This Pride month, the Office of Academic Excellence and Opportunity (OAEO) offered members of the Tulane community a free LGBT history tour in the French Quarter. If that wasn’t exciting enough, they also provided a lunch and keynote speech from School of Liberal Arts History PhD candidate Bobby Fieseler, the acclaimed author of Tinderbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberation and a Tulane Mellon Fellow. I was immediately interested in attending when the event was announced, but the tour and discussions exceeded my expectations.
We started by meeting as a group at the front of campus. OAEO gave us gift bags with pride shirts, electric fans, and snacks; the energy was immediately welcoming and fun. When we got to the French Quarter, we split up into groups for the walking tour. I was lucky enough to be in a group with Frank Perez, a local gay legend and director of the LGBT Archives of Louisiana. As Fieseler said at the lunch, “Frank somehow has everyone’s phone number and knows everything about gay history in New Orleans.” Our tour started at the Jackson Square statue, where Perez pointed out that precolonial New Orleans (“Bulbancha”) was incredibly queer and non-heteronormative. As our tour continued through the French Quarter, Frank told us about the first lesbian and gay Mardi Gras krewes like Ishtar, trans trailblazers like Courtney Sharp, tragic hate crimes like the murder of Fernando Rios, and perseverance from the entire local LGBT population in places like Oz and Cafe Lafitte in Exile. The entire group was captivated by Perez’s storytelling and the weight of these moments.
After the walking tour, we went to Muriel’s for a delicious, air-conditioned lunch. After the bread was brought out, Fieseler started his talk on the Up Stairs Lounge tragedy. He explained the atmosphere of the lounge in vivid detail, calling it “loving, multipurpose, beautiful,” and “the real-life gay version of Cheers.” He sang the Up Stairs Lounge’s unofficial anthem: “United we stand, divided we fall. And if our backs should ever be against the wall, we'll be together, together, you and I.” He gave us an equally vivid description of the brutal murder of the 32 people in the fire. The speech was candid, hard-hitting, and emotional. Several people in the room were crying. Fieseler emphasized that at the time of the tragedy, news and publications surrounding the event were scarce and often negative. He spoke about how many loved ones of the deceased would not claim their children, because they were found at a gay bar. Several people in the room were brought to tears by the recounting".
Fieseler authored the resolution that the New Orleans City Council passed in 2022 as an apology for the treatment of the Up Stairs Lounge victims nearly 50 years ago. The resolution is an example of the value history plays in present times. “By publishing and piecing together histories like this, we become very powerful…You change the way that history is remembered,” Fieseler said. After the speech, the crowd gave a standing ovation. During the Q&A, audience members asked sobering questions about the current state of affairs, the more recent Pulse Nightclub tragedy in 2016, and stories from the fire victims’ children. Not willing to end on a low note, Fieseler led the crowd in a chant: “Queer! Books! Queer! Books! Queer! Books!” Everyone laughed, relieved at the positive spin.
Participants received a free copy of Fieseler’s book, Tinderbox, on the way out of the restaurant. Georgie Gardiner, an associate professor in Philosophy, told me how much she appreciated seeing the “ecology of learning at Tulane” in action and felt it was an honor to have Fieseler at Tulane. I left with a new appreciation for history as a field, but especially with the importance of sharing queer histories. The story of the Up Stairs Lounge is tragic and difficult to hear, but it is important to honor the lives lost and learn from the past.
Additional information about Perez, Fiesler, the Up Stairs Lounge, and local LGBT history can be found on their websites.
Pride decor in the French Quarter.