On a September night in 1958, three New Orleans college students decided to entertain themselves in the French Quarter by "rolling a queer" and went looking for a gay man to assault. They chose Fernando Rios, a tourist from Mexico, who died from the beating he received. In perhaps the earliest example of the "gay panic" defense, the three defendants argued that they had no choice but to beat Rios because he had made an improper advance. When the jury acquitted them, the courtroom cheered. The author examines the murder and the trial in detail, and chronicles a time and place in American history where such a crime was inevitable.

On June 24, 1973, a fire in a New Orleans gay bar killed thirty two people in a matter of minutes. This still stands as the deadliest fire in the city's history. Though arson was suspected and though the police identified a likely culprit, no arrest was ever made. Additionally, government and religious leaders who normally would have provided moral leadership at a time of crisis were either silent or were openly disdainful of the dead, most of whom were gay men. Based upon review of hundreds of primary and secondary sources, including contemporary news accounts, interviews with former patrons of the lounge and the extensive documentary trail left behind by the criminal investigations, The Up Stairs Lounge Arson tells the story of who used to go to this bar, what happened on the day of the fire, what course the investigations took, why an arrest was never made and what the lasting effects of the fire have been.