From: UfmccHq@aol.com Date: Fri, 3 Jul 1998 17:27:13 EDT Subject: 25th Anniversary of New Orleans Fire Observed N E W S R E L E A S E from the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches For Immediate Release: July 3, 1998 25th Anniversary of New Orleans Fire Remembered 32 Lives Lost in Gay Bar Fire... 12 Members of UFMCC Event Galvanized the National Gay Community in U.S. New Orleans -- The June 1973 fire which claimed 32 lives in a predominantly gay bar in New Orleans was remembered this past week with public events, worship services and recognition by elected officials. The fire at the Upstairs Lounge in New Orleans French Quarter was the most lethal fire in the city's history -- and served to galvanize the national gay community in the U.S. Participating in last week's events were the Rev. Troy D. Perry, founder and moderator of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, a predominantly gay Christian denomination with more than 300 congregations in 15 countries, and the Rev. Dexter Brecht, pastor of Vieux Carre Metropolitan Community Church. Twelve members of the New Orleans MCC congregation died in the fire, including the church's pastor and associate pastor. Before moving into new quarters, the church had used a back room of the Upstairs Lounge to hold worship services for the gay community, said Perry. The blaze "was definitely arson," said New Orleans Fire Chief William J. McCrossen, "but no one was ever convicted of the crime." "The fire was devastating to the local community," said Perry, "but it also served to galvanize the national movement for gay equality." "Within hours of the fire, I flew to New Orleans to offer spiritual care to the gay community," recalled Perry. "I was joined by Morris Kight, then director of the Los Angeles Gay Community Services Center, Morty Manford, president of the Gay Activists Alliance, and other leaders." "The events in the following days helped to pull the community together and actually strengthened the resolve of the national gay equality movement. We called press conferences. We demanded investigations and apologies from the police department. With one voice we called for asistance from both the mayor and governor. Out of this terrible, terrible tragedy grew a sense of empowerment for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered persons," Perry added. Participants in last week's observances noted, too, how much times had changed. The City of New Orleans has approved the location for a public commemorative plaque and greetings and flowers were sent by U. S. Congressperson William Jefferson (D-LA). The Louisiana State Museum hosted a panel discussion and presented a panel discussion on the Upstairs Lounge fire. "The most important thing to us in organizing this program is to remind people that it happened," said Wayne Phillips, curator of education for the museum. The full story of the events surrounding the 1973 New Orlean's fire is recalled in detail in the Rev. Troy D. Perry's book, "Don't Be Afraid Anymore," published by St. Martin's Press. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, CONTACT: James N. Birkitt, Jr., Director of Communications UFMCC 8704 Santa Monica Blvd., 2nd Floor West Hollywood, CA 90069 Tel. (310) 360-8640 Fax: (310) 360-8680 E-mail: UFMCCHQ@aol.com website: http://www.ufmcc.com Service remembers Upstairs Fire Victims By Bruce Nolan, Staff Writer New Orleans Times-Picayune (c) June 25, 1998 At that very moment 25 years earlier, the street corner where the little crowd gathered Wednesday had been a hell of fire engines and tangled hoses, of grim or weeping spectators and, worst of all, emergency lights illuminating a ghastly corpse jammed in the barred window of the burned-out bar where other bodies lay fused on the floor. A quarter century later more than 100 men and women marched to the same French Quarter corner Wednesday night, having prayed, read Scripture and sung "Amazing Grace" at a nearby hotel. Led by a brass band playing a dirge-like "Just a Closer Walk with Thee," the mourners walked from the Royal Sonesta Hotel to Chartres and Iberville streets. They bore 32 placards bearing the names of the fire's victims, and flowers for each. And at the sidewalk below what had once been the Upstairs Lounge they dropped their flowers on the spot where they hope one day to embed a memorial plaque in the sidewalk. That done, they headed back to the hotel. "Let's go back now and celebrate our community," said the Rev. Dexter Brecht, pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church.'‘For if Wednesday's service was remembrance for the 32 who died in the most lethal fire in the city's history, mourners also gave the event its due as a turning point for New Orleans' gay and lesbian community -- the Upstairs was a gay bar. And if, as speakers remembered Wednesday, the fire provoked a train of delayed injuries -- lost jobs, public ridicule, severed families -- for those outed by its trauma, the changed public climate today put City Councilman Troy Carter and a representative of Mayor Marc Morial's office at the head of the march. "Before the fire it was OK to be gay on Bourbon Street, but go two blocks in either direction and you could get your head bashed in," said the Rev. Troy Perry, founder of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, a family of churches for gay Christians. Investigators cam to believe the fire was set by a vengeful patron who had been thrown out hours earlier. And though not atypical of much violence against gay men and lesbians, the fire helped galvanize even the national gay rights movement, he said. The change was measured partly by the flowers and greetings sent by U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-LA. The memorial itself was largely coordinated by Brecht's church, one of 300 churches in a fellowship of gay and lesbian Christians who differ from more orthodox brethren only in their views of sexuality, said Perry, the Californian who founded the denomination. The 1973 fire nearly wiped out the embryonic MCC congregation in New Orleans, he said, killing its pastor, assistant pastor and 10 of its 22 members. Another tragedy after the event, he said, was the way other churches shunned him in his search for a place to hold a memorial service in the days after he fire. George Episcopal and St. Mark's United Methodist risked criticism to offer their churches, said Perry, who remembered them as heroes. As worshipers prepared to leave the hotel for the street corner, Brecht thanked them not only for their prayers for the dead, but their solidarity for others in their community, "so that another Upstairs fire can never go unnoticed again." (END)