RESCHEDULED - Morris Bart, Sr. Lecture Series: Out for Queer Blood: The Murder of Fernando Rios and the Failure of New Orleans Media and Justice

In 1958, a tour guide named Fernando Rios, who was visiting New Orleans from Mexico City, was murdered in Pete Antoine Alley by three young men who had gone out that evening intending to “roll (i.e. beat up) a queer.” Today, this would be classified as a hate crime, though that language did not exist in the 1950s. In the months leading up to the trial, Rios was repeatedly made the object of suspicion and scorn in the New Orleans press, while his attackers were portrayed with sympathy. The results of the trial were nearly a foregone conclusion; the killers were acquitted, and the verdict was greeted with thunderous applause.

In researching this murder for his book, Out for Queer Blood, Clayton Delery was repeatedly struck by the parallels between the social atmosphere of the 1950s and today. In particular, issues of race, class, and media bias became central to the unfolding story, just as they often do now. Out for Queer Blood, was named one of the year’s best books of LGBT history by the American Library Association.

Join us in person for a boxed lunch in the auditorium followed by a fascinating lecture and discussion.  An RSVP is required by October 14.  Space is limited.

No charge members / $10 non-members
New Orleans JCC - Uptown