIFIC NIGHTCLUB MASSACRE
• WHERE DID FORT WORTH GAY BARS GO?

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

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. 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.

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. "By early fall, there was creasg evince that the tragedy had roed a dre of gay New Orleanians ways unthkable jt a season before, " thor Robert Fieler wr Trbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberatn.

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.

IN 1973, AN ARSON KILLED 32 PEOPLE AT A GAY BAR. FOR YEARS, IT WAS FOTTEN

“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.

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

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.

Fally, Gee's landlady picked the boys up that night, and the next day a neighbor took them to the airport to fly home to Alabama, all the while not tellg them the ugly tth of why Dad never do you tell an 11-year-old that his father was burned alive, his body wrapped about his boyiend, the two men charred and clgg to each other, lovers life and ath, while tryg to pe the worst mass killg of gays Amerin history? Gee's son Duane didn't know his dad was gay but lls him a hero PRIDE IN THE '70SIt was the sweltergly humid last day of gay pri the South's most tolerant cy, and the fourth anniversary of New York's Stonewall Rts -- an actn thought unnecsary New Orleans. Townsend wr that bee the club was outsi the gay area of the French Quarter, the men worked extra hard to draw people wh dancg, sgg, and live piano by popular cktail lounge mician David Gary.

THE UPSTAIRS LOUNGE FIRE: THE LARGT MASSACRE OF GAY PEOPLE U.S. HISTORY

Gay thor Townsend, who wrote about the tragedy two s ago, was able to talk wh many survivors of the fire, no easy feat, says Anrson, who adms gettg people to talk about today is difficult. "Toni Pizanie, who thors a lumn lled Sapphos Psalm for Ambh, the lol gay paper, wasn't at the UpStairs Lounge that night but says happened while she was still the closet and ma an impact on her. He was joed by Morris Kight om the Los Angel Gay Communy Servic Center, Morty Manford om New York's Gay Activists Alliance, and two other MCC lears, John Gill and Pl Breton.

Their appearance the cy marked the first time natnal gay lears gathered to mourn a tragedy, somethg that uld have been galvanizg or were turned away by every church the cy, however, and fdg a place to hold memorial servic was a unexpected battle.

ALMOST 50 YEARS LATER, ADLY ATTACK AT NEW ORLEANS GAY BAR REMAS UNSOLVED

"It was te some gay men did rry false intifitn at the time -- that way, if they were arrted their real nam wouldn't go on the public rerd, somethg that would get you fired -- but almost all the victims were intified the followg left: Author Johnny Townsend (left, wh filmmaker Royd Anrson) wrote about the fire 20 years ago. "Like others, Self argu that straight New Orleans had e to a "quiet acceptance of homosexualy as jt another s S Cy, but was not yet ready to see LGBT people move om the back room to the streets. " He says that Clay Delery's upg historil book about the fire and s aftermath, The UpStairs Lounge Arson: Thirty-two Deaths a New Orleans Gay Bar, June 24, 1973 (McFarland Publishg, 2014), "refully par state and lol ernment reactns to the UpStairs Lounge Fire wh their reactns to other fir or siar disasters that occurred that same summer.

A year after the UpStairs Lounge fire claimed 32 liv and ed untls others, claimed yet one more: Rodger Nunez killed says that om the people he's terviewed, 's clear that some gay people "were embarrassed or ashamed" the days after the fire.

"Edor's note: The Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgenr Relig Archiv Network has a prehensive digal exhib on the UpStairs Lounge fire wh personal says, old photos and media clippgs, and excerpts om Townsend's pendium. The Up Stairs Lounge was a place they uld mararie was bolstered by the weekly attendance of at least a few members of the nearby Metropolan Communy Church -- a lol branch of a natnal church that misters to gays.

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

Clayton Delery-Edwards, a retired teacher who liv New Orleans, highlights Louisiana’s homophobic, sexist and racist state of md at the time of the fire his book The Up Stairs Lounge Arson: 32 Deaths a New Orleans Gay Bar, June 24, 1973. Fieler, thor of Trbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberatn, said an terview that 1973, if you acced someone of beg queer at a time when queer was “a bad word, even a ‘killg’ word, you uld expect a very vlent enunter. Whether you were gay or straight, if you remaed discreet, showed up at church on Sundays, and wore the mask of a God-fearg Christian, your homosexual behavr, illegal gamblg, mafia volvement, dg e or prostutn would be tolerated, Fieler the same time, acrdg to Fieler, any type of genr difference was not well unrstood, and attus blurred wh dangero behavr such as pedophilia and even terrorism.

INIC TEXAS GAY BAR SUDNLY SHUTTERS AFTER NEARLY 40 YEARS BS: MYSTERY SURROUNDS CLOSURE OF SPOT THAT SURVIVED GETTG BURNED DOWN

Gay people were not immune om such attus, pecially those who were nfed about or unsure of their own genr like Roger Dale Nunez, then SpectNunez had left his small home town of Abbeville southwt Loiana’s Cajun bayo for the eer air of the supposed Big Easy and supported himself as a gay htler. “Nuanced ncepts such as homophobia, ternalized self-hatred, or even the closet were absolutely foreign to them -- for [gays] were a law-breakg group wh whom their profsn spurned relatns.

But late June 1973, Fieler reports, when gay lears lled the archbishop’s office to ask for a nsecrated space for a memorial, a subordate nied their requts and refed to allow them to speak to Hannan.

WH THE WOODWARD’S FUTURE UNCERTA, TAKG STOCK OF DETRO'S DISAPPEARG GAY BARS

”Frank Perez, thor of numero books about New Orleans history and culture, said if someone wanted to attack a gay bar for relig reasons, the Up Stairs Lounge, wh s relaxed workg class atmosphere, would not have been the first choice: “I mean, people would brg their kids! French Quarter Frank), whose most recent book is In Exile: The History and Lore Surroundg New Orleans Gay Culture and Its Olst Gay Bar, said he thks a homophobic killer would be more likely to attack a proment cisg spot like Café Lafte the heart of the French Quarter, rather than a place foced on mararie like the Up Stairs the 1970s, Perez said, Café Lafte had a blowjob rner and banned women and Blacks. NEW ORLEANS – For nearly a half-century, the remas of gay World War II veteran Ferris LeBlanc have been hidn away an overgrown potter’s field on the far east si of New Orleans.

A NEW ORLEANS GAY BAR INFERNO KILLED 32. ROY REED WAS FIRST TO REPORT THE TTH.

“The entire intifitn [of the remas] was summarily dismissed by cy ernment bee they simply did not want to go through the effort of notifyg his fay and also bee they simply didn’t re about another ad gay man, ” Morrell said. Robert Fieler, journalist and thor of “Trbox: The Untold Story of the UpStairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberatn, ” chronicled the tragic event not jt his book but to the cy uncil and “anyone who would listen. His book tails the aftermath of the fire, which was no ls trmatic – fai ashamed to claim loved on, the church this eply Catholic cy refg proper burial rights, and a botched vtigatn all reflected a world of toxic prejudice and rampant homophobia that thrived after the fire.

He tracked down survivors of the fire and relativ and iends of those killed to pile an acunt of a fotten moment gay history his book, “Let the Faggots Burn: The UpStairs Lounge Fire. When The Woodward, Detro's olst-nng gay bar, burned a massive fire last week, spurred a nversatn about the history of the bar self, but also where was suated Detro gay history more broadly — and how to remember and celebrate s signifince the gay muny while lookg toward the future.

The fire happened the middle of Pri Month, and not jt any Pri Month Detro: This year marks 50 years sce the cy's first Pri march, held June 24, 1972 to mand "full civil rights for gay people" and a repeal of all anti-gay laws, the Free Prs reported back then. The march, officially lled Christopher Street '72, was self a remembrance of the uprisg at the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street New York Cy on June 28, 1969, when protts broke out rponse to a police raid at a gay bar. In s 70-odd years, The Woodward has been part of many tersectg stori of gay life and culture Detro, cludg policg of gay spac, ownership shifts, racial segregatn and populatn trends the cy.

WT HOLLYWOOD GAY BAR MICKY'S BADLY BURNED FIRE

"It was technilly illegal to operate a bar that was a renzvo for homosexuals, " said Tim Retzloff, adjunct assistant profsor of history and LGBTQ studi at Michigan State Universy.

25 VLENT ATTACKS AT GAY BARS THAT PRECED ORLANDO’S HORRIFIC NIGHTCLUB MASSACRE

Startg after World War II and to the 1960s, several gay bars were cltered around Farmer and Bat streets downtown Detro, cludg Club 1011, La Rosa's and The Silver Dollar. Very few gay bars at the time tered to Black patrons, although there were two Paradise Valley that Retzloff has intified his rearch: The 705 and the Ra-bo Mic Club.

It dat s foundg to 1973, when the former supper club was purchased by Tony Garne — a gay man and one of the founrs of Bars and Towels, Inc., an early associatn for owners of gay bars and bs. Other notable Detro gay bars of the 1970s clu The Famo Door, on Griswold near Grand River Capol Park, which had been a straight bar until was purchased 1972 by Ernt Backos, the owner of the old Club 1011, which by then had been sold and molished for parkg. Detro's gay bar scene cled the '80s and '90s as Baby Boomers aged out of their bar-gog years and the HIV/AIDS epimic renewed discrimatn agast gay people and cimated the muny.

Its Legacy Still Hnts Black Gay New OrleansLike Selma, Reed would wre the five breakg news story on the asslt of another margalized the late hours of Sunday, June 24, 1973, Roy Reed was jolted alert by a phone ll om the Tim Annex New York Cy to his home on Upperle Street Uptown New Orleans, two blocks off St. There, before a srched nopy bearg the cursive words “Up Stairs, ” Reed found a mob of dnken spectators and more than 100 police and firefighters, who were packg away hos and crang down bodi om a bombed-out was the Up Stairs Lounge fire, a notor arson attack on a gay bar that would claim 32 liv. “The first thg that hs you was the odor, burng flh, ” remembered Reed one of his last livg terviews for my book Trbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberatn, a nonfictn acunt of the fire.

WHERE DID FORT WORTH GAY BARS GO?

Supprsg his natural shock, clickg to actn, the veteran reporter terviewed gay Up Stairs Lounge bartenr Buddy Rasmsen and pieced together a narrative of a blue-llar gay haven cerated wh the aid of lighter fluid.

Newsrooms and rears of the era would exprs almost universal revulsn when alg wh the topic of “viate” sexuali, and no leadg paper the untry would prt the radil word “Gay” whout enclosg patronizg quotatn marks. As pot of fact, The New York Tim would not revise s style gui to allow the word “Gay, ” stead of “homosexual, ” until behavr by any name tend to be avoid wholale by the prs unls s mentn was part of exoneratg an anti-queer attacker.