Nearly 50 years after 32 victims were killed in an arson attack at a New Orleans gay bar they had been frequenting, the City Council renewed its search for four remains, three of which were not identified.
The UpStairs Lounge caught fire on June 24, 1973. 31 men died, including two of their mothers. One other woman was injured, as well as 14 men.
G.E. Arnold / AP
Ferris LeBlanc (50), a World War II veteran, who fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Three bodies that were burned beyond identification were buried together in the city’s unmarked, “potter’s” field.
Thursday’s motion directs the city attorney and property management director to offer “all reasonable assistance” in recovering the remains.
Councilmember J.P. Morrell wrote the motion. It stated that “The City’s inept response… rooted firmly in anti-gay sentiment” made it worse for victims’ loved ones and friends.
He also wrote that poor record-keeping, indifference, and lack of documentation continue to hinder the efforts by surviving relatives to reclaim bodies of victims and provide them with the dignity of a proper grave.
According to the motion, the council believes that the city is morally bound to help “the recovery of and dignified burial of the victims of UpStairs Lounge murder,”
On June 23, the council issued a formal apology for its response to the fire. This was one day before the fire’s 49th Anniversary.
LeBlanc’s family released a statement to ABC News saying that the council had promised to investigate this matter and do all they can to end this story. “We are optimistic about this renewed interest and we are hopeful that it will lead to a positive resolution.”
According to Thursday’s motion and the City Council’s apology, the blaze was the largest mass murder of gays in the 20th century. It was eclipsed by the Pulse nightclub shooting that took place in 2016.
Jack Thornell / AP
Robert W. Fieseler published a book in 2018 that noted the location of LeBlanc’s body as “PanelQ, Lot 32” in the graveyard.
ABC reported that city officials claimed maps and other records were destroyed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The network had previously released a documentary on the 45th anniversary about the fire and attempts to find LeBlanc.
Five staffers were appointed by Mayor LaToya Catrell to support the family shortly after the documentary’s release. The network reported that they decided to drop the matter after months spent searching for the right people.
LeBlanc was estranged from his family in California — not because of his homosexuality but because he hadn’t paid money owed to his grandfather, Fieseler wrote in “Tinderbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberation.”
After an anonymous caller reported to the coroner that LeBlanc wore a silver spoon-made ring, Fieseler wrote.
The three other bodies were identified as body 18, 23 and 28. They were buried more than a decade ago, before DNA fingerprinting was invented.
“Body 18, an over-eighteen-year-old white male, … had no identifying tattoos and burns over 70 percent of him,” Fieseler wrote. “Body 28, with more than 60 percent of his body burned, reached his final resting place wearing pants and an undershirt that were still grafted onto his skin. The most unrecognizable figure that was pulled from the rubble was body 23, which had been burned to 90 percent. It is not known if he died in black socks and brown shoes.
Johnny Townsend interviewed over 30 survivors of the fire and published his book in 2011. He wrote that one survivor heard two firefighters talk while the fire roared.
Townsend wrote that the one who was frustrated couldn’t put himself up to the flames felt angry. The other responded with a homophobic slur: “Let’em all burn!”
Source: CBS News
