More than 40 years before 49 people were fatally shot at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, the Up Stairs Lounge arson in New Orleans was the largest mass murder of gay people in U.S. history.
On June 24, 1973, the French Quarter gay bar the Up Stairs Lounge was crowded with dozens of people enjoying the Sunday beer bust.
At 7:52 p.m., the doorbell buzzed. The doorbell was located at the bottom of a staircase at the first-floor entrance to the second-floor bar.
When the door was opened, a fireball swept up the staircase and engulfed the bar.
When the inferno was extinguished 17 minutes later, firefighters found the bodies of 28 people who had burned to death in the arson attack. Some of the victims tried to escape from the windows when they died.
Also, 15 people were injured.
In the days after the fire, four additional victims died.
In the weeks and months after the blaze, public officials and religious leaders ignored victims.
The mayor of New Orleans and the governor of Louisiana didn’t even acknowledge it, and the Catholic archbishop ignored it.
Churches wouldn’t hold funerals for people. Friends and families couldn’t grieve and didn’t have closure.
The Up Stairs Lounge blaze remains the deadliest fire in New Orleans history.
To read the full story, QVoiceNews.com
23 июн 2023
