The deadliest fire in New Orleans history occurred on June 24, 1973. On that night, an unruly patron was thrown out of the UpStairs Lounge, which was located at the corner of Iberville and Chartres streets. About 30 minutes after being ejected from the bar, the patron returned and deliberately set the stairwell on fire. Thirty-two people died as a result of the arson.
The police and fire department responses were nonchalant and no arrest was made in the case, even though authorities knew who set the fire. Mayor Moon Landrieu, nor any other government official, had anything to say about the tragedy. Churches were either silent or subtly suggested the victims deserved what they got. Today, the fire remains largely forgotten.
Why? Because the UpStairs Lounge was a gay bar.
New Orleans in the early 1970s was extremely homophobic. Police raids of gay bars were common, discrimination based on sexual orientation (both in housing and employment) was de rigueur and homosexuality was still considered a mental disorder by the medical establishment.
Initial media reports and the police response to the UpStairs Lounge fire were less than sympathetic. Out of fear and shame, some family members of the deceased refused to claim the ashes of their "loved" ones. Radio commentators joked the remains should be buried in fruit jars. On the issue of identifying the victims, Major Henry Morris, a detective with the New Orleans Police Department said, "We don't even know these papers belonged to the people we found them on. Some thieves hung out there, and you know this was a queer bar." At the time, many gay men routinely carried false identification to gay bars in order to avoid being outed in the newspapers in the event they were arrested during a police raid.
While the media coverage was cruel and the police response was dismissive, the religious establishment's reaction was downright hateful. Church after church after church refused the use of their facilities for a memorial service. Father Bill Richardson of St. George's Episcopal Church, however, believed the dead should have a service. He graciously allowed, over the protest of many parishioners, the use of St. George's sanctuary for a prayer service, which was attended by roughly 80 people. He was subsequently chastised by his bishop and received no small amount of hate mail. Days later a Unitarian Church also held a small memorial service. A larger service was held on July 1 at St. Mark's United Methodist Church on the edge of the French Quarter.
The UpStairs Lounge fire was a seminal moment in the history of gay New Orleans. In addition to forcing straight New Orleans to acknowledge its gay community, the fire also forced the gay community in New Orleans to confront itself. In a way, the fire forced the gay community out of the closet.
The gay community in New Orleans has come a long way in 40 years. Gay political organizing began to yield dividends in the 1990s, and police harassment of gay bars is a thing of the past. Southern Decadence is celebrated with a mayoral proclamation and has an annual economic impact of $125 million. Rainbow banners adorn North Rampart Street during Gay Pride month, and the city of New Orleans leads the South in extending civil rights to gay city employees.
A look back at the public reaction to the UpStairs Lounge fire reveals not just how far the gay community has come in four decades but also how far straight New Orleans has come as well. Monday is the 40th anniversary of the fire and a number of commemoration events are planned, including a lecture at the Williams Research Center of the Historic New Orleans Collection and a jazz funeral procession. Mayor Landrieu has recognized the date by issuing a proclamation of acknowledgment, something that would have been unthinkable for his father to do at the time of the fire.
Frank Perez is a columnist for Ambush Magazine and the co-author (along with Jeffrey Palmquist) of "In Exile: The History and Lore Surrounding New Orleans Gay Culture and Its Oldest Gay Bar."
No comments:
Post a Comment