32 People Died In The UpStairs Lounge Fire In 1973. Why Was It Forgotten?
Until the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016, the deadliest attack on a gay club was the 1973 arson at the UpStairs Lounge in New Orleans.
Author Robert Fieseler‘s book “Tinderbox” looks at the 1973 fire at the UpStairs Lounge, a gay bar in New Orleans, which killed 32 people and put prejudicial beliefs against gay men in sharp relief.
Here & Now‘s Jeremy Hobson talks with Fieseler (@wordbobby) about the book.
Book Excerpt: ‘Tinderbox’
by Robert Fieseler
June 25, 1995
There was a fire, the minister of the Metropolitan Community Church – a gay man named Dexter Brecht – preached to his small flock of gays and lesbians. It was a fire so horrific that Courtney Craighead, the church’s
