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James Curtis Warren, 26, from Pensacola, Florida, son of housekeeper Willie Inez Warren and brother of Eddie Hosea Warren. All three died in the fire.

Louis Horace Broussard (on right), 29, partner of Duane George "Mitch" Mitchell (see below).

Clarence Joseph McCloskey, Jr. , 48, store manager, partner of Joe William "Bill" Bailey (see above).  McCloskey’s sisters and two nieces attended the memorial service.

by Joseph Ross

A new permanent pastor at MCC, Ron Pannell, arrives two years after the fire to bring renewed energy to the community.

A memorial service, held on the second anniversary of the Upstairs Lounge fire, calls for permanent memorials for the 32 victims of the tragedy.

Two women are married at MCC New Orleans and, as an early precursor to today’s social developments, announce plans to apply for a marriage license.

MCC New Orleans strives to communicate that it is continuing and growing following the tragic loss of members at the Upstairs Lounge.

The last of the newspaper series relates the dramatic change in policies and attitudes toward homosexual persons in New Orleans over the previous 15 years.

The first in a series of newspaper stories notes the emergence of the Gay People’s Coalition and heightened visibility and activism in the New Orleans gay community following the fire.

The Gay People’s Coalition forms in the aftermath of the fire and works with the Human Rights Committee to make New Orleans a safer and more open place for LGBT persons.

A letter to the editor by a closeted gay person raises questions about the discounting of gay people in the aftermath of the fire.

The Appeals Court upholds the ruling by a District Court judge that the city and its agencies are not liable to families of victims of the fire.

New Orleans officials reportedly are looking at options to deal with a number of lawsuits that have arisen from the Upstairs Lounge fire and three other catastrophes over the span of about a year.

A number of lawsuits to recover damages are filed by families of the deceased as well as survivors of the fire.

The official NFPA report, published in January 1974, provides a detailed account of the fire, how it started and spread.

The Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC) presents this report to the Clinton Administration’s White House Conference on Hate Crimes in November, 1997. The report includes a partial catalog of hate crimes against ministers and congregations in the…

Dr. Clayton Delery, a Louisiana native and professor at The Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts, has recently written this essay comparing the response of New Orleans city and religious leaders to the Rault Center fire in November 1972…

The February 1974 issue of the journal of the Society for Individual Rights, leading LGBT activist group in San Francisco at the time, publishes an article warning of fire safety dangers in gay establishments.

The annual State of the Church Report presented to the MCC General Conference in August 1973 calls the year one of “Refiner’s Fire” as it noted fires in several MCC congregations in addition to the Upstairs Lounge fire.