For nearly 43 years, the June 24, 1973 arson at the Up Stairs Lounge which claimed 32 lives was considered “The Largest Gay Mass Murder in U.S. History.”
However, sadly, with more than 50 people dead , the mass shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida, on June 12, 2016, now holds that dubious title. .
This tragedy will have a tremendous psychological impact, not only for those directly impacted by the shooting, but throughout the entire LGBTQ community.
Unlike the 1973 New Orleans gay mass murder, most political leaders are already expressing compassion, grief and determination for justice.
Whether it be the arson in New Orleans or the shooting in Orlando, Francis Dufrene, a survivor of the Up Stairs Lounge fire, sums it up best in UPSTAIRS INFERNO: the documentary: “It shows what can happen through hate. Someone was angry and full of hate and took it out on everybody.”
ROBERT L. CAMINA is the director-producer-writer of UPSTAIRS INFERNO, the first documentary about the devastating 1973 New Orleans arson which, until today, was often referred to as the “Largest Gay Mass Murder in U.S. History”.
Camina’s first documentary, RAID OF THE RAINBOW LOUNGE (2012), recounts the widely publicized and controversial June 28, 2009 police raid of a Fort Worth, Texas gay bar that resulted in multiple arrests and serious injuries.
American History: Upstairs Inferno, Biggest Gay Mass Murder in U.S. History
Whether it be the arson in New Orleans or the shooting in Orlando, Francis Dufrene, a survivor of the Up Stairs Lounge fire, sums it up best in UPSTAIRS INFERNO: the documentary: “It shows what can happen through hate. Someone was angry and full of hate and took it out on everybody.”