“David, please come quick.
Please come. I hurt.”
The frenzied phone call from a burn victim of the Up Stairs Lounge fire on June 24, 1973, to his boyfriend is one of dozens of harrowing accounts from that fateful night. Thirty-two gay men died, and fifteen were injured. The tragedy was just the beginning of a spiraling turn of events from apathetic law enforcement and religious leaders to family members who abandoned their deceased relatives.
Fifty years later, LGBTQ Nation takes a closer look at the fire, its aftermath, and the impact of the tragic event on our collective queer community.
“Throughout the decades, few mainstream publications have dared to uncover the vivid details that transport the readers into the cultural atmosphere and the bar itself, both before and after the fire,” says LGBTQ Nation senior editor Daniel Villareal, who traveled to New Orleans to report this story.
“These details humanize what happened and those affected in a way broad overviews can't,” says Villareal. “While there were so many heartbreaking stories we had to leave out about the individuals who perished in the flames, I hope readers feel inspired by the current generation who are fighting to honor those lost and ensure that queerphobia never erases our fallen siblings again.”
Matthew Wexler
Features Editor
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