Gay bar tragedy: Search renewed to find victims of 1973 Upstairs Lounge fire

Before the Pulse nightclub tragedy in 2016, the worst mass killing of people at a gay bar in the US took place in New Orleans in 1973.

A Sunday afternoon arson attack on a gay bar called the Upstairs Lounge resulted in the deaths of 32 people.

However, unlike Pulse, this attack took place in a very different era. When it became clear the tragedy had hit a gay bar, city officials acted with a lack of sympathy for those who died. Some families did not even come forward to claim bodies, such was the stigma of having a gay relative.

Local churches refused to hold memorial services. Outside of Louisiana, the tragedy was soon forgotten about.

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A handful of people who died have never been identified. Four of the bodies were buried by authorities in an unmarked grave in the local “potter’s field”. Sadly, a record of exactly where those bodies were buried was lost during the Hurricane Katrina tragedy of 2005.

It wasn’t until 2013 that New Orleans erected a permanent memorial to mark the tragedy, and acknowledged how badly served the victims had been at the time. On June 23 of this year, it issued a formal apology: the day before the 49th anniversary of the fire.

Now, officials in the city have announced that they plan to renew efforts to find the victims in the unmarked grave.

Tracking down the lost victims of the Upstairs Lounge fire

Last Thursday, the city council passed a motion promising to renew efforts to find the lost bodies. Doing so opens up the possibility of carrying out DNA testing to identify those not previously named. It also means they can receive a proper burial.

“The City’s callous and deeply inadequate response … rooted in pervasive anti-gay sentiment” made suffering worse for victims´ families and friends, states the motion written by Councilmember Jean-Paul “JP” Morrell.

The motion says the city has a moral obligation to do all it can to aid “the recovery and dignified interment of the victims of the UpStairs Lounge massacre.”

Morrell took to Twitter to say, “We can’t change the tragedies that occurred at the Up Stairs Lounge that fateful night, or the backlash the survivors faced. But what we can do is make sure that these remaining victims get a proper burial.”

Of the four bodies buried in the same plot, one was previously identified as Ferris LeBlanc, 50, a World War II veteran. An anonymous caller rang officials to say LeBlanc wore a distinctive antique ring made from a silver spoon.

The other three bodies were burned beyond recognition.

Related: New Orleans City council honors 32 queer lives lost in 1973 arson

What happened at the Upstairs Lounge?

A documentary, Upstairs Inferno, which can be viewed online, tells the story of the fire and the aftermath.

The Upstairs Lounge was on the second story of a corner building on the outskirts of the French Quarter. It opened in 1970 and became known for putting on little plays and cabaret shows. On Sundays, it also hosted a beer bust for members of the liberal, primarily gay, Metropolitan Community Church (MCC).

It was located at the top of a rickety staircase, lined with an old, flammable carpet (relevant fire regulations only came into force in 1971). A blaze was started at the bottom of the stairs. Acting like a chimney, the stairwell funneled the ferocious flames upwards, trapping many of those in the bar. Bars on the windows prevented them from jumping to safety.

Twenty-nine people died at the scene, and three others later died in hospital.

Police found a can of lighter fluid—bought a block away at a local Walgreens—at the foot of the stairs. They recorded the tragedy as “probable arson.”

No one was ever arrested and charged with the crime.

Who torched the Upstairs Lounge?

Many believe the man responsible was a 26-year-old “hustler” named Rodger Dale Nunez, from Abbeville, Louisiana. He’d been in the bar earlier in the afternoon hassling customers. A confrontation ensued and Nunez was punched in the face. He reportedly stormed out, threatening to “‘burn you all out.”

Nunez married a woman shortly after the fire, but when she was interviewed by police, she told them they had never consummated the marriage. They slept separately. He had told her he was gay after their wedding.

Nunez was interviewed by officials about the fire but denied involvement. He was later diagnosed with a brain tumor. He died by suicide in 1974.

Some people who knew Nunez even said he admitted the crime when drunk, but would deny it when sober. They say it was likely an attempt to scare customers rather than kill them.

 

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