Remembering 40th Anniversary of UpStairs Lounge Massacre
Wednesday marks the 40th anniversary of the tragic UpStairs Lounge Massacre, which occurred on June 24, 1973 in New Orleans. The incident has been labeled the deadliest arson attack in the city and the deadliest attack on LGBT people in the United States.
The attack was on a Sunday, the last day of national Pride Weekend, as well as the fourth anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, which took place in 1969. Nevertheless, it was difficult for LGBT people to celebrate gay rights in the '70s so many gay men and women celebrated in small bars.
Members of the Metropolitan Community Church, a pro-LGBT Protestant church, held services inside the UpStairs Lounge -- a gay bar on the second floor of a three story building in the French Quarter of New Orleans. The group was the country's first gay church, which was found in Los Angeles in 1968.
After services the MCC held a free beer and dinner party for 125 people. At around 8 p.m. bartender Buddy Rasmussen, a veteran of the Air Force, asked Luther Boggs to answer the doorbell, assuming it was a taxi he ordered. When Boggs opened the door, he found the front staircase on fire and smelled lighter fluid.
Rasmussen helped about 30 people outside the back entrance to the roof, where they could escape by using a neighboring building's roof and climb down.
Firefighters, who were located about two blocks away from the UpStairs Lounge, were blocked from arriving to the flames quickly due to traffic and pedestrians. When they arrived, they found members of the MCC struggling to escape through the security bars on the windows of the club.
In total, 28 people died at the scene of the fire, which lasted about 16 minutes. One person died en route to the hospital and 18 suffered injuries and three, including Boggs, died.
Authorities never solved the case, initially question Rodger Dale Nunez, a local hustler who had been booted from the bar earlier in the evening after fighting with a patron. A witness said Nunez was in-and-out of the bar shortly before it went up in flames but police never arrested him.
A friend later told police Nunez confessed at least four times to starting the fire, saying he squirted the bottom of the steps with lighter fluid he bought at a local Walgreens and tossed a match on to the steps. He said he did not realize the entire bar went up in flames, however.
Nunez took his own life in 1974.
In 1980, Louisiana's fire marshall's office closed the case due to a lack of leads.