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Fire Destroys Famed LGBT Hotspot in New Orleans
New Orleans firefighters are investigating what sparked a fire that destroyed one of the city’s most popular gay nightclubs.
It took more than four hours to extinguish the flames that burned down Club Fusions, regarded as the city’s best African-American LGBT club, according to New Orleans television station WWL.
The club was closed at the time of the fire, which took place at approximately 3 a.m. on Monday, August 31. No one was injured in this fire, which ravaged what was a gay hotspot in the heart of Nola. Fire officials said the 20,000-square-foot building is a total loss, and to the owner, it's much more than that.
“For this community itself, it's going to be very devastating. It's a loss to them because this is one of the biggest gay clubs in the city of New Orleans,” Club Fusions owner Tyronne Williams told WWL. “We have patrons who come from all over on Saturdays and Mondays to come out and enjoy theyself, so now it's basically like there's nowhere for them to go.”
As Katey Red, the transsexual queen of bounce rap told Vice previously: if friends say: "I want to hang out with some black people, I wanna see where you hang at,” I take them to Club Fusions. It’s a lot of bounce going on in there. My fan base is real, real high in there. They may have a fight in there, but there’s no gunplay.
This wasn't the worst fire to strike the New Orleans LGBT community. On June 24, 1973, the UpStairs Lounge was the target of arson, resulting in the the death of 32 patrons, many of whom were LGBT. That incident is known as the worst mass killing of gays in American history.
Watch WWL’s report on the Club Fusions fire below:
