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    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.
    May 06, 2019 4 minutes
    A view inside the UpStairs Lounge following an arson on June 25, 1973. Most of the victims were found near the windows in the background. (Jack Thornell/AP)

    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

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