She told police investigators they never consummated their marriage. Nunez got married months after the blaze, but told his wife he was gay. The arson attack on the Up Stairs lounge has been largely forgotten. it’s really easy to imagine him striking back at people.” You’re feeling really comfortable and getting to the point you could maybe be comfortable being accepted by queers and freaks and then they throw you out. Then you’re in New Orleans and you’re circulating in a more or less openly gay environment, for possibly the first time in your life. You’re whole life you’re told you’re sick and diseased and morally unfit.
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“Imagine for a moment it’s 1973 and you come from a small town deep in rural Louisiana. At that time it was sexual orientation disorder, someone who was uncomfortable with or horrified by the fact he was gay,” Mr Delery-Edwards said in the documentary. The other is that he seemed to have suffered from what we now called internalised homophobia. “One, he was thrown out of the bar and is angry. Nunez was kicked out of the bar and Mr Delery-Edwards there were a couple of reasons why he would start the fire. A fight broke out and Nunez, who committed suicide about a year after the fire, allegedly said “I’m going to burn you all out”. He said Nunez was irritating people in the bar with his obnoxious behaviour. Historian and author Clayton Delery-Edwards said in the documentary Nunez had been causing trouble in the nightclub not long before the fire. Historian and author Clayton Delery-Edwards. They did have a suspect named Rodger Dale Nunez who had some similarities to Orlando shooter Omar Mateen, but never followed through with charges. Police ruled out an arson attack but a bottle of lighter fluid was later found around the third step of the stairwell. Nobody was ever arrested over the New Orleans fire at the Up Stairs Lounge and the investigation was closed just months after the tragedy. “And while the outpouring of compassion is far greater than in 1973, there are still community and religious leaders callously turning their backs to the victims and the LGBT community.” In the aftermath of the Up Stairs Lounge arson, only $17,900 was raised through the National New Orleans Memorial Fund. Nearly $8 million dollars were raised for Pulse victims through a GoFundMe account. “Communities across the country and world held vigils, standing in solidarity with Orlando. “Unlike after the 1973 New Orleans gay mass murder, most political leaders expressed compassion, grief and determination for justice after the (Orlando) shooting,” Mr Camina said. The gay community was snubbed following the mass murder in New Orleans, with the city’s mayor, archbishop and governor completely silent about the attack. The flames out the window of the Up Stairs Lounge. “What we learned in the wake of the Up Stairs Lounge arson, is that this tragedy will have a tremendous psychological impact, not only for those directly impacted by the shooting, but throughout the entire LGBTQ community.” It was a stark reminder that while the LGBTQ community has achieved a lot in its fight for equality, there are many people who still feel that LGBTQ lives are expendable. “No one wanted to pass that moniker on and see a horror of this nature again. With 49 patrons dead and families shattered, the June 12, 2016, mass shooting at Pulse Nightclub now holds the dubious title,” Mr Camina said. It is with tremendous grief, we recognise that’s no longer the case. “For nearly 43 years, the Jarson at the Up Stairs Lounge, an event that claimed 32 lives, was considered the largest gay mass murder in US history.
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Mr Camina said there were eerie similarities between the Up Stairs Lounge inferno and the mass shooting in Orlando’s Pulse Nightclub in June last year, which left 49 dead. One couple had died together, the FBI found their bones laying on top of each other in the club. It was just 15 minutes of destruction, which left heartbreaking scenes. Men on the stairs who realised their lovers were still inside rushed back to save them.
#SECOND STORY FIRE GAY BAR NEW ORLEANS WINDOWS#
The nightclub revellers ran for the windows and the fire escape, pushing each other down the stairs to get to the street. Flames were swirling all around me,” he said in the documentary. The flames shot straight across the top of a curtain and survivor Ricky Everett said the fire lifted up the nightclub’s carpet.