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The camaraderie was bolstered by the weekly attendance of at least a few members of the nearby Metropolitan Community Church - a local branch of a national church that ministers to gays. The Up Stairs Lounge was a place they could relax. This friendly, neighborhood gay community bar hesitated to live or socialize openly. The evening of June 24, 1973, began like any other Sunday night at the Up Stairs Lounge, at the edge of the French Quarter a couple of blocks from Canal Street. According to New Orleans author and tour guide Frank Perez, the staircase remains charred from the blaze. Today, a brass plaque with the names of the 32 dead is embedded in the sidewalk in front of what used to be the entrance from Iberville Street to the staircase leading to the second-floor lounge. Before police fatally shot him, the gunman had killed 49 Pulse patrons and injured 53.īut the Up Stairs Lounge arson in 1973 occurred before there was a national gay pride day, week or month, and when homosexual activity was a crime.
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and drink as much beer as they want for just a dollar. Working class people - including some straight and some female - gather from 5 p.m. A Sunday “beer bust” always marks the week’s end and the close of the day of worship. That’s when, during national Gay Pride week, the death toll was surpassed at Pulse, a gay bar in Orlando, Florida. was a piece of history forgotten on June 12, 2016. The death toll from that June 24, 1973, arson - the deadliest crime against gays in the U.S. But because the Up Stairs Lounge was a gay bar and all but one of the dead were gay men, the police investigation of the arson was casual and incomplete. It had been the worst fire in New Orleans’ history. The smell of burnt flesh was overwhelming.īy the time the flames were extinguished, 32 people were dead. Firefighters found grisly spectacles: a dead man hanging from one window with horror seared on his face and, upstairs, piles of charred bodies, some melted together. Those trapped inside desperately tried to squeeze through the iron bars on the floor-to-ceiling windows. This iconic party welcomes top-notch DJs, and includes a momentous parade.Mississippi Center For Investigative ReportingĪ fireball rushed inside the Up Stairs Lounge and raced through the bar, and the flammable decor and patrons’ polyester clothing. At the end of August each year, over Labor Day weekend in the States, Southern Decadence festival takes place. Gay Pride New Orleans takes place in early June, where the French Quarter comes alive with colorful festivities for three days.
BLACK GAY BARS NEW ORLEANS HOW TO
New Orleans is one place that knows how to throw a big party, and as far as annual LGBTQ events go, the city is host to two major ones. Go-go dancers are a regular feature, along with karaoke and lots of dancing. Housed in a typical New Orleans-style building, complete with a wrap-around balcony, Bourbon Street Pub and Parade offers plenty of space to welcome a mixed LGBTQ crowd. As far as gay clubs in New Orleans go, this place is legendary. Once you’ve sipped your way through enough cocktails to make you feel more than confident to let loose on the dance floor, a visit to famous Bourbon Street Pub and Parade should be your next port of call. The bar is split over two floors, and offers dim lighting to send you into just the right mood. This place is exclusively for gay men, and is particularly popular with the bear and leather crowd. Alternatively, if you want to turn the heat up, head to Phoenix Bar. The bar is open 24/7, and welcomes a mixed and friendly crowd each night. This is one of the oldest dedicated gay bars in the USA, and was regularly frequented by Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams. If you are looking for some of the top gay bars in New Orleans, Cafe Lafitte in Exile is a good place to start. Anne Streets, affectionately known as the ‘pink strip’. Most gay life is centered around New Orleans’ über-charming French Quarter, with the main activity happening at the crossroads of Bourbon and St. While this vibrant city of the USA may be best known for its iconic jazz scene, the gay area of New Orleans also continues to turn heads thanks to its mix of bars, restaurants, and heaving late-night venues. Gay New Orleans is simply bursting at the seams with fantastic LGBTQ places to go out. While this vibrant city of the USA may be best known for its iconic jazz scene, the gay area of New Orleans.