UpStairs Lounge arson attack

UpStairs Lounge arson attack
Part of violence against LGBT people in the United States
Site of the UpStairs Lounge, 2019
Location604 Iberville Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.[1]
Coordinates29°57′13″N 90°04′03″W / 29.9535°N 90.0675°W / 29.9535; -90.0675
DateJune 24, 1973
7:56 – 8:12 p.m. (CDT)
Attack type
Arson, mass murder, androcide
Deaths32
Injured15
PerpetratorsUnknown
MotiveUnknown

The UpStairs Lounge arson attack, sometimes called the UpStairs Lounge Fire, occurred on June 24, 1973, at a gay bar called the UpStairs (or Up Stairs) Lounge located on the 2nd floor of the 3-story building at 604 Iberville Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, in the United States.[2] Thirty-two people died and 15 were injured as a result of fire or smoke inhalation.[3] The official cause is still listed as "undetermined origin".[4] The primary suspect, a gay man with a history of psychiatric impairment named Roger Dale Nunez who had been ejected from the bar earlier in the day, was never charged and died by suicide in November 1974.[5][6][7]

Until the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, in which 49 people were murdered, the UpStairs Lounge arson attack was the deadliest attack on a gay club in U.S. history.

  1. ^ "Family solves mystery after learning uncle died in infamous up Stairs Lounge Fire 40-plus years ago in New Orleans". June 10, 2015.
  2. ^ "Upstairs Lounge Fire Memorial, 40 Years Later". Nola Defender. Archived from the original on July 29, 2017. Retrieved September 21, 2014.
  3. ^ "From the ashes: New book looks at impact of 1973 up Stairs Lounge fire in the French Quarter". June 23, 2018.
  4. ^ Delery-Edwards, Clayton (2014). The Up Stairs Lounge Arson: Thirty-two Deaths in a New Orleans Gay Bar, June 24, 1973. McFarland. ISBN 978-0786479535.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference freund was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Townsend, Johnny (2011). Let the Faggots Burn: The UpStairs Lounge Fire. BookLocker. ISBN 9781614344537.
  7. ^ Pearl, Mike (June 25, 2015). "Revisiting a Deadly Arson Attack on a New Orleans Gay Bar on Its 42nd Anniversary". Retrieved September 6, 2019.