There's Still A Lot to Learn About One of History's Deadliest Attacks on a Gay Bar

This Saturday, June 24 marks the 50th anniversary of the UpStairs Lounge Fire, an arson attack on a gay bar that claimed 32 lives in 1973. The event is one of the deadliest attacks on the LGBTQ+ community in history, and it still resonates deeply in New Orleans and the LGBTQ+ community today. That’s because so many questions — including who started that life-taking fire and why they did it — remain unanswered.

Enter a new podcast miniseries, The Fire UpStairs, which aims to address these questions, honor the attack’s victims, and provide them with a voice. In this podcast, debuting today, host Joey Gray is joined by notable members of the LGBTQ+ community to discuss why this half-century-old event is significant today.

As Gray and guests uncover, the issues swirling around the UpStairs Lounge Fire are still relevant. The importance of community, the rise in anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, and the ongoing fight for queer rights and visibility are all themes that connect today with this attack of the past. And Gray his own personal reasons for connecting with this story.

“I've been sitting with the knowledge of the UpStairs Lounge story, personally, for about eight years now. The fire always struck me as being an event of such great importance to our community, but far less acknowledged in the broader conversations about queer historical events,” Gray shares.

This lack of knowledge sparked a determination in Gray to tell this story. And the same can be said for producer Ryan Killian Krause, who knew he needed to enlighten himself on LGBTQ+ history.

“The more I immersed myself in queer culture, the more I realized how little I knew,” Krause says. “But the thing about queer history is that it’s been happening since the beginning of time. There have been billions of LGBTQ+ folk in the world and each of their stories matters. It wasn’t until starting on this story and learning how little I knew, that this really sank in.”

Both Gray and Krause acknowledge how history tends to repeat itself. And Gray sees a direct line between what happened then in queer culture to what’s happening now.

“I think you can draw a direct line from the issues faced by the LGBTQ+ community in the 1970s to what our community is faced with today. And quite literally, the sources of anti-queer rhetoric and political measures are coming from the same places they were back then…. Just look at Florida. Anita Bryant in the 1970s with the ‘save our children’ campaign is an absolute precursor and parallel to Ron DeSantis today with the ‘don't say gay’ nonsense,” Gray explains.

“Time is a flat circle. Everything old is new again,” Krause adds. “So much of the anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric we’re seeing today [are] tried and true tactics our…elders faced head-on. Which on one hand, is horribly depressing, that we’re still fighting the same fight all these years later. But on the other hand, it proves that these people and these insidious, bad-faith lies can be beaten. Our community has done it before and we can do it again. But we have to know our history and pull from it in order to do so.”

Drawing those parallels is an important way to understand history and how to make sense of events like the UpStairs Lounge arson attack. And that’s part of how Joey and Ryan structure their episodes.

“Once we set the proverbial table in our first episode, we then take the history and place it right beside the current social and political climate — and we discuss the parallels and cultural significance with contemporary queer voices,” Gray shares.

He continues, “I think what's exciting about our show is the way we don't expect anyone to have a prior knowledge of the events, or maybe even of what the current political landscape is; we welcome all listeners, equally, to join the ongoing dialogue of queer rights and history in a way that is both informative and entertaining.”

Krause echoes those sentiments: “Listeners can expect to learn about our collective queer history, in a way that’s approachable and consumable. And it connects to their lives today.”

As we continue to make sense of the events that oppress the LGBTQ+ community, it’s important having people tell these stories that are often left untold. Even if we can’t get all the answers, it’s vital to carry on the torch of telling queer stories, no matter how dark they may be.

The first chapter of The Fire UpStairs is available now, timed just prior to the 50th anniversary of the UpStairs Lounge Fire on June 24. The second chapter will be available Wednesday, June 28 on iHeart, where two additional episodes will be released.

Guests on The Fire UpStairs include drag superstar BenDeLaCreme, author Robert Fieseler, Cathryn Oakley of the Human Rights Campaign, journalist Clancy Dubos, political strategist Brian Derrick, and documentarian Robert L. Camina.

Scroll through to see more archival photos of the coverage of the UpStairs Lounge Fire, all courtesy of the New Orleans Times-Picayune.