He says talking about the fire has served as a type of therapy for him. And I hope other people do, cause it kinda helps to release it and just keep going on with life." National Transgender Rights Lead NPR's Top LGBTQ Stories of 2017Įverett tells NPR, "I forgave a long time ago. The Times-Picayune describes the city at the time as "extremely homophobic." Police would raid gay bars frequently and employment discrimination against gays was "de rigeur." Homosexuality was considered a psychiatric disorder. Everett says the bars would have come off if pulled inward, but people didn't know that at the time.
PHOENIX GAY BAR NEW ORLEANS WINDOWS
Patrons who tried to get out through the windows couldn't - the windows had bars on them. There were about 60 people inside the bar when the fire started, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. So I just started walking - I walked right out the door that I came back in through."Įverett returned to safety, to find his boyfriend had also escaped the deadly fumes and flames. "And all of a sudden I just had total peace and I knew it was God. So he went back inside.Īt that point, the flames were "circling all around" but he felt as if he had a blanket covering him. "He actually leaped over the bar and yelled, 'Follow me, follow me!' When he got alongside of me, he grabbed me by the arm - because I was just sitting there, like: This can't be happening," Everett says.Įverett says he thought his boyfriend was following him out, but turned back and the man wasn't there. World After Crackdown, Egypt's LGBT Community Contemplates 'Dark Future' The heat made carpeting rise off of the floor.Įverett got out by following Buddy Rasmussen, a bartender and manager, out of a back door, which turned out to be the only escape route. People sitting at the bar were "engulfed in those flames," he says. The flames just shot straight across the whole length of the bar," Ricky Everett, who survived the fire, told NPR's Michel Martin on All Things Considered. The fire started in the stairwell, trapping people on the building's second floor, where the bar was located. Much of the history was swept from memory due to homophobia. No one was ever charged or convicted of the crime. On June 24, 1973, a fire ripped through the Up Stairs Lounge - a gay bar in the French Quarter of New Orleans. It was 45 years ago this Sunday that one of the worst attacks on the LGBTQ community left 32 people dead. Most of the victims were found near the windows in the background.ĭecades before the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016 that claimed 49 lives, another deadly attack on LGBTQ Americans took place. A view inside the Up Stairs bar following a fire that left 32 dead and several more injured, seen on June 25, 1973.