# 45 years ago today (gay bar fire in New Orleans) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 25, 2018, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/45-years-ago-today-gay-bar-fire-in-new-orleans/816692 "2018-06-25T05:00:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2018, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/45-years-ago-today-gay-bar-fire-in-new-orleans/816692/1 "2018-06-25T05:00:17Z")
June 24, 1973. [Here’s the story.](https://www.npr.org/2018/06/24/622972320/in-1973-an-arson-killed-32-people-at-a-gay-bar-for-years-it-was-forgotten) Arson at a gay bar in New Orleans killed 32. It’s funny but I have no memory of this as a news story. I was nearly 24 at the time, and still in the closet, still feeling shame, probably having some internalized homophobia. Still I would have expected to have noticed a story like this. Was this a national news story at the time? Does anyone (of an appropriate age) remember? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2018, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/45-years-ago-today-gay-bar-fire-in-new-orleans/816692/2 "2018-06-25T23:36:16Z")
Yes, I remember it well. I was 27 at the time, and out. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2018, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/45-years-ago-today-gay-bar-fire-in-new-orleans/816692/3 "2018-06-25T23:54:06Z")
From Wikipedia: > [@](#): > > Coverage of the fire by news outlets minimized the fact that LGBT patrons had constituted the majority of the victims, while editorials and talk radio hosts made light of the event. No government officials made mention of the fire: as Robert L. Camina, writer/director of a documentary about the fire (Upstairs Inferno), said in 2013, “I was shocked at the disproportionate reaction by the city government. The city declared days of mourning for victims of other mass tragedies in the city. It shocked me that despite the magnitude of the fire, it was largely ignored." > **[UpStairs Lounge arson attack](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UpStairs_Lounge_arson_attack)** > > The UpStairs Lounge arson attack, sometimes called the UpStairs Lounge Fire, occurred on June 24, 1973, at a gay bar called the UpStairs (or Up Stairs) Lounge located on the 2nd floor of the 3-story building at 604 Iberville Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, in the United States. 32 people died and 15 were injured as a result of fire or smoke inhalation. The official cause is still listed as "undetermined origin". The primary suspect, a gay man with a history of psychiatric impairment na Until ... ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2018, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/45-years-ago-today-gay-bar-fire-in-new-orleans/816692/4 "2018-06-26T00:39:26Z")
Probably the reason it didn’t get much traction as an attack against gay people is that it was of undetermined origin and likely the work of a gay patron who was thrown out earlier. this was mentioned in the NPR article and backed up by Wiki. [from Wiki:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UpStairs_Lounge_arson_attack) The UpStairs Lounge arson attack occurred on June 24, 1973, at a gay bar located on the second floor of the three-story building at 141 Chartres Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the United States.[1] Thirty-two people died as a result of fire or smoke inhalation. The official cause is still listed as “undetermined origin”.[2] The most likely suspect, a gay man named Roger Nunez who had been ejected from the bar earlier in the day, was never charged and took his own life in November 1974.[3][4][5] No evidence has ever been found the arson was motivated by hatred or overt homophobia.