On Sunday, June 24, 1973, a gay bar in New Orleans was intentionally set ablaze, killing 32 people and injuring another 15. Fifty years later, despite ample evidence, no arrests have ever been made.
In this episode, we’re taking a look at the tragic events of the UpStairs Lounge arson attack, the pervasive discrimination and homophobia evident in the aftermath, and renewed efforts to locate four of the unclaimed bodies of victims recklessly buried in an unmarked grave.
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Additional Resources:
On Sunday, June 24, 1973, a gay bar in New Orleans was intentionally set ablaze, killing 32 people and injuring another 15. Fifty years later, despite ample evidence, no arrests have ever been made.
In this episode, we’re taking a look at the tragic events of the UpStairs Lounge arson attack, the pervasive discrimination and homophobia evident in the aftermath, and renewed efforts to locate four of the unclaimed bodies of victims recklessly buried in an unmarked grave.
Related Episodes:
Additional Resources:
Snarky Opener (0:00)
Amazing how someone admitted to an arson attack four times, but police still turned a blind eye.
Episode Introduction (0:26)
Hello, my LGBTQuties, and welcome back to another episode of A Jaded Gay. I'm Rob Loveless, and today I'm a non-jaded gay because just yesterday I was at my friend's house and just had a really chill Sunday afternoon where we played old video games like Super Mario Bros 1, 2, 3, Mario Kart, a bunch of things like that, that I haven't played in years. We ordered pizza. It was just like a quiet day in. It was a cold winter day out. So, just really kind of like brought back some feelings of like when I was a kid with no cares in the world and could just hang out at home and play video games all day.
Plot twist, I am terrible at them because not having played games in about 20 years goes to show that I'm a little rusty now, but hey, I still had fun. And yes, I know you're all wondering. So, to answer the lingering question, I did, in fact, play as Princess Peach in every game, and I have no shame in that game.
The UpStairs Lounge Arson Attack (1:16)
Anyway, in contrast to the fun weekend I had, today's podcast episode is going to be quite dark. So, blanket warning, listener discretion is advised. Obviously, if you saw the title of this podcast episode, you know that it involves an LGBTQ+ hate crime. So, you know, listen at your own discretion.
But in June last year, we talked about the Pulse Nightclub Shooting, which was obviously a very heavy topic to cover. But in that episode, I mentioned that it was the deadliest incident of violence against LGBTQ+ people in the United States, surpassing the 1973 UpStairs Lounge Arson Attack.
Now, when I did that episode, I didn't know much about the arson attack. But fast forward a few months after that, I was in New Orleans back in the fall for a friend's bachelorette party, and we did a true crime bar crawl. And one of the stops on that tour was the UpStairs Lounge. And as the guide started talking about its history, it immediately clicked with me, and I recognized it from the Pulse Nightclub Shooting episode. So, it was kind of a full circle moment for me.
Also shout out to New Orleans Ghost Adventures Tour and our tour guide Bubby. It was so informative, and so interesting; highly recommend it. So, if you're visiting New Orleans, reached out to New Orleans Ghost Adventures Tour, sign up for their true crime bar crawl and request Bubby as your tour guide. Well worth it, believe me.
But anyway, yeah, it was a full circle moment. And outside of the UpStairs Lounge is a memorial plaque that I got to take a picture of. And it was very emotional actually hearing the story about that. And it's a piece of LGBTQ+ history that I think a lot of people aren't aware of. In fact, it's often referred to as the Forgotten Tragedy. So we're going to cover that today.
But first tarot time.
Tarot (2:53)
So, the card for this episode is the Ten of Swords. Swords is tied to the element of air, which is all about communication, thoughts and ideas. It's masculine energy, which is action oriented and in numerology, ten is representative of the completion of a cycle.
Now, when we draw this card, it's telling us that we're coming to the end of a cycle of pain or struggle, but it goes a little deeper than that. Specifically, it's signifying a painful and maybe abrupt ending that may have shook us to our core. It's something that has shocked us and left us with deep wounds and a gripping sense of loss. And it could even indicate that we've been a victim of betrayal or deceit.
And while that may sound grim, this card is letting us know that we're arriving at the end of that painful cycle. And again, this card is action oriented, so it's asking us to pick ourselves off the ground, grieve and reflect upon whatever hurt us and learn from it. And while we can't change whatever has happened, we can take action to change our response to it and recognize the need to facilitate change in the future.
The UpStairs Lounge (3:59)
So, kicking off the episode, the UpStairs Lounge was a small gay bar at 604 Iberville Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans. It was on the second floor of the building at the corner of Iberville and Chartres Street. And according to the LGBT+ Archives Project, it opened in 1970 and gained a reputation as a welcoming place for white gay men, in addition to Black people, drag queens, transgender people and straight allies. Here's an excerpt:
"On Halloween day in 1970, the UpStairs Lounge opened to cater to the less affluent gay and lesbian people of New Orleans. Higher class patrons frequented bars on Bourbon Street, closer to the Marigny, while the area closer to Canal Street, the quote unquote gay triangle, catered to the working class, similar to the Stonewall Inn in New York City. These LGBT clubs were centers of the community and often served as social spaces for purposes other than recreation, such as community organizing and freedom of expression.”
1970s New Orleans (4:55)
Now, even though New Orleans has a reputation of being diverse and, at times, eccentric, in the 1970s, LGBTQ+ culture remained hidden from the public eye. Instead of openly expressing sexuality and engaging in public displays of affection, most LGBTQ+ people work quote, unquote in the closet and would socialize in bars that catered to them, like the UpStairs Lounge.
New Orleans Historical described the bar as a friendly neighborhood bar that afforded gay men a safe space to gather and enjoy each other's company. But despite the French Quarter's anything goes reputation, gay bars were routinely rated in the early 1970s, and being out of the closet was unthinkable to many in the LGBTQ+ community.
And you know, previously we talked a bit about this, you know, the police raids on gay bars, the implications of being arrested at one, and we talked about that in the Mobsters & Mos and Stonewall Riots episodes, so if you haven't listened to those, definitely check them out.
Metropolitan Community Church (5:49)
Anyway, on Sundays, the UpStairs Lounge hosted its weekly beer bust, which was attended by many members of the Metropolitan Community Church, which was a newly founded gay friendly denomination. And the New Orleans' Metropolitan Community Church had once held worship services in the bar's entertainment area before securing a place of its own.
The Evening of June 24, 1973 (6:07)
So on Sunday, June 24 1973, the regular beer bust drink special attracted its usual blue collar gay crowd to the UpStairs Lounge. And I believe this was the final night of New Orleans Gay Pride weekend.
So there were approximately 110 patrons there for the beer bust from five to seven pm and, afterwards, about 60 to 90 patrons remained and listened to pianist George Steven “Bud” Matyi perform while discussing an upcoming Metropolitan Community Church fundraiser for the local Crippled Children's Hospital.
Now, times are all fuzzy with this, but sometime after seven, Roger Dale Nunez, who was a gay man, was ejected from the UpStairs Lounge for being belligerently drunk and harassing customers. As he was being escorted out of the bar, he angrily threatened to come back and, quote unquote, burn you all out.
And allegedly, no one thought he was serious.
The Fire (6:58)
According to information from Let the Faggots Burn by Johnny Townsend and Nightclub Fire Report by A. Elwood Willey of the National Fire Protection Association, at 7:53pm, a passerby on the street below noticed a fire in the stairway leading up the bar and called the fire department.
At 7:56, a buzzer from downstairs sounded annoyingly, so bartender Buddy Rasmussen, who was also an Air Force veteran, asked Luthor Boggs, a computer programmer, to see who was at the door. When Boggs opened the door to the stairway, a burst of flames blew into the room.
And witnesses claimed to smell lighter fluid or gasoline before the blaze, and it was suspected that Roger Dale Nunez had doused the wooden staircase with lighter fluid then threw a lighted torch into the stairwell.
The flames rushed into the lounge very quickly, and the entire bar was on fire within minutes. Fire trucks were dispatched at 7:56 and arrived at 7:58, but the fire had already spread quickly.
Health and Safety Concerns (7:53)
Now, like many early gay bars, health and safety were not always a priority. The UpStairs Lounge lacked proper fire safety measures, and only had a single emergency exit, which was not marked.
Additionally, most of its windows were covered by bars. In fact, many patrons in the bar moved toward the Chartres Street windows but could not get through because of those bars. Some ended up escaping through the burning stairway or by jumping from a fire escape.
Rasmussen led a group of about 20 survivors through the back of the bar and onto a roof leading into an adjoining building. And the fire was extinguished in about 20 minutes, but despite being extinguished quickly, 32 people died, and 15 were injured as a result of fire or smoke inhalation.
The Deadliest Incident of Violence Against LGBTQ+ People in the United States (8:36)
29 people initially died that night, and three more died from their wounds in the days that followed, including Luther Boggs, who had sustained third degree burns over 50% of his body. In addition to being the deadliest incident of violence against LGBTQ+ people in the United States until the Pulse Nightclub Shooting in 2016, it is still the deadliest fire in the history of New Orleans.
Metropolitan Community Church Suffers Losses (8:59)
This was also the third arson attack to effect the Metropolitan Community Church in 1973 that year alone. So, in January of that year, arson at the church's headquarters in Los Angeles resulted in destruction, and ultimately the collapse, of the building. And a few months later, in April, arson at one of their churches in Nashville, Tennessee, resulted in the complete destruction of the church.
And in the UpStairs Lounge Arson Attack, Reverend Bill Larson, the reverend of the local New Orleans chapter, was killed in the fire. And from what I read, apparently he removed an air conditioning unit from the bottom of one of the floor to ceiling windows, and he was attempting to get out when the upper pane of glass fell on top of him, pinning him to the window frame half in the building and half out.
Homophobic Aftermath (9:41)
And in the fire's aftermath many New Orleans residents revealed their homophobia. For starters, according to the National World War II Museum, nearly a third of victims were military veterans, but they were reprimanded or ignored in death due to the illegal status of homosexuality and the associated stigma.
Additionally, four of the bodies from the fire were unclaimed because their families refused to identify them out of fear that others would find out that their loved ones were gay. And many with strong religious convictions had interpreted the fire as a form of divine retribution, punishing those for being gay. Archbishop Philip Hannon denied the victims Catholic funerals because they were assumed to be gay.
Meanwhile, Father Bill Richardson, the pastor of St. George's Episcopal Church, was the only one to hold a small prayer service for the fire victims on June 25, 1973. About 100 people attended, and Father Richardson was severely criticized for hosting this service. On July 1, St. Mark's United Methodist Church held a larger prayer service and a memorial for the victims of the UpStairs Lounge and about 300 people attended. Here's a passage:
"This memorial was more public than the one at St. George's, and many journalists and photographers waited outside the church to expose members of the closeted gay community in New Orleans. Stewart Butler attended the July 1 services, and he remembers that everyone was offered the option of exiting through a back door of the church, in order to avoid the potential stigma and harassment from affiliation with the memorial. No one chose this option. Instead, everyone decided to face the media and present a unified front to honor those who had died in the fire."
And as for the four bodies that remained unclaimed, the City of New Orleans did not release them to the United Methodist Church for proper burial. Instead, they buried the four bodies together in unmarked graves in a potter's field cemetery. Additionally, national press coverage around the UpStairs Lounge fire was light and short lived, and the limited reporting of this tragedy was extremely insensitive. Newspaper reporters described bodies stacked up like pancakes and groups of mass charred flesh.
And remember how we talked about Reverend William Larson's death? Well, in its front page article about the fire, The Times Picayune featured a photograph of his burned body stuck in between the burglar bars blocking a window on Chartres Street.
Additionally, WVUE Channel 8 reported on live air an anonymous phone call saying that the bar was firebombed by a vigilante group that had declared war on homosexuals in New Orleans. The report went on claiming the group consisted of several women and five men who were sexually attacked by homosexuals, and that the group was planning more attacks and had maps outlining their future targets. Meanwhile, radio commentators joked that the victim's remains should be buried in fruit jars. And at the time, no elected official responded publicly to the fire.
Police Investigation of Roger Dale Nunez (12:37)
Now, in the aftermath, the bartender, Buddy Rasmuson, identified Roger Dale Nunez to authorities, but the police weren't interested in questioning him. In fact, local police did not consider the tragedy to be a top priority, with one officer telling a reporter, and this is a quote, "This was, after all, a queer bar."
Apparently police attempted to question Nunez shortly after, but he was hospitalized with a broken jaw and could not respond. Now, a witness did tell police he saw Nunez go in and out of the bar during the 10 to 20 minutes before the fire and didn't see another person enter or leave the building. But police dismissed the witness as a liar.
Now, this part's really interesting, apparently at some point in time, although I couldn't find an exact date, but Nunez drunkenly admitted to starting the fire. A friend of his said Nunez admitted to it at least four times, but was never arrested. And he ended up dying by suicide about a year and a half later.
At the time of the attack, the fire's official cause was listed as undetermined. And according to the 2014 book titled The UpStairs Lounge Arson: 32 Deaths in a New Orleans Gay Bar, it's still listed as undetermined today. And now, 50 years later, no arrest has ever been made in this case.
And just to keep rolling with the insults here, in the decade following the fire, a museum exhibit presented the history and contributions of the New Orleans Fire Department. However, the tragedy of the UpStairs Lounge, with the largest number of fire related deaths in the city's history, was not included.
In 2003, after 30 years of neglect, a plaque was finally dedicated to the victims and was installed on the sidewalk in front of the door that led to the UpStairs Lounge. And in 2013, 40 years after the attack, the Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans apologized for the church's silence after the fire.
50th Anniversary (14:24)
And then, this past June marked the 50th anniversary of the tragedy. And to commemorate it, a coalition of organizations spearheaded by the LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana hosted several public events in the French Quarter to shine a light on the UpStairs Lounge Arson Attack. Events were held Friday, June 23, through Sunday, June 25, and included panel discussions, a jazz funeral and documentary film screenings.
Event organizers were also seeking a formal apology from the New Orleans Police Department for actions they described as homophobic, offensive and callous in the aftermath of the fire. Now, I didn't find if they received the apology, but apparently, in 2022, the New Orleans City Council formally apologized for the failure of the city to acknowledge what happened.
The Four Unclaimed Bodies (15:09)
And, in the lead up to this 50th anniversary, New Orleans finally took steps to actively search for the remains of the four victims. One is believed to be World War II veteran Ferris LeBlanc. He was 50 years old at the time of his death and was accepted by his family.
Now, I don't know how all of this unfolded, but his body was one of the four unclaimed bodies, and news of his death reached his family in 2015. Again, I'm not sure how the family discovered that his body was one of those four that was in the unmarked grave, but according to a 2022 PBS article titled A Forgotten Tragedy at a New Orleans Gay Bar and a New Effort to Honor Victims' Remains, LeBlanc's family has been embroiled in a crusade with the city in the years since then, to recover his remains for a proper military burial.
However, the city's burial records have apparently gone missing over the years, so no one actually knows where exactly the bodies are buried. Here's a quote from Frank Perez, Executive Director of the New Orleans LGBTQ Archives Project, who often brings tours to the abandoned grave site:
"The last time I went out there, it was horrific. They never cut the grass. It's right next to a trash heap. There's a bunch of abandoned portalets and a lot of illegal dumping. I wouldn't feel comfortable burying a dog out there. It is absolutely still an open wound, especially for the survivors. But some people in New Orleans still don't know about it because it never got the attention it should have."
And historians believe that one of the other bodies may be that of Larry Norman Frost. Frost was 32 at the time of the fire and was a member of the Metropolitan Community Church. And I believe he was the bar manager at Dauphine Orleans. He had been at the UpStairs Lounge at the time of the fire, and there is no evidence that he escaped the blaze, such as a witness statement or record saying he had been injured and taken to a hospital. And he was never seen or heard from again following the arson attack.
So again, two of those bodies in the unmarked grave may be Ferris LeBlanc and Larry Norman Frost, but the other two remain unidentified. And again, today, the case surrounding the UpStairs Lounge Arson Attack remains open, but inactive. And anyone with information is asked to contact the Cold Case Division at 504-658-5300 or Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111.
Episode Closing (17:28)
And wrapping it up, normally I like to do some kind of call to action, but obviously that's a little harder to do for an episode like this. But I think the biggest takeaway from this is to pay attention to LGBTQ+ history, and don't be afraid to speak up and speak out against injustices.
I mean, look at this for example, despite 50 years passing with little recognition of the events of the UpStairs Lounge Arson Attack, Frank Perez still used this past June as an opportunity to raise more awareness around this horrific tragedy and pressure New Orleans' officials to place renewed efforts into locating the four unclaimed bodies.
And I feel that really ties back to today's tarot with the Ten of Swords. You know, we've gone through a painful ending, we're dealing with grief, we still have open wounds. And while we can't change the events that hurt us, we can change our response to them and really work to take action to facilitate change to address the situation.
Just like with the UpStairs Lounge Arson Attack, you know, right after the fire, there was a lot of homophobia. People were dismissing it because it was just a gay bar, they weren't taking it seriously, officials weren't investigating it properly, and there was still a lot of stigma and shame associated with being gay.
But despite all that, there was still those memorial services in 1973, giving the fallen LGBTQ+ community the respect they deserved. And while survivors and community members and allies attended the memorial services and were given the option to leave through the back door to avoid all the press harassment, they still chose to go through the front door and walk proudly to show that they were there and that they weren't going to sit by and let this pass away without any action being taken. And sure, it's taken a long time, and there have been other big milestones following this, like the Stonewall Riots, to push back against police brutality and harassment.
And while it can feel, at times, like progress is slow, look at what has been achieved in the time since the arson attack. You know, LGBTQ+ organizations, they've pushed officials for apologies, they've been hosting events to create awareness around this because, again, it is considered to be the Forgotten Tragedy, and they're still placing pressure on the city to identify the remaining two bodies and locate the unmarked grave, so the four bodies laid to rest there can actually get the proper burial they deserve.
And again, I know this is a grim topic to talk about, but it's something that a lot of us don't know. Like, I had never heard this story until one I did the podcast episode in June last year on the Pulse Nightclub Shooting. That was the first time I heard the UpStairs Lounge referenced. And then two in September when I was in New Orleans and saw the memorial plaque and the building where it had happened.
And for so long, many of us went through school and got our educations without ever learning about LGBTQ+ history. So it's really important that we are mindful of our own history and that we share this with others outside the community to really create awareness around some of the adversity we've had to face over the years and why it's so important to keep speaking up, so that way we can protect the rights we do have now and push for greater equal rights in the future. And also for past tragedies like this, to really raise awareness and speak up to seek justice for those tragedies.
Connect with A Jaded Gay (20:23)
So, as always, thank you for listening. I'd love to hear your feedback on this episode, or you know, tell me about any other LGBTQ+ history that you've learned about over time that you think is really important to share on here. You could send me your thoughts and feedback rob@ajadedgay.com.
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And remember, every day is all we have, so you got to make your own happiness. Mmm-bye.