The Upstairs Lounge Arson AttackThe Upstairs Lounge was a gay bar located in New Orleans, Louisiana that was a popular destination for those in the LGBT community during the 1970's. The arson took place on June 24th 1973, the final day of Pride Weekend, where an unknown man set fire to the second floor of the three story building. Inside the club were members of the first pro-LGBT Protestant church called the Metropolitan Community Church held a service inside of the club and afterwards served 125 people a free dinner. The fire was discovered shortly before 8pm, when a patron found the front staircase engulfed in flames. Reports have claimed that a man went down the road to a drugstore to buy a can of lighter fluid after making a threat against some of the bar patrons. The unknown man was accused of then opening the heavy steel door of the nightclub and tossing in a Molotov cocktail before locking the door. Around 20 patrons were lead to an unmarked exit by one of the bar tenders whilst others tried to break open the windows as the bar was being engulfed in flames. Some people attempted to squeeze through the barred windows on the second floor where patrons were accidentally locked inside. The crowd that had gathered below watched on in horror as those who were able to squeeze themselves through fell to the concrete below engulfed in flames. Many people clung to the bars and screamed for help as they struggled to find a way out of the bar, whilst firefighters had trouble finding their way through the growing crowd. The Fire Department were able to bring the fire under control 16 minutes after it had began, 28 people had died at the scene.
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After The Fire28 people died in the immediate fire whilst one died on the way to the hospital. 18 more suffered severe injuries, three of those people died later because of their injuries. Many of the victims inside of the bar were burned beyond recognition, some were discovered to be clinging to one another. The body of Reverend Bill Larson had clung to the steel bars as he died and his charred remains were visible to passersby for hours after the fire was extinguished. There were multiple suspects for the crime including a local hustler by the name of Rodger Dale Nunez, who had been removed from the bar a few days earlier for fighting with another customer. Friends of Nunez claimed that he had drunkenly confessed to them that he had squirted the bottom steps of the staircase with Ronsonol lighter fluid from Walgreens and lit a match, and that he did not mean to kill all of those people. He took his own life in November 1974, many believing he did so out of guilt and remorse for those who died. Newspapers did not make a big point about the fact that most of the victims of the fire were gay and lesbians while no government officials made any mention of the fire, no politicians made a statement in reference to the fire or the 29 people who died in the blaze. People were reluctant to claim the bodies of family members and friends because being homosexual at this time was still considered to be unnatural and wrong, plus many of the victims carried false ID making it hard to positively identify some of the remains. Until the recent Orlando shooting, it was seen as the deadliest attack on LGBT in US history.
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