The UpStairs Lounge Fire Killed 32 People. Its Legacy Still Haunts Black Gay New Orleans
The upcoming 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York City next month is causing a half-century look back at the American LGBT rights movement.
Behind the triumphalist narrative commonly posed—that of the long but inevitable march to freedom for gay white males—is a history of lost atrocities and uneven advancement, especially for more marginalized groups in places like the “Queer Capital of the South,” a.k.a. New Orleans.
There was a time in New Orleans when homosexuality was illegal, and “gay” was a dirty word, but somehow being black and gay made you negligible to other gays, other black residents and the city at large.