NEW ORLEANS — When Frank Perez saw the security video of a man removing a plaque from a French Quarter sidewalk early Tuesday morning, he says he was horrified.
“It made me angry. It made me sad,” said Perez. “I was just like, ‘Why would somebody do that.’”
Video shows a man pull up the plaque, put it inside a trashcan, and take it away. To Perez, who is the executive director of the LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana, it was more than just a piece of bronze in the sidewalk on Iberville Street.
“The real significant thing about the plaque was, it had the names of the victims who died in the fire,” said Perez.
That fire happened in June of 1973 at the Upstairs Lounge, a known gay bar in the city. A patron who had been kicked out earlier in the night returned and set the bar on fire. Thirty-two people died. More than a dozen people were injured.
It’s one of the deadliest attacks against the LGBTQ community in the country.
“At the time, those people who died in that fire did not really get the dignity and the respect they deserved,” said Perez.
That’s because Perez says the city wasn’t as accepting of the gay community back then.
“Our hope and dream is that the plaque is returned,” said Metropolitan Community Church Reverend Lonnie Cheramie.
The memorial plaque was put there about 25 years ago thanks in large part to the Metropolitan Community Church of New Orleans.
“For us, it’s sacred space. One third of our church community perished in that fire, our pastor, our associate pastor died in that fire,” said Rev. Cheramie.
Rev. Cheramie says the church was only a few years old at the time.
“We had to rebuild after that,” said Rev. Cheramie. “It’s very important for us to remember those who died in that fire and that plaque was a significant part of that.”
Less than 24 hours after it was stolen, there are already plans to replace it.
“We have to figure out what the price point for this is going to be and then that will help determine where we go from there,” said board member of Crescent City Leathermen Jimmy Gale.
Gale and his organization are helping to make a replacement happen. His group holds a vigil at the site every year. They hope to have something in place before the 51st anniversary this June.
“For a lot of those folks we lost in the fire, there are no other markers, there are no other remembrances for them, and this was it,” said Gale.
The plaque not only honored those 32 victims. Perez says it helped educate people.
“I can’t tell you the number of people who I meet are like, ‘I never knew about this until I saw that plaque in the sidewalk,’” said Perez.
If you recognize the man seen in the surveillance video, call detectives at 504-658-6080 or Crimestoppers anonymously at 504-822-1111.
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