Column: Author reflects on growing up in Naperville, where being gay was hidden and seen as 'a dark path'

For Robert Fieseler, telling the story of a little-known gay bar fire in which 32 people perished was personal. Although he grew up in a different place at a different time, he experienced much of the same homophobia as the victims.

New Orleans was home to 75,000 homosexuals in 1971, but fewer...