The arson attack on the UpStairs Lounge June 24, 1973 was the largest mass-murder of gay men until the Pulse nightclub attack in 2016. The UpStairs Lounge was on the second floor of a building on Chartres Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana.
On the last day of Pride Weekend, the Metropolitan Community Church held services inside the club and then the club hosted a dinner party with free beer for their patrons. Sixty people were inside when the fire was discovered. Some people managed to make it to the roof from where they could access the nextdoor building and escape. Others were trapped on the second floor.
Thirty-two people died from either smoke inhalation or fire. The only suspect was a gay man who had been kicked out of the bar earlier, but there hasn't been any evidence that the murders were motivated by hate or homophobia.
Afterwards, several families refused to claim the bodies of their relatives. Three men were unidentified.
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