The worst mass murder of LGBT people in US history
June 24, 2013 12:50 PM Subscribe
"Just before 8:00p, the doorbell rang insistently. To answer it, you had to unlock a steel door that opened onto a flight of stairs leading down to the ground floor. Bartender Buddy Rasmussen, expecting a taxi driver, asked his friend Luther Boggs to let the man in. Perhaps Boggs, after he pulled the door open, had just enough time to smell the Ronsonol lighter fluid that the attacker of the UpStairs Lounge had sprayed on the steps. In the next instant, he found himself in unimaginable pain as the fireball exploded, pushing upward and into the bar." -- Forty years ago today in New Orleans thirtytwo people lost their lives due to arson in what was the deadliest attack on LGBT people in the US to date.
More information:
More information:
- news coverage of the fire at the time
- Trailer for a new documentary about the attack
- Wikipedia article, which includes the names of the victims
- The haunting tragedy of the Upstairs Lounge
A high-school classmate of mine is responsible for a new musical drama about the fire. Unfortunately, I no longer live in New Orleans, and could not attend a performance.
posted by wintermind at 1:01 PM on June 24, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by wintermind at 1:01 PM on June 24, 2013 [3 favorites]
Great post. I'm a New Orleanian and I had no idea about this.
(Note, a rather NSFL image in the first link.)
posted by brundlefly at 1:02 PM on June 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
(Note, a rather NSFL image in the first link.)
posted by brundlefly at 1:02 PM on June 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
This showed up on my fb feed earlier today, and I'm kind of appalled that I'd never heard of this.
posted by rtha at 1:04 PM on June 24, 2013 [6 favorites]
posted by rtha at 1:04 PM on June 24, 2013 [6 favorites]
Oh god oh god why did I scroll down far enough in the Forty years ago link to read the comments oh god why.
posted by rtha at 1:09 PM on June 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by rtha at 1:09 PM on June 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
Warning - the first link has a rather graphic picture of a dead body that may disturb some.
posted by quodlibet at 1:12 PM on June 24, 2013
posted by quodlibet at 1:12 PM on June 24, 2013
wintermind: from all accounts, it's a tremendous piece. Wish could have seen it too. (LSMSA '88 here. When did you go?)
posted by shecky57 at 1:13 PM on June 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by shecky57 at 1:13 PM on June 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
When I first moved to New Orleans I learned about this somehow - likely from reading this sidewalk plaque outside The Jimani. The building has been forever linked in my mind with the tragedy but somehow I failed to grasp the real scope of the horror. I think it's one of those things that's just over the line of "so big that it's hard to even comprehend" for me.
A little more info is available on the building's website.
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posted by komara at 1:14 PM on June 24, 2013 [3 favorites]
A little more info is available on the building's website.
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posted by komara at 1:14 PM on June 24, 2013 [3 favorites]
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posted by michellenoel at 1:18 PM on June 24, 2013
posted by michellenoel at 1:18 PM on June 24, 2013
An anniversary, a horror, and the way forward, by sonascope.
posted by exogenous at 1:21 PM on June 24, 2013 [19 favorites]
posted by exogenous at 1:21 PM on June 24, 2013 [19 favorites]
.
I would post 32 of them, but I think people would find that asinine.
posted by Michele in California at 1:22 PM on June 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
I would post 32 of them, but I think people would find that asinine.
posted by Michele in California at 1:22 PM on June 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
.
This sort of thing horrifies me. The basest of the base of our society at work. I admit that I wasn't as accepting or welcoming to people I didn't identify with during my younger years, with the LGBT prescence (however limited) in my community being among the other-est of the others, but I wasn't actively hostile towards them, nor can I imagine the thinking that leads to events like this. But I like to think that I've gotten much, much better.
I wish I'd been nicer to some of the people I knew, if for no other reason than the selfish one concerning my own conscience, because the cynical me can't help but think what else is retrospect good for really. Going forward I don't plan on making the same mistake(s) again, and I won't be afraid to tell folks about my previous errors, nor stand up for those being persecuted. *sigh*
On Preview:
I would post 32 of them, but I think people would find that asinine.
Nah. That might be a better thing than what I just wrote, *bangs approval stamp*.
posted by RolandOfEld at 1:27 PM on June 24, 2013 [3 favorites]
This sort of thing horrifies me. The basest of the base of our society at work. I admit that I wasn't as accepting or welcoming to people I didn't identify with during my younger years, with the LGBT prescence (however limited) in my community being among the other-est of the others, but I wasn't actively hostile towards them, nor can I imagine the thinking that leads to events like this. But I like to think that I've gotten much, much better.
I wish I'd been nicer to some of the people I knew, if for no other reason than the selfish one concerning my own conscience, because the cynical me can't help but think what else is retrospect good for really. Going forward I don't plan on making the same mistake(s) again, and I won't be afraid to tell folks about my previous errors, nor stand up for those being persecuted. *sigh*
On Preview:
I would post 32 of them, but I think people would find that asinine.
Nah. That might be a better thing than what I just wrote, *bangs approval stamp*.
posted by RolandOfEld at 1:27 PM on June 24, 2013 [3 favorites]
It breaks my heart that this post is the first I've ever heard of this tragedy.
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posted by sarcasticah at 1:28 PM on June 24, 2013 [12 favorites]
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posted by sarcasticah at 1:28 PM on June 24, 2013 [12 favorites]
Nah. That might be a better thing than what I just wrote, *bangs approval stamp*. posted by RolandOfEld 6 minutes ago [+]
I was originally thinking one per line, and I still think that might be an issue (especially if it caught on). But perhaps this works:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
In memorium.
posted by Michele in California at 1:38 PM on June 24, 2013 [7 favorites]
I was originally thinking one per line, and I still think that might be an issue (especially if it caught on). But perhaps this works:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
In memorium.
posted by Michele in California at 1:38 PM on June 24, 2013 [7 favorites]
Jesus.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:45 PM on June 24, 2013
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:45 PM on June 24, 2013
Thanks for posting this. I think that people tend to think of the 70s as this sort of bucolic period for gay people between Stonewall and the discovery of the HIV virus, and it's important to remember that people gave their lives because of who they were and who they loved.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 1:47 PM on June 24, 2013 [10 favorites]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 1:47 PM on June 24, 2013 [10 favorites]
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posted by keep it under cover at 1:48 PM on June 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by keep it under cover at 1:48 PM on June 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
I know I've heard of this before, and *shudder* seen that photograph before, but not in years.
As a minor point, national news media at the time were focused on the Watergate testimony of John Dean, who that same day accused the President of ordering the cover-up. That doesn't wholly excuse the lack of reporting on the story, though.
other humans they see as threateningly different
It appears to have been a patron of the bar who had been ejected, not a homophobic attack. Which is not to say that homophobia was not a factor in other ways: people unwilling to speak on camera (sodomy arrests were still a frequent risk); the need for a secure, off-street bar to begin with; the enforcement of fire codes perhaps even related.
This tragedy happened a few years before the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire in Kentucky that killed over 150 people and began a new focus on lighted exitways, uninspected electrical work, sprinkler systems, and other safety features.
posted by dhartung at 1:50 PM on June 24, 2013 [8 favorites]
As a minor point, national news media at the time were focused on the Watergate testimony of John Dean, who that same day accused the President of ordering the cover-up. That doesn't wholly excuse the lack of reporting on the story, though.
other humans they see as threateningly different
It appears to have been a patron of the bar who had been ejected, not a homophobic attack. Which is not to say that homophobia was not a factor in other ways: people unwilling to speak on camera (sodomy arrests were still a frequent risk); the need for a secure, off-street bar to begin with; the enforcement of fire codes perhaps even related.
This tragedy happened a few years before the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire in Kentucky that killed over 150 people and began a new focus on lighted exitways, uninspected electrical work, sprinkler systems, and other safety features.
posted by dhartung at 1:50 PM on June 24, 2013 [8 favorites]
I don't think this type of violence happens in a vacuum very often, if at all. It takes hate flowing from the very highest parts of society--who tap into the most disgusting and primitive emotion we have, tribalism, to gather power to themselves. In that process, they plant the seeds of acts like this. You very rarely see said leaders committing these acts, always a relatively powerless person who has taken their hate to heart.
(Which is why hate, sorry, talk, radio is so hideous.)
posted by maxwelton at 1:50 PM on June 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
(Which is why hate, sorry, talk, radio is so hideous.)
posted by maxwelton at 1:50 PM on June 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
This is absolutely worth remembering, not only because the people who lost their lives are worth remembering, but because, as we move into a period of increased social normalization of the LGBT experience, it will be easy for people to think LGBT people have always been sort of accepted, and so causal homophobia or transphobia is no big deal.
It is absolutely necessary to know that it has literally been murderous, and when you call upon its legacy, even jokingly, this is the history you are recalling.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 1:54 PM on June 24, 2013 [5 favorites]
It is absolutely necessary to know that it has literally been murderous, and when you call upon its legacy, even jokingly, this is the history you are recalling.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 1:54 PM on June 24, 2013 [5 favorites]
Jesus. After reading the Wikipedia article, it's almost like the fire wasn't even the most horrific part of the ordeal.
Three of the victims were never identified, and many more went unclaimed. I can't even comprehend that.
posted by schmod at 1:57 PM on June 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
Three of the victims were never identified, and many more went unclaimed. I can't even comprehend that.
posted by schmod at 1:57 PM on June 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
I would think 9/11 claims the deadliest attack title even if as few as 1% of those in the towers were gay.
posted by michaelh at 1:57 PM on June 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by michaelh at 1:57 PM on June 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
The worst thing about that heartbreaking photograph in the first link is the horror it represents--the authorities left his body hanging there, visible to onlookers and passersby for hours.
posted by maggieb at 2:03 PM on June 24, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by maggieb at 2:03 PM on June 24, 2013 [5 favorites]
I would think 9/11 claims the deadliest attack title
The victims of 9/11 were not selected or selectively gathered for targeting because they were gay.
posted by localroger at 2:12 PM on June 24, 2013 [10 favorites]
The victims of 9/11 were not selected or selectively gathered for targeting because they were gay.
posted by localroger at 2:12 PM on June 24, 2013 [10 favorites]
This is a bit of gay history I never knew, and I grew up gay just next door in Houston. Huh.
posted by Nelson at 2:16 PM on June 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Nelson at 2:16 PM on June 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
I never heard of this attack either. It's outrageous actually that I as well as many other well informed people did not hear of it before.
The idea of someone's dead body simply left in
Plain view for HOURS like that in a city which was NOT a war-zone makes me ill.
•x32. @~>-
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 2:28 PM on June 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
The idea of someone's dead body simply left in
Plain view for HOURS like that in a city which was NOT a war-zone makes me ill.
•x32. @~>-
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 2:28 PM on June 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
localroger- The putative arsonist was purportedly attacking in revenge for a slight. No reports suggest that this was a homophobic attack.
posted by Megafly at 2:28 PM on June 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Megafly at 2:28 PM on June 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
I have to go back to dhartung's response . . . the homophobic aspect is the official response, the aftermath. There's no clear evidence that the horrific crime itself was motivated by anti-gay semtiments. Most evidence points to the arsonist being a man who had been in a fight there earlier:
from WWL-TV, a New Orleans station:
"No one was ever arrested, but suspicions focused on a man who got into a fight and suffered a broken jaw in the bar shortly before the fire.
“He told them, 'I'm gonna burn this place to the ground,'” Anderson said. “A few minutes later the place was burning.”
That suspect committed suicide a little over a year after the fire."
That doesn't nullify the fact that the responses from government agencies, religious organizations and families was horrible.
But it is important to see the complexity on the truth of an event. Making this too simple does none of us a favor.
posted by pt68 at 2:30 PM on June 24, 2013 [9 favorites]
from WWL-TV, a New Orleans station:
"No one was ever arrested, but suspicions focused on a man who got into a fight and suffered a broken jaw in the bar shortly before the fire.
“He told them, 'I'm gonna burn this place to the ground,'” Anderson said. “A few minutes later the place was burning.”
That suspect committed suicide a little over a year after the fire."
That doesn't nullify the fact that the responses from government agencies, religious organizations and families was horrible.
But it is important to see the complexity on the truth of an event. Making this too simple does none of us a favor.
posted by pt68 at 2:30 PM on June 24, 2013 [9 favorites]
That piece by sonascope that exogenous linked to above is exceedingly good, and everyone should read it, I think.
posted by koeselitz at 2:51 PM on June 24, 2013 [8 favorites]
posted by koeselitz at 2:51 PM on June 24, 2013 [8 favorites]
Horrible. Had never heard of this terrorist killing before. Rest in peace.
posted by threeants at 3:11 PM on June 24, 2013
posted by threeants at 3:11 PM on June 24, 2013
The few respectable news organizations that deigned to cover the tragedy made little of the fact that the majority of the victims had been gay, while talk-radio hosts tended to take a jocular or sneering tone: What do we bury them in? Fruit jars, sniggered one, on the air, only a day after the massacre.
posted by threeants at 3:13 PM on June 24, 2013
posted by threeants at 3:13 PM on June 24, 2013
Hearing that the arsonist was a former patron almost makes me glad this wasn't more widely reported at the time.
(Almost.)
posted by subdee at 3:13 PM on June 24, 2013
(Almost.)
posted by subdee at 3:13 PM on June 24, 2013
On the one hand, it's awful that gay people's lives are of so little concern that an awful tragedy like this one barely makes the news. It reminds me of the minority-on-minority school shooting in Oakland that was barely reported on. On the other hand, there's the "gays are like animals" narrative.
Anyway. I'm glad we are living in (slightly) more enlightened times.
posted by subdee at 3:19 PM on June 24, 2013
Anyway. I'm glad we are living in (slightly) more enlightened times.
posted by subdee at 3:19 PM on June 24, 2013
Glad to see this here - the coverage has been all over the news and the papers because of the approaching anniversary; it's kind of hard to reconcile the fact that this is a Huge Deal Now whereas at the time it was joked about openly, and sort-of lost to history (for people outside this city, at least.) As a black person who was born waaaaay after the Civil Rights movement, watching the tide turn on open-hatred-of-homosexuals-as-sport has been amazingly... educational.
posted by polly_dactyl at 3:22 PM on June 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by polly_dactyl at 3:22 PM on June 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
The victims of 9/11 were not selected or selectively gathered for targeting because they were gay.
Neither were the victims of this fire. The neglect of the bodies afterwards is the only targeting.
posted by michaelh at 3:58 PM on June 24, 2013
Neither were the victims of this fire. The neglect of the bodies afterwards is the only targeting.
posted by michaelh at 3:58 PM on June 24, 2013
The atmosphere was welcoming enough that two gay brothers, Eddie and Jim Warren, even brought their mom, Inez, and proudly introduced her to the other patrons. [...] Thirty-two people lost their lives that Sunday 40 years ago — Luther Boggs, Inez Warren, and Warren’s sons among them.
This is where my heart first broke.
Eddie and Jim must have been so happy to have their mom with them that night. Sharing the community they loved with their family, and sharing the family they loved with their community. And then that happiness turned to horror in an instant.
I can't pick which is worse: the loving family who died together in agony, or the families who rejected their kin in death out of fear and hatred of who and how their kin loved. It's all a grotesque tragedy.
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posted by nicebookrack at 4:25 PM on June 24, 2013 [12 favorites]
This is where my heart first broke.
Eddie and Jim must have been so happy to have their mom with them that night. Sharing the community they loved with their family, and sharing the family they loved with their community. And then that happiness turned to horror in an instant.
I can't pick which is worse: the loving family who died together in agony, or the families who rejected their kin in death out of fear and hatred of who and how their kin loved. It's all a grotesque tragedy.
.
posted by nicebookrack at 4:25 PM on June 24, 2013 [12 favorites]
Words fail. Tears flow. I don't know what else to say...
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posted by BigHeartedGuy at 4:34 PM on June 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
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posted by BigHeartedGuy at 4:34 PM on June 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
That's awful and I had no idea. I'm glad I do now. Thank you for the post.
posted by Athanassiel at 4:47 PM on June 24, 2013
posted by Athanassiel at 4:47 PM on June 24, 2013
The UpStairs Bar existed as a safe haven for gays in a very hostile world. If the attacker was a jilted ex-patron it is enormously likely that he had been there at all because of an interest in the lifestyle. Whether he attacked because of latent self-hatred or simple mental illness plopped atop unrelated homosexual tendencies, the people in that room were there because they were gay (or, as in the case of the mother, supportive of her gay son) and it's extremely unlikely that that hallway was picked totally at random without any consideration of the gay bar to be the object of the attack.
Anybody (well, anybody with a fair amount of money or working for same) could have been in one of the Towers on 9/11. The people UpStairs were there because they were gay. The Towers were attacked because US hate-on reasons. The UpStairs was attacked because of the particular institution at the top of the stairs.
And the way the authorities reacted makes me want to invent a time machine just so I can go back with modern weaponry and kick some serious slacker authoritarian butt. And I'm not even gay.
posted by localroger at 5:09 PM on June 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
Anybody (well, anybody with a fair amount of money or working for same) could have been in one of the Towers on 9/11. The people UpStairs were there because they were gay. The Towers were attacked because US hate-on reasons. The UpStairs was attacked because of the particular institution at the top of the stairs.
And the way the authorities reacted makes me want to invent a time machine just so I can go back with modern weaponry and kick some serious slacker authoritarian butt. And I'm not even gay.
posted by localroger at 5:09 PM on June 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
Why is it terrorism only when it is intended to intimidate certain people? God damn this sort of thing makes me angry, really stabby angry. Worst of all folks still think it's okay to harbor such sick and hateful thinking. It's terrorism, pure and simple. Call it what it is.
posted by kinnakeet at 5:38 PM on June 24, 2013
posted by kinnakeet at 5:38 PM on June 24, 2013
Count me as another (ignorant straight) person boggled that this piece of history has been erased for the most part. Intellectually I'm fascinated by the process of erasure but emotionally I'm horrified by the attack and the callous disregard for the victims.
posted by immlass at 5:43 PM on June 24, 2013
posted by immlass at 5:43 PM on June 24, 2013
Did disc jockeys make jokes about burnt queers after 9/11?
posted by en forme de poire at 5:57 PM on June 24, 2013
posted by en forme de poire at 5:57 PM on June 24, 2013
They made jokes about burnt arabs and glass parking lots.
posted by absalom at 6:24 PM on June 24, 2013
posted by absalom at 6:24 PM on June 24, 2013
But those weren't about the victims of the attack. (The victims of later US bombings, sure -- but that's a story about anti-Arab prejudice, which is pretty far afield from the current post.)
posted by en forme de poire at 6:36 PM on June 24, 2013
posted by en forme de poire at 6:36 PM on June 24, 2013
Compare the official inaction after this to the response to this horror. The crime is quite similar, if the speculation about the Upstairs murderer and his motive is true. But it wasn't at a gay bar in the 70's.
posted by thelonius at 6:55 PM on June 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by thelonius at 6:55 PM on June 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
From the link thelonius posted:
González was charged with 174 counts of murder—- two for each victim—- and was found guilty on 87 counts of arson and 87 counts of murder on August 19, 1991. For each count he received the sentence maximum of 25 years to life (a total of 4,350 years). It was the most substantial prison term ever imposed in the state of New York. [citation needed] He will be eligible for parole during March 2015 as New York law states that multiple murders occurring during one act will be served concurrently, rather than consecutively.
Compared to the "meh, just a bunch of dead gays -- moving on" reaction we are talking about in this thread.
posted by Michele in California at 7:07 PM on June 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
González was charged with 174 counts of murder—- two for each victim—- and was found guilty on 87 counts of arson and 87 counts of murder on August 19, 1991. For each count he received the sentence maximum of 25 years to life (a total of 4,350 years). It was the most substantial prison term ever imposed in the state of New York. [citation needed] He will be eligible for parole during March 2015 as New York law states that multiple murders occurring during one act will be served concurrently, rather than consecutively.
Compared to the "meh, just a bunch of dead gays -- moving on" reaction we are talking about in this thread.
posted by Michele in California at 7:07 PM on June 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
.
posted by lester's sock puppet at 7:19 PM on June 24, 2013
posted by lester's sock puppet at 7:19 PM on June 24, 2013
kinnakeet: "Why is it terrorism only when it is intended to intimidate certain people? God damn this sort of thing makes me angry, really stabby angry. Worst of all folks still think it's okay to harbor such sick and hateful thinking. It's terrorism, pure and simple. Call it what it is."
I sympathize with those who might not call it that, I guess. I mean that "terrorism" is sort of a nebulous term that's become more and more vague and difficult to pin down as it's been used more and more. What I do know is this: it was murder on a large scale, hideous murder, and that earns it the greatest disapprobation and condemnation we can muster. I also know that the prime suspect here sounds like a very disturbed individual, an aimless person who had spent a lot of time in psychiatric wards and who killed himself the year after this happened. If "terrorism" means "a careful and calculated attempt to cause harm to advance a political cause," then I guess this wasn't terrorism; but like I said, "terrorism" isn't an easy term to pin down. All I know is that this was a hideous tragedy made even more tragic by the reaction to it and by the indifference which people showed when it happened.
In fact, if there is a "terrorism" that was committed here, it might actually make more sense to say it was a terrorist act for the community at large to treat homosexuals the way they did. I know initially it's hard to know what to do with the fact that the arsonist was a mentally disturbed patron; it would be easier for us if he were a simple homophobe, since the reality seems to play into the common homophobic trope of the time ('those gays are all crazy and mentally disturbed, this just proves it.') But - the reality really is a marker of the homophobia of the time. There are disturbed and even dangerous people in every cohort of society; at any given moment, somebody who's in a bad place could be walking into a bar or a public library or a train station or whatever. That, in itself, is not strange.
What was remarkable and unique about this situation was everything else, all the details that made it a tragedy and then caused it to be ignored. When a person who doesn't have it all together mentally and who might become violent walked into your typical bar of the time, there was a modicum of safety even still because of the social and political situation. The bartender could call the police, who would respond promptly. The building could have many exits which would allow people to leave in the event of a fire. There was a direct way to confront dangerous situations because a "normal" bar of the time represented a clear-cut public space where no one had a stake in hiding their identity or trying to make sure no one else found out they were there.
But a gay bar had everything stacked against it. The police were not likely to respond to emergency calls, and society at large was likely to harass customers that bravely came to that bar; so privacy and security had to be heightened by putting the place in an out-of-the-way corner of the building and putting a huge metal door at the entrance. They had to trade away the safety of an open public space for that necessary privacy and security. That choice, as we can see now, is a choice nobody should ever have to make.
I mean, really - this is one of the parts of the gay experience that I think it's easier to forget now. Not only the rank homophobes, but just the neglect - and the realities that neglect forced upon gay people: being forced to hang out in more dangerous situations, being forced to make choices like this. "Do I want self-expression and sexual identity, or do I want safety and privacy? I can't have both..." Accepting this identity often meant traveling to the most dangerous parts of town, places where one couldn't count on the benefit of police protection. It will serve us well, I think, if we remember how difficult it must have been to face those ultimatums daily. Some people still do, after all.
posted by koeselitz at 9:35 PM on June 24, 2013 [11 favorites]
I sympathize with those who might not call it that, I guess. I mean that "terrorism" is sort of a nebulous term that's become more and more vague and difficult to pin down as it's been used more and more. What I do know is this: it was murder on a large scale, hideous murder, and that earns it the greatest disapprobation and condemnation we can muster. I also know that the prime suspect here sounds like a very disturbed individual, an aimless person who had spent a lot of time in psychiatric wards and who killed himself the year after this happened. If "terrorism" means "a careful and calculated attempt to cause harm to advance a political cause," then I guess this wasn't terrorism; but like I said, "terrorism" isn't an easy term to pin down. All I know is that this was a hideous tragedy made even more tragic by the reaction to it and by the indifference which people showed when it happened.
In fact, if there is a "terrorism" that was committed here, it might actually make more sense to say it was a terrorist act for the community at large to treat homosexuals the way they did. I know initially it's hard to know what to do with the fact that the arsonist was a mentally disturbed patron; it would be easier for us if he were a simple homophobe, since the reality seems to play into the common homophobic trope of the time ('those gays are all crazy and mentally disturbed, this just proves it.') But - the reality really is a marker of the homophobia of the time. There are disturbed and even dangerous people in every cohort of society; at any given moment, somebody who's in a bad place could be walking into a bar or a public library or a train station or whatever. That, in itself, is not strange.
What was remarkable and unique about this situation was everything else, all the details that made it a tragedy and then caused it to be ignored. When a person who doesn't have it all together mentally and who might become violent walked into your typical bar of the time, there was a modicum of safety even still because of the social and political situation. The bartender could call the police, who would respond promptly. The building could have many exits which would allow people to leave in the event of a fire. There was a direct way to confront dangerous situations because a "normal" bar of the time represented a clear-cut public space where no one had a stake in hiding their identity or trying to make sure no one else found out they were there.
But a gay bar had everything stacked against it. The police were not likely to respond to emergency calls, and society at large was likely to harass customers that bravely came to that bar; so privacy and security had to be heightened by putting the place in an out-of-the-way corner of the building and putting a huge metal door at the entrance. They had to trade away the safety of an open public space for that necessary privacy and security. That choice, as we can see now, is a choice nobody should ever have to make.
I mean, really - this is one of the parts of the gay experience that I think it's easier to forget now. Not only the rank homophobes, but just the neglect - and the realities that neglect forced upon gay people: being forced to hang out in more dangerous situations, being forced to make choices like this. "Do I want self-expression and sexual identity, or do I want safety and privacy? I can't have both..." Accepting this identity often meant traveling to the most dangerous parts of town, places where one couldn't count on the benefit of police protection. It will serve us well, I think, if we remember how difficult it must have been to face those ultimatums daily. Some people still do, after all.
posted by koeselitz at 9:35 PM on June 24, 2013 [11 favorites]
wintermind: from all accounts, it's a tremendous piece. Wish could have seen it too. (LSMSA '88 here. When did you go?)
Whaaaaaaa?
LSMSA Class of '99 in the house!
One of my LSMSA English teachers, Dr. Clayton Delery, is also doing a bunch of work on this. I think he might be involved with the play in some capacity, as well?
I grew up in and around New Orleans, and even did activism and fundraising with the LGBTQ community there as a teenager, and still never heard about this until recently.
(That said I have very dim memories of doing LSMSA work service for another English teacher who was maybe collaborating on some of Dr. Delery's work about this? Vague, vague memories of being sent to the local university library to research something arson related. I'm frankly kind of ashamed that I maybe knew about this way back then and it didn't even stick in my mind.)
posted by Sara C. at 10:46 PM on June 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
Whaaaaaaa?
LSMSA Class of '99 in the house!
One of my LSMSA English teachers, Dr. Clayton Delery, is also doing a bunch of work on this. I think he might be involved with the play in some capacity, as well?
I grew up in and around New Orleans, and even did activism and fundraising with the LGBTQ community there as a teenager, and still never heard about this until recently.
(That said I have very dim memories of doing LSMSA work service for another English teacher who was maybe collaborating on some of Dr. Delery's work about this? Vague, vague memories of being sent to the local university library to research something arson related. I'm frankly kind of ashamed that I maybe knew about this way back then and it didn't even stick in my mind.)
posted by Sara C. at 10:46 PM on June 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
My freshman year at Tulane, I was involved with BIGALA, the campus's queer group, and, as a group, we went on Roberts Batson's Gay Heritage Tour.
When he stopped to tell us about the UpSide Lounge fire, he came close to breaking down, telling us what happened, the bodies, the anger, the TV cameras at the memorial service, everything that happened - because he had known people involved, he hadn't been there, but he had lived it.
It was heartbreaking. And reading these articles (and that picture - jesus!) has just broken my heart all over again.
(On the plus side, there was something beautiful about him standing in front of the chapel at the Old Ursuline Convent, and with a swish and a flourish of his hand, he sing-songed "LESBIANS!" at the top of his lungs.)
posted by Katemonkey at 1:20 AM on June 25, 2013 [4 favorites]
When he stopped to tell us about the UpSide Lounge fire, he came close to breaking down, telling us what happened, the bodies, the anger, the TV cameras at the memorial service, everything that happened - because he had known people involved, he hadn't been there, but he had lived it.
It was heartbreaking. And reading these articles (and that picture - jesus!) has just broken my heart all over again.
(On the plus side, there was something beautiful about him standing in front of the chapel at the Old Ursuline Convent, and with a swish and a flourish of his hand, he sing-songed "LESBIANS!" at the top of his lungs.)
posted by Katemonkey at 1:20 AM on June 25, 2013 [4 favorites]
Long string of expletives, gracefully omitted.
I was in New Orleans in the weeks immediately prior, for my first time. I'm a gay man, and was a gay teenager at that time. I met a gay man there, a native, who lived in NYC, and he invited me to visit him there.
That is why I was in NYC for the 1973 Christopher Street Parade, and why I wasn't in New Orleans.
I never heard about this incident. This rather blows my mind. But at my new friend's place in NYC, the greater attention was on the Watergate hearings, no question about it. (I was 16 and a gay boy in NYC. Watergate meant NOTHING to me at the time).
posted by Goofyy at 5:33 AM on June 25, 2013 [4 favorites]
I was in New Orleans in the weeks immediately prior, for my first time. I'm a gay man, and was a gay teenager at that time. I met a gay man there, a native, who lived in NYC, and he invited me to visit him there.
That is why I was in NYC for the 1973 Christopher Street Parade, and why I wasn't in New Orleans.
I never heard about this incident. This rather blows my mind. But at my new friend's place in NYC, the greater attention was on the Watergate hearings, no question about it. (I was 16 and a gay boy in NYC. Watergate meant NOTHING to me at the time).
posted by Goofyy at 5:33 AM on June 25, 2013 [4 favorites]
> To answer it, you had to unlock a steel door that opened onto a flight of stairs leading down to the ground floor.
This detail is poignant for me, too, remembering how common it was for the entrances to gay clubs to be like this, down unmarked hallways and stairways, leading to heavy doors.
posted by desuetude at 8:21 AM on June 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
This detail is poignant for me, too, remembering how common it was for the entrances to gay clubs to be like this, down unmarked hallways and stairways, leading to heavy doors.
posted by desuetude at 8:21 AM on June 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
My father was a fireman for New Orleans at the time. I remember him talking about how the bodies were stacked up at the barred windows. He thought any building with bars on the windows were death traps in the event of a fire. He had tears in his eyes when he said,"They never had a chance."
I was 12 years old at the time of the fire and vividly remember it. I knew at the time that the Upstairs Lounge was a gay bar, but didn't think of it in a negative way, it was just another bar. As an adult, I am shocked at the attitude of the media at the time of the fire. Of course, I didn't pay much attention to the news then, but in my family, there was a profound sense of sadness for those that lost their lives.
posted by JujuB at 11:11 AM on June 25, 2013 [7 favorites]
I was 12 years old at the time of the fire and vividly remember it. I knew at the time that the Upstairs Lounge was a gay bar, but didn't think of it in a negative way, it was just another bar. As an adult, I am shocked at the attitude of the media at the time of the fire. Of course, I didn't pay much attention to the news then, but in my family, there was a profound sense of sadness for those that lost their lives.
posted by JujuB at 11:11 AM on June 25, 2013 [7 favorites]
Of course, I didn't pay much attention to the news then, but in my family, there was a profound sense of sadness for those that lost their lives.
Thanks for sharing this. I can't help but ask if your family was awesome enough to not look down on alternative lifestyles already or if you think your dad's career/exposure brought the empathy to light and made them into real people, instead of a newspaper article figure, or just a group of 'others'?
Feel free to memail or ignore altogether if that's too personal. I just have a [personal, vested] interest in watching family groups develop over the years from racist/biased to ... whatever they end up becoming.
posted by RolandOfEld at 1:00 PM on June 25, 2013 [2 favorites]
Thanks for sharing this. I can't help but ask if your family was awesome enough to not look down on alternative lifestyles already or if you think your dad's career/exposure brought the empathy to light and made them into real people, instead of a newspaper article figure, or just a group of 'others'?
Feel free to memail or ignore altogether if that's too personal. I just have a [personal, vested] interest in watching family groups develop over the years from racist/biased to ... whatever they end up becoming.
posted by RolandOfEld at 1:00 PM on June 25, 2013 [2 favorites]
Here is a YouTube link to the CBS national broadcast about the fire. At the end is a clip from NBC.
posted by JujuB at 9:24 PM on June 25, 2013
posted by JujuB at 9:24 PM on June 25, 2013
NOLA.com the online edition of the Times Picayune (New Orleans newspaper) covered the 40th anniversary of the Upstairs Lounge fire. The video starts with an interview of two firemen that fought the fire.
June 25, 1973 actual newspaper coverage
June, 1993 20 year anniversary of the fire, newspaper coverage.
Photos of the fire (warning, very graphic)
Floor Plan and graphic of the Upstairs Lounge
Op-Ed Frank Perez
Jazz funeral held for victims
The investigation
Police immediately suspected arson. An empty 7-ounce can of Ronsonol lighter fluid was found on the stairway where the fire had started and myriad theories, including one of a lover's quarrel, spread throughout the community.
Investigators eventually narrowed the focus to two suspects who had been thrown out of the bar on separate occasions during the evening. One of the men confessed but then recanted and was dropped as a suspect after passing a lie-detector test.
Police then looked at a young hustler and neighborhood regular named Rodger Nunez, then 26, who reportedly had been thrown out of the bar earlier in the evening after getting into a fight with one of the bar's patrons, Michael Scarborough.
Scarborough later told investigators from his hospital bed that he had gotten into an altercation with Nunez after being harassed by him in the bathroom. Scarborough told investigators he punched Nunez in the jaw and that after getting hit, Nunez looked at him and said, "I'm gonna burn you all out."
Police questioned Nunez on several occasions, but he insisted that he knew nothing about the crime. Police never arrested anyone and a year later, in November 1974, Nunez was found dead in his eastern New Orleans home after committing suicide.
After Nunez's death, a friend of his came forward, and told police that Nunez had on several occasions when he was drinking admitted that he had set the fire and that he had bought the can of lighter fluid from a nearby drugstore.
Upon sobering up, the friend said, Nunez would deny having ever confessed to the act saying only, "You must be kidding; me do that?"
With no further suspects or leads to pursue, the state fire marshal's office officially closed the case in 1980.
posted by JujuB at 11:00 PM on June 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
June 25, 1973 actual newspaper coverage
June, 1993 20 year anniversary of the fire, newspaper coverage.
Photos of the fire (warning, very graphic)
Floor Plan and graphic of the Upstairs Lounge
Op-Ed Frank Perez
Jazz funeral held for victims
The investigation
Police immediately suspected arson. An empty 7-ounce can of Ronsonol lighter fluid was found on the stairway where the fire had started and myriad theories, including one of a lover's quarrel, spread throughout the community.
Investigators eventually narrowed the focus to two suspects who had been thrown out of the bar on separate occasions during the evening. One of the men confessed but then recanted and was dropped as a suspect after passing a lie-detector test.
Police then looked at a young hustler and neighborhood regular named Rodger Nunez, then 26, who reportedly had been thrown out of the bar earlier in the evening after getting into a fight with one of the bar's patrons, Michael Scarborough.
Scarborough later told investigators from his hospital bed that he had gotten into an altercation with Nunez after being harassed by him in the bathroom. Scarborough told investigators he punched Nunez in the jaw and that after getting hit, Nunez looked at him and said, "I'm gonna burn you all out."
Police questioned Nunez on several occasions, but he insisted that he knew nothing about the crime. Police never arrested anyone and a year later, in November 1974, Nunez was found dead in his eastern New Orleans home after committing suicide.
After Nunez's death, a friend of his came forward, and told police that Nunez had on several occasions when he was drinking admitted that he had set the fire and that he had bought the can of lighter fluid from a nearby drugstore.
Upon sobering up, the friend said, Nunez would deny having ever confessed to the act saying only, "You must be kidding; me do that?"
With no further suspects or leads to pursue, the state fire marshal's office officially closed the case in 1980.
posted by JujuB at 11:00 PM on June 25, 2013 [1 favorite]
I can't help but ask if your family was awesome enough to not look down on alternative lifestyles already or if you think your dad's career/exposure brought the empathy to light and made them into real people, instead of a newspaper article figure, or just a group of 'others'?
RolandOfEld, I would say it was both. My family didn't have much spare money in those days ( 1960-1980's). In 2008, the city raised the annual salary for a starting firefighter from $25,500 to $28,200. cite My mother was a stay at home mom with us three kids. She believed in exposing us to different cultures (on a budget). One of her favorite and free places to experience this was the French Quarter. There are art galleries, historic buildings, music, the flea market, the French Market, people, and more. The French Quarter always had a high concentration of people that could be classified as "on the fringe," particularly how they dressed and acted.
Excerpt from the book, New Orleans: A Cultural History - The ethnic and racial diversity historically gave New Orleans a feeling of "foreignness" and "exoticism" as expressed by one visitor...
"A man might here study the world. Every race that the world boasts is here, and a good many races that are no where else."
"But it is better to live here in sackcloth and ashes than to own the whole state of Ohio.” - Lafacdio Hearn, 1885
This diverse group of people includes; artist in Jackson Square, street performers, musicians, the homeless, strippers (now called dancers), and winos (alcoholics to be politically correct), waiters, maids, service people, and street punks. The Quarter also has a high concentration of gay people. It is not unusual to see; men dressed as women, men carrying purses, women that looked like men, couples of the same sex holding hands or walking arm in arm. We were taught that these people were not wrong or bad, but to appreciate their differences and to have empathy and compassion for those who may be homeless or ill.
I must also credit my father's career for teaching us compassion. When a building is on fire and there are people trapped inside, firemen will run into the flames to try and save them. It doesn't make a difference what the person's race, religion, political affiliation, or sexual orientation may be, what matters is, they need help.
There is an old saying within the fire department, "risk a lot to save a lot, risk little to save little, risk nothing to save nothing," yet it doesn't acknowledge the risk firemen take every time they respond to a call.
The website "The Tailboard" explains it quite succinctly, FF Robert Wiedmann of FDNY Rescue 2 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn; FF Jon Davies from Worcester Rescue 1; the Worcester 6; FF Paul Brotherton, Lt. Jeremiah Lucey, Lt. Thomas Spencer, FF Timothy Jackson, FF James Lyons and FF Joseph McGuirk; FF Corey Ankum from Chicago Truck 34 and FF Edward Stringer from Chicago Engine 63. What do all these men have in common? They have been seriously inured or killed while fighting fire where people were reported to be or thought to have been trapped. What else do they have in common? They saved no one. Does that mean that their memories are somehow tarnished? Does it mean that there was no reason for them to have been in a situation where their lives could have been at risk? My humble opinion is a resounding, "NO". Each of these men, and thousands of others, have been injured and killed doing a job that is predicated upon one thing; risking our own lives to help someone else. Nowhere in any oath that any of us took does it say that there absolutely, positively must be someone trapped in a fire building or another emergency. No where does it say that we absolutely must have infallible knowledge that someone is in there, under there or on top of there. Wherever there happens to be. We risk a lot every day just by going to work and rarely do we ever make true saves. Operating in the roadway at an accident; operating at a structure fire; natural gas leaks; electrical hazards; Haz Mat jobs; domestic violence or other EMS runs. They can all injure or kill you just as quickly as searching ahead of a hose line looking for someone who may or may not be there. In my eyes at least, the risk is the same but the end-benefit to most types of runs we take in is far less. For most of those types of runs the only thing that will be saved is property. And it seems as though in todays fire service property isn't worth any risk. But do we still go on those runs? Of course. Should we stop going on those kinds of runs? Of course not. We do our jobs. We train to minimize risk. When the bell goes off we go. We use our knowledge, training and experience when we arrive to make decisions and act upon them. That's what we do. We are firefighters and Jakes-of-all-trades. ...
When I see firetruck running with lights and sirens, to this day I pause, say a little prayer, and hope everyone is okay. My father's desire to help people in need has influenced two of his adult children. My younger brother is a firefighter (16 years) and I am an EMT. Wanting to do more, I am studying to be a paramedic and will be graduating in December.
posted by JujuB at 8:10 AM on June 26, 2013 [7 favorites]
RolandOfEld, I would say it was both. My family didn't have much spare money in those days ( 1960-1980's). In 2008, the city raised the annual salary for a starting firefighter from $25,500 to $28,200. cite My mother was a stay at home mom with us three kids. She believed in exposing us to different cultures (on a budget). One of her favorite and free places to experience this was the French Quarter. There are art galleries, historic buildings, music, the flea market, the French Market, people, and more. The French Quarter always had a high concentration of people that could be classified as "on the fringe," particularly how they dressed and acted.
Excerpt from the book, New Orleans: A Cultural History - The ethnic and racial diversity historically gave New Orleans a feeling of "foreignness" and "exoticism" as expressed by one visitor...
"A man might here study the world. Every race that the world boasts is here, and a good many races that are no where else."
"But it is better to live here in sackcloth and ashes than to own the whole state of Ohio.” - Lafacdio Hearn, 1885
This diverse group of people includes; artist in Jackson Square, street performers, musicians, the homeless, strippers (now called dancers), and winos (alcoholics to be politically correct), waiters, maids, service people, and street punks. The Quarter also has a high concentration of gay people. It is not unusual to see; men dressed as women, men carrying purses, women that looked like men, couples of the same sex holding hands or walking arm in arm. We were taught that these people were not wrong or bad, but to appreciate their differences and to have empathy and compassion for those who may be homeless or ill.
I must also credit my father's career for teaching us compassion. When a building is on fire and there are people trapped inside, firemen will run into the flames to try and save them. It doesn't make a difference what the person's race, religion, political affiliation, or sexual orientation may be, what matters is, they need help.
There is an old saying within the fire department, "risk a lot to save a lot, risk little to save little, risk nothing to save nothing," yet it doesn't acknowledge the risk firemen take every time they respond to a call.
The website "The Tailboard" explains it quite succinctly, FF Robert Wiedmann of FDNY Rescue 2 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn; FF Jon Davies from Worcester Rescue 1; the Worcester 6; FF Paul Brotherton, Lt. Jeremiah Lucey, Lt. Thomas Spencer, FF Timothy Jackson, FF James Lyons and FF Joseph McGuirk; FF Corey Ankum from Chicago Truck 34 and FF Edward Stringer from Chicago Engine 63. What do all these men have in common? They have been seriously inured or killed while fighting fire where people were reported to be or thought to have been trapped. What else do they have in common? They saved no one. Does that mean that their memories are somehow tarnished? Does it mean that there was no reason for them to have been in a situation where their lives could have been at risk? My humble opinion is a resounding, "NO". Each of these men, and thousands of others, have been injured and killed doing a job that is predicated upon one thing; risking our own lives to help someone else. Nowhere in any oath that any of us took does it say that there absolutely, positively must be someone trapped in a fire building or another emergency. No where does it say that we absolutely must have infallible knowledge that someone is in there, under there or on top of there. Wherever there happens to be. We risk a lot every day just by going to work and rarely do we ever make true saves. Operating in the roadway at an accident; operating at a structure fire; natural gas leaks; electrical hazards; Haz Mat jobs; domestic violence or other EMS runs. They can all injure or kill you just as quickly as searching ahead of a hose line looking for someone who may or may not be there. In my eyes at least, the risk is the same but the end-benefit to most types of runs we take in is far less. For most of those types of runs the only thing that will be saved is property. And it seems as though in todays fire service property isn't worth any risk. But do we still go on those runs? Of course. Should we stop going on those kinds of runs? Of course not. We do our jobs. We train to minimize risk. When the bell goes off we go. We use our knowledge, training and experience when we arrive to make decisions and act upon them. That's what we do. We are firefighters and Jakes-of-all-trades. ...
When I see firetruck running with lights and sirens, to this day I pause, say a little prayer, and hope everyone is okay. My father's desire to help people in need has influenced two of his adult children. My younger brother is a firefighter (16 years) and I am an EMT. Wanting to do more, I am studying to be a paramedic and will be graduating in December.
posted by JujuB at 8:10 AM on June 26, 2013 [7 favorites]
Awesome, thanks for that. Your family sounds pretty great.
posted by RolandOfEld at 9:57 AM on June 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by RolandOfEld at 9:57 AM on June 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
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I'd love to think that we've gone leaps and bounds beyond that, but somehow, I think the attitudes of a lot of people and institutions are still in that mindset.
posted by xingcat at 12:56 PM on June 24, 2013 [5 favorites]