Along Iberville Street in the French Quarter, there’s a large square gap in the brick sidewalk.
It’s where a plaque memorializing the deadly Upstairs Lounge fire in New Orleans in 1973 used to sit. The fire remains one of the country’s deadliest attacks on the LGBTQ community. In the decades since, the bronze marker listed the 32 victims who died when an arsonist set fire to the neighborhood gay bar.
Earlier this year, it was stolen. A man has been arrested in connection with the theft, but the original marker remains missing.
The empty site reminds Frank Perez of being in the closet.
“I’m old enough to remember when it was not ok to be gay,” Perez said. “That’s what the hole in this sidewalk reminds me of.”
Perez is the head of the LGBTQ Archive of Louisiana. He’s leading an effort to fill the gap with a new plaque, and make sure the memory of what happened here in 1973 isn’t forgotten.
Producer Matt Bloom met up with Perez at the site of the Upstairs Lounge to discuss the campaign.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
PEREZ: So, on Sunday, June 24, the bar was open. They were having their beer bust. They had a beer bust every Sunday evening, which was very, very popular. And, as that was winding down, one of the regular patrons was really, really belligerently drunk and had gotten into a fight with another regular customer and the bartender had to eject the young man from the bar.
And as he was being escorted out of the bar, he threatened to burn the place down. Nobody paid it much attention. I mean, just a young kid getting thrown out of a bar happens all the time, right? But this young man made good on his threat. He actually walked a block away to the Walgreens at the corner of Iberville and Royal, bought a can of lighter fluid, came back, and set the stairwell on fire.
And as a result of that, within a matter of less than 20 minutes, 29 people were dead, Three more died at the hospital in the subsequent days that followed.
BLOOM: Should we remember it as a hate crime? Or how do you remember it? Was it a hate crime?
PEREZ: I'm going to answer that by saying yes and no. It was not a traditional hate crime in the sense that this guy was not motivated by religious zealotry or anything like that. He was actually a closeted man. He had worked as a sex worker. He was well known at the bar and he burned the bar down because he was angry for being thrown out.
So that was not a hate crime. We could argue that the hate crime was the city's reaction to the fire. Now, older listeners may remember that within a year prior to the fire, you'd had the Howard Johnson incident, which included a sniper and a fire. And also the Walt Center fire. Those two fires killed a lot of people and garnered a lot of media attention.The mayor, politicians were all over it.
But with the Upstairs Lounge, the city was pretty hush, hush. Nothing to say about it. The mayor was actually out of town. There was no day of mourning. There were no public outcries. It was just kind of largely ignored by the politicians.
The only official who really said anything was Archbishop Hannon, the Archbishop of the Catholic Church. And all he said was that there would be no Catholic funerals for anyone who died in the bar. So, that was not a positive response.
In addition to the lack of response from city officials, the public reaction was pretty horrific as well. Radio commentators would make jokes. You know, ‘What do we bury the remains in? Punchline: Fruit jars?’
So, it was a real indication of how homophobic the city was at that time.
BLOOM: About 30 years later, a group of advocates worked to get a plaque installed on the sidewalk right here where we're standing. Why was that important to the community?
PEREZ: Well, the plaque that was placed in 2003 was significant because it served as a reminder and it helped people not forget what happened here.
That plaque contained the names of the victims and the three unidentified victims. It was just a memorial marker to commemorate that seminal moment in our local history. It was an important moment not only in local queer history, but even today it remains the deadliest fire in New Orleans history.
And we've had a lot of fires in our 300 plus years.
BLOOM: Earlier this year, somebody came by and pried up the plaque right here where we're standing, carried it down the street and put it into a trash bin nearby.
PEREZ: They put it in the trash bin which was nearby and then they rolled the trash bin away. So instead of walking down the street with this heavy bronze plaque, he just put it in the trash bin and rolled it away.
BLOOM: Gotcha. And we have video of that. What was your response when you saw that?
PEREZ: I was horrified. I had a lot to do that day. And I knew that this demanded immediate attention. So I got on the horn, started calling, you know, people that are involved with remembering and the memory work surrounding the fire and the plaque. And, uh, I just knew that, you know, we're gonna have to organize and raise money and replace it. And that's gonna take a lot of effort.
But you have to. I mean, it's not, it's not a choice.
BLOOM: Why? Why is that?
PEREZ: Because we in the community are determined to not forget what happened here. This was a seminal moment in our local history. And especially given our current political climate, it's very, very important to remember what happened here and the city's reaction to it.
Because the 32 people who lost their lives in this building could have never, in their wildest imaginations, dreamed of the rights and progress the gay rights movement has made. And now we are in the process of going backwards and losing those rights.
BLOOM: The LGBTQ community has raised a lot of concerns about recent legislation that's passed in Louisiana and proposals that we've heard the next Trump administration will support. Do you feel like Louisiana has improved at all when it becomes, when it comes to LGBTQ safety since the time of the fire?
PEREZ: That's a good question. Probably not. I think it's important to point out that New Orleans is kind of an exception. New Orleans has always been, not always, but for the last 30 or so years, been very progressive and tolerant and inclusive.
But the rest of the state is not at all. There has been progress in recent years. The North Shore queer community hosted their first Pride earlier this year. So that was important. Monroe, up in North Louisiana, has done two Prides now.
Next year will be their third. So there are little steps in the right direction across the state. But for the most part, it is still a very, very religious, conservative state.
BLOOM: What message do you want to send by getting the plaque replaced and commemorating it next year as you're planning to?
PEREZ: I would just point out that remembering queer history, preserving queer history, is a form of resistance.
BLOOM: What do you hope the replacement celebration looks like when you get to that point?
We've talked about that as a committee and I think we're gonna dedicate it on next year's anniversary And so that'll be a big deal. We're not exactly sure of the details, but it'll be a It'll be a well promoted and well attended event
BLOOM: Gotcha, and how can folks help out if they want to?
PEREZ: Folks can help out by contributing money to help replace the plaque. We are trying to raise $20,000. The plaque itself will not cost that much, but we also want to raise enough money to buy and pay for insurance for the plaque. Whatever is left over, we're going to set aside for future commemoration ceremonies. So every year there is a small ceremony at this site and on every fifth year on the big anniversaries, we have larger commemorations.
If people want to contribute to that, that would be a great way to help. The place to do that would be the MCC of New Orleans website. MCC stands for the Metropolitan Community Church, which is a gay affirming, queer affirming church.
It says Upstairs Lounge Plaque Replacement, and people can give there.
BLOOM: Frank Perez, head of the LGBTQ Archives Project of Louisiana. Thanks for talking to me.
PEREZ: Happy to be here.
