When gay New Orleanians headed out to the UpStairs Lounge in the French Quarter on Sunday, June 24th, 1973, they had no idea that many of them would never be returning home. A fire started in the main stairwell leading up to the bar quickly spread, as patrons desperately tried to escape the burning building. Until the Pulse Nightclub Massacre in 2016, this was the worst loss of Queer life in American history.