"He looked at me just as seriously and says, 'Yeah, I know it.' And then we just sort of moved on."Īfter they ate, the three joined the others at the gay bar at the corner of Iberville and Chartres. "All of the sudden something came over me and I look at Bill square in the eye and I said, 'Bill, I have a feeling you're going to die,'" Everett remembered. Their conversation briefly took a dark turn, in a bit of foreshadowing. Larson, Everett, and a friend visiting from Atlanta went to grab dinner first. Johnny Townsend An undated photo shows a group enjoying the Up Stairs Lounge in New Orleans. "It was kind of like a gay version of 'Cheers,'" Fieseler said. It was still Sunday tradition to relax among friends in a safe space, largely hidden from a dangerous and disrespecting outside world. The MCC of New Orleans met in a theater space in the back of the bar for a time in 1972, so it felt like home.
![gay bar new orleans fire gay bar new orleans fire](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/mAPFtPwftS3uOHixeTJRh5CZK4c=/0x0:2048x1157/1200x800/filters:focal(861x416:1187x742)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69571890/LumberYard.0.jpeg)
It had grown in popularity to the point the bar often filled to and above capacity. Its weekly "beer bust" happy hour included all-you-could-drink beer for a couple of dollars and a refundable deposit on the cup. The Up Stairs Lounge was a second-floor, working-class bar, frequented by many of the region's gay men and allies.
![gay bar new orleans fire gay bar new orleans fire](https://d3u63wyfuci0ch.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/28195240/new-orleans-gay-bar-phoenix.jpg)
How could he?Īfter church service at the MCC's small rented space on Magazine Street, which also housed Larson's apartment, many congregants would find their way to the edge of the French Quarter. He'll never forget that night in late June. "Having a gay pastor at the time, I think we really needed a person in the pulpit who is gay," said Ricky Everett, who was a member of the Metropolitan Community Church of New Orleans and Larson's best friend.Įven since the fire, Everett hasn't lost the strong faith he shared with Larson. It was impossible for that era," Fieseler said.īut that act of bravery was critical for the small but growing congregation of mostly closeted men. "The idea that you could ever be a Christian minister and out gay was an act that was just unheard of. Bill Larson stands at a pulpit at the Metropolitan Community Church of New Orleans. Bill Larson's role as a deacon of the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) even more incredible. whereby that gay man would then be stigmatized and blacklisted." There was all sorts of local ordinances to throw the book at a person either to bilk money out of them in the form of a bribe or to ruin them. "A gay man would be arrested for entrapment, for occupying a sidewalk while being gay, for being gay while drinking in a bar. "The early 1970s was an era of rampant police harassment and intimidation," Fieseler said.
![gay bar new orleans fire gay bar new orleans fire](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjI5NDAwOTcyNl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNjc3NTQxNjE@._V1_QL75_UX500_CR0,0,500,281_.jpg)
They changed their names, started new lives. Men moved across the country, either spurned by their families or fleeing fear of being committed or criminalized. Police raids of bars and local hangouts were regular occurrences. The Pulse nightclub massacre in 2016 was deadlier, and drew renewed attention to the fire at the Up Stairs Lounge.Įven in New Orleans, homosexuals were viewed as criminals in the 1970s. "He – by nature of the way he lived and the way he died – has become one of the most important queer people of the 20th century."įieseler's book "Tinderbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberation" explores the lives of those who died - and survived - what was for decades the deadliest crime against the gay community in the United States.
Gay bar new orleans fire series#
"His life was a series of incredible trials," said author Robert Fieseler. It directly ties the Tri-State to one of the most important moments in gay history. But, until several years ago, little was widely known about his life. His death, in the worst fire in that city's history, is tragically well documented. HAMILTON - Bill Larson lived a nearly impossible dream in 1970s New Orleans: He was an openly gay minister.