07/03/99Human rights
World Watch
Volume X
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 World Watch Archives volumes I to IX
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Murder Reveals Double Life of Being Gay in Rural South

(follow up on Alabama murder
see Vol. IX)
By DAVID FIRESTONE
March 6, 1999

YLACAUGA, Ala. -- The closets that gay people build in small, severe towns like this one are thick and difficult to penetrate, and Billy Jack Gaither's was locked tighter than most.

Until the day two weeks ago when he was beaten to death and burned, Gaither, 39, lived with his disabled parents in their white clapboard house, tending to their needs, cooking dinner and cleaning up, singing in the choir of his Baptist church. His parents swear they had no idea he was gay, and his father, Marion Gaither, is still half in denial, desperately pointing out that his son once had a girlfriend in Birmingham whom he almost married.

But the small group of gays in this central Alabama town of 13,000 knew Billy Jack Gaither as one of their own, sharing their fears of public knowledge. A friend who grew up with him and used to accompany him on the nearly 40-mile trip to the gay bars of Birmingham said Gaither would probably have escaped
Sylacauga, like most gay people who grow up here, but was too devoted to his parents to contemplate leaving. The friend, who asked not to be identified for fear of losing business, said Gaither never wanted to hurt his deeply religious, Baptist parents by revealing the nature of his sexuality.

Now, his parents and the rest of Sylacauga have found out about Gaither, and in the worst possible way. On Thursday, officials charged two local men with Gaither's murder, saying the men said they had become angered after Gaither made a sexual advance toward one of them.

The murder is already being called another signpost of hate, alongside the deaths of Matthew Shepard, killed in Wyoming last year because he was gay, and James Byrd, the black man dragged to his death behind a truck last year in Jasper, Texas.

The Coosa County sheriff's report said the arrested men, Steven E. Mullins and Charles M. Butler Jr., had known Gaither and met him on the night of Feb. 19 at a local nightclub. They then locked him in the trunk of his car and drove to a deserted boat dock where they bludgeoned him to death with an ax handle, then heaved his body onto a pyre of burning tires. His charred remains were found the next day on the banks of Peckerwood Creek, which local churches use for baptizing.

Gaither's parents had barely absorbed the horror of his gruesome death before they learned the motive for his murder, and the secret life that he had led for so long. They knew him as the kindest of their four boys, the one who read his big illustrated Bible every night before going to bed, who never came home late on those rare occasions when he did go with friends to one of the local bars (all of them straight).

"If he was gay, he sure never showed it," his mother, Lois Gaither, said Friday morning. "He never flaunted himself as being gay or talked about it. And whether he was or not, it don't make me love him any less. He was my young'un."

She added, in a kind of rueful acknowledgment of the truth, "Whatever he did, he never brought it home."

But Marion Gaither, debilitated by multiple heart attacks and a stroke, sat on the couch near his wife, holding his forehead in his hands, shaking his head at all references to his son's sexuality. When a television news report came on saying his son was killed because he was gay, Gaither shouted out, "If he was gay. If he was gay."

A tour of the house, however, gave a glimpse of a separate world that Billy Jack Gaither lived in. He had decorated his room with a large collection of Scarlett O'Hara dolls and other figurines from "Gone with the Wind," for which he hunted at flea markets on weekends. A large picture of Clark Gable kissing
Vivian Leigh hung over his bedroom fireplace; pink chiffon curtains fluttered around antique etchings of antebellum women in hoop skirts.

The rest of the house, which his parents also allowed him to decorate, was more conventional. In the living room he hung a painting of the Last Supper, next to another of Jesus praying in the garden; between them was a golden plaque of the Ten Commandments.

The two rooms, one for the outside world, the other for himself, seemed to illustrate the traditional dichotomy of small-town Southern gay life. Gaither's friend said there are about 100 gay people in town, but none were open about their sexual orientation. Though there had never been a violent incident like
this one against a gay person, the friend said, there was plenty of evidence that homosexuality was not appreciated.

Not long ago, he said, citing one example, a group of downtown merchants hung up a series of flags on lightpoles to spruce up the image of the central business district. The merchants were not aware that a rainbow symbol on one flag was sometimes used by gay groups, but a local church recognized the symbol
and began a strident campaign to remove it, saying that its presence promoted a gay lifestyle in Sylacauga. The flag quickly came down.
 

Those gay people who have not moved out of town occasionally travel together to gay bars in Birmingham or Montgomery, the friend said. He said Gaither occasionally went on such trips and was known to have had at least two short-term relationships with other men, whom he would meet out of town.

Sylacauga, with more than 70 churches in its boundaries, is not unlike most rural southern towns in its conservatism and religious beliefs. It is industrial rather than agricultural, with many people working in the factories that ring the town. Gaither operated a computer terminal at Russell Corp., an athletic wear manufacturer, in nearby Alexander City. He dropped out of Sylacauga High School in the 11th grade, but later got his equivalency diploma and joined the Marines for a year before getting an honorable discharge because of high blood pressure, his parents said.

David W. White, the Birmingham coordinator for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance of Alabama, said Gaither frequented a Birmingham bar called the Tool Box, one of five gay bars in the city. Many gay people from surrounding small towns drive to Birmingham for companionship, he said, because the slightest indication of homosexuality in a town like Sylacauga would invite harassment, or worse.

"I would consider it difficult to live anywhere in Alabama other than Birmingham," White said. "Even in Birmingham, I would never in a public place grab my partner's hand and walk down the street. It would literally be a death wish in the state of Alabama. You would almost be inciting violence to do something like that."

Until now, Gaither's friend said, gay people in town have been more concerned about harassment and the loss of jobs or business than about violence. That all changed with Gaither's murder.  "We're all looking over our shoulders now," said the friend, who carefully closed the doors of his office before even discussing the subject. "You know, Mullins lived just two miles from here."

Mullins, who shaved his head, was known around town for wearing Ku Klux Klan T-shirts and making racist comments, but Gaither's friend said the gay community had not been aware of either him or Butler as someone to fear. Mullins and Butler are being held in the Coosa County jail on $500,000 bond each; their case will be handed to a grand jury on March 17.

Although the two men could face execution if they are convicted of capital murder, they cannot be charged with a hate crime, because Alabama's hate-crime statute covers crimes committed due to race, religion, ethnicity and disability, but not sexual orientation. White and other gay leaders said the murder would increase the pressure on the Alabama Legislature to broaden the statute. Shephard's death led to similar calls for hate-crime legislation that would apply to gays.

President Clinton was explicit in comparing the two cases in offering his prayers to Gaither's friends and family. "In times like this, the American people pull together and speak with one voice, because the acts of hatred that led to the deaths of such innocent men are also acts of defiance against the values our society holds most dear," Clinton said in a statement.

Mrs. Gaither put it somewhat differently.

"If he was gay or not, that still didn't give them no right to kill him," she said.

Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company 

Alabama Town Stunned by Nation's Latest Hate Slaying

The Los Angeles Times 3/6/99
By Edith Stanley, J.R. Moehringer, Times Staff Writers
E-Mail:  letters@latimes.com

 SYLACAUGA, Ala.--People here never dreamed they'd become famous for hate, not in a town that prides itself on being the birthplace of Jim Nabors, TV's lovable Gomer Pyle.
     But now, residents in this rural part of central Alabama must cope with the news that two local men have committed the latest hate crime to horrify the nation.
     To a growing list of nationally mourned victims--including Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay student in Wyoming, and James Byrd Jr., a 49-year- old black man in Texas--officials here are adding the name of Billy Jack Gaither, a 39-year-old gay man whom one woman called "a sweetheart."
     It happened Feb. 26. Gaither left his Sylacauga home for an evening's fun with two straight friends, unaware they had allegedly been plotting his murder for two weeks, ever since claiming he offended them by making sexual overtures.
     The men, 25-year-old Steven Eric Mullins and 21-year-old Charles Monroe Butler, gave full confessions this week, telling police they bludgeoned their friend with an ax handle and then burned his body with a stack of old tires.
     The crime prompted an outraged statement Friday from President Clinton.
     "In times like this," Clinton said, "the American people pull together and speak with one voice because the acts of hatred that led to the deaths of such innocent men are also acts of defiance against the values our society holds most dear."
     A local resident on an off-road romp found Gaither's body Feb. 27, lying in a remote area of Coosa County called Peckerwood Creek, about 30 miles south of here. The creek is where Christians have held baptisms for years.
     "There's nothing there but dirt roads and trees and a creek," said Sheriff's Deputy Al Bradley.
     Sylacauga, where Gaither and the suspects lived, is a quiet town of 13,000 people, about 50 miles south of Birmingham. Rockford, where the suspects were being held, isn't even that big.
     "We're mostly country people," Bradley said. "There's only about 500 people inside our city limits. We don't have a traffic light per se. We got a four-way stop in town that has just a caution light. Most everybody has chickens and cows, and everybody has a dog."
     Folks were stunned, he added, to learn what had happened in their midst.
     Gaither was last seen Feb. 19, at the Tavern, a Sylacauga roadhouse where he was a regular. A low-slung country-and-western bar with two dartboards and a dance floor, the Tavern was filled with his friends, who included the owner, Marion Hammonds, one of his frequent dance partners.
     "He didn't ever put anybody in [an awkward] position," she told the local newspaper. "People didn't know he was gay. I danced with him all the time."
     "He was a sweetheart," said Donna McKee, a bartender. "He had a good soul. He was very social. Though I never saw him come in with anyone, he had a lot of friends here."
     McKee said she used to needle Gaither about his fastidious appearance. "I used to tease him about his dark glasses and his well-combed hair. I wanted to mess his hair up. He was always meticulous."
     In nearby Alexander City, where Gaither worked for years at the Russell Distribution Center, which manufactures sportswear, a co-worker said he was a pleasure to be around.
     "We were shocked," said Jennifer Thompson. "He was a very nice person to work for, and he was well-suited to the job he had." Gaither was a supervisor at the distribution center, she said.
     Of the suspects, she added: "I'm a Christian, and I can't say, 'Hang them.' But I sure would like to."
     The two suspects are being held in lieu of $500,000 bond. They face a March 17 pretrial hearing, and both are waiting for lawyers to be appointed. Mullins was unemployed; Butler was a construction worker.
    Bradley said the police case was helped when Butler couldn't sleep and confided to a friend about his part in the slaying. "He was having trouble in his conscience," Bradley said.
     Local officials who saw the crime scene may have trouble sleeping too. They called it the worst they had ever run across.
     "It's very bad," Bradley said. "I've been in law enforcement going on 17 years, and I've seen a lot of things, but this is tragic. Because somebody is the way they want to be, you just want to take them and kill them and burn them up?"
     Mark Potok, spokesman for the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, said Americans are deluding themselves if they think Shepard, Byrd and Gaither have been the only victims of hate crimes in recent months.
     "The level of violence and the ferocity of the violence has been really remarkable," he said. "We've heard of Shepard and we've heard of Byrd, now we've heard of this case, but who's heard of Sonya Thompson, a 38-year-old woman in Albany, N.Y., who was shot in the neck by two white guys who'd gone out to hunt down a black person with a semiautomatic rifle?"
    The crime, Potok said, happened more than a year ago, and it's one of dozens of wanton acts of hate-motivated violence that have escaped national attention.
     "We're seeing between a dozen and three dozen hate murders per year," he said. "Alabama reported zero hate crimes the last two years. There's no question that's patently false."
     Alabama is one of 41 states with laws against hate crimes, but it's one of 20 states that don't consider sexual orientation grounds for hate crime status. Researchers routinely report that hate crimes directed at homosexuals are more severe than others, Potok said. "It's rather as if the people are trying to eradicate the very persona of the victim."
     Joan Garry, executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, said some of the blame for Gaither's death must be laid at the feet of hard-core conservatives and Christian preachers who vilify homosexuals.
     "As an anti-defamation organization," she said from New York, "GLAAD sees time and time again that hateful rhetoric has real impact on real people's lives. How many more times do we have to see tragedy before that becomes clear to the American public and policymakers?"
     A candlelight vigil for Gaither was planned for Monday night in Sylacauga. There, Friday afternoon, a young mother carried her 4-month-old baby into the offices of the Daily Home. She pointed to the picture of one of the suspects, printed on the front page.
    "I knew him," Amanda Barron said. "When I worked at Dollar General, he'd come in and he was real quiet. He'd buy his stuff and he'd be very nice." She said she couldn't believe that the menacing picture on the front page was her former customer.
    "That picture doesn't look like him. It makes him look evil."

How The Alabama Killing Is Being Covered: a) Photo Attachments -- CNN
1)  2 Accused of Killing, Burning Gay Man -- Washington Post (Bad Coverage)
2)  God Told Suspect In Gay Killings To Confess, Deputies Say -- CNN (Good Coverage)
3) Examples Of Shameful Headlines To This Story (And Fair Ones) -- Various

The Washington Post, 3/5/99
1150 15th Street NW,Washington,DC,20071
(Online Mailer:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm)

2 Accused of Killing, Burning Gay Man By Sue Anne Pressley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 5, 1999; Page A01

MIAMI, March 4—Two young men in the central Alabama town of Sylacauga who told police they were upset over a sexual advance by a gay man have admitted they planned his murder for two weeks, then bludgeoned him to death with an ax handle and threw his body onto burning tires.

Coosa County sheriff's deputies identified the men today as Charles Monroe Butler Jr., 21, and Steven Eric Mullins, 25. The two were arrested earlier this week and charged with murder in the Feb. 19 slaying of Billy Jack Gaither, 39, who friends said made no secret of his homosexuality.

The slaying, whose details emerged only today, carried horrific echoes of the murder of Matthew Shepard by two young men in Wyoming last October in similar circumstances. That killing aroused a national outcry against hate crimes and generated calls for federal legislation to impose stiffer punishments on such conduct.

Marion Hammond, owner of a straight bar called the Tavern in Sylacauga, said she saw Gaither the Friday night of the killing with one of the accused men. "The last time I saw Billy Jack," she said, "I was standing outside the bar talking to my husband and he said, 'Don't worry about that man sitting in my car -- he's just not ready to come in yet.' Well, I respected his privacy, and I said fine."

Later, she said, she learned the man was Mullins; Gaither and Mullins drove to another Sylacauga bar, the Frame, and picked up Butler, she said, citing local news reports. The next morning, when Gaither had not returned to the home he shared with his parents, Lois and Marion, his friends began a search. But Hammond said she had a bad feeling.

Gaither's charred remains were found the next day on a concrete platform near the trash-strewn banks of Peckerwood Creek. His burned-out car was found on a country road. Deputies said the suspects allegedly set two old tires on fire with kerosene and tossed the battered body on top.

Residents of Sylacauga, a town of 13,000 about 50 miles southeast of Birmingham, said they were shocked by Gaither's murder, and gay rights activists expressed similar outrage. "Flags go up any time one of us is murdered and there is no other motivation," said Tracey Conaty of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "We're tuned into a tragedy channel."

Alabama is "pretty hostile" to gay issues, said Conaty. It is one of 19 states where the hate crimes law does not cover crimes related to sexual orientation. Recently, a local court removed a child from a mother's home because she was openly lesbian, Conaty said.

Gay activists said they had received anonymous tips about the nature of the crime. They told police what they heard but remained silent in public, officials said, after a request by authorities that any statements could jeopardize the investigation.

"We got an anonymous tip from someone in Alabama about a week ago, who knew Billy Jack and was terrified," said Dan Hawes, of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in Washington, D.C. "It was pretty evident to him it was a hate crime." The Gay and Lesbian Alliance of Alabama also learned of the killing through a contact in the area, members reported.

Hammond described Gaither, who worked at Russell Industries in nearby Alexander City, as a likable man who, while never denying he was homosexual, "made a point of never doing the gay thing when he was at our place." She said he would often spend part of the evening at the Tavern and the rest at a gay bar in Birmingham.

"He was not obvious about anything," she said. "My husband, Larry, didn't even know he was gay until about a year ago, and I had to tell him." Gaither was "a good-looking man," she said, "dark-complected, about 6-foot-2. He was one of those people who looked better with his glasses on. Those pictures they've been showing on TV don't do him justice."

Hammond said she knew Steven Eric Mullins by sight. "He'd wear the dungaree pants inside the boots and provocative T-shirts, with 'White Power' on them and stuff like that," Hammond recalled. Mullins and Butler were being held tonight on $500,000 bond. According to a sheriff's deputy who spoke to the Associated Press, Mullins said "God told him he needed to confess."

Staff writer Hanna Rosin in Washington contributed to this report.

God told suspect in gay killing to confess, deputies say

ROCKFORD, Alabama (CNN) -- One of two men accused of killing an Alabama man because he was gay said God told him to admit to the crime, authorities said.

Steven Mullins, 25, and Charles Butler Jr., 21, have been charged with murder in the February 19 slaying of 39-year-old Billy Jack Gaither. Sheriff's investigators in Coosa County, southeast of Birmingham, say Mullins and Butler beat Gaither to death with an ax handle, then set his body ablaze on a pyre of old tires.

Sheriff's Deputy Al Bradley said both men have confessed to the killing. Bradley said Butler confessed Monday after a night in jail without sleep. Mullins, "while in jail on another charge, said God told him he needed to confess," Bradley said. "He had a jailer or a trusty go get the investigators," the deputy said.

The pair made plans to kill Gaither after he made a sexual advance toward them in early February, Bradley said. "As Mullins said, he was approached by Gaither, and he just decided he was gonna stop it," Bradley said.

Gaither's family says they didn't know about his homosexuality. "If my son was gay, he sure kept it secret," his father, Marion Gaither, said.

Friends dispute suspects' account :
Authorities say Gaither was beaten to death with an ax handle, then his body was set on fire.

Friends say Gaither didn't deny being gay. But in his hometown of Sylacauga, a textile mill town about an hour's drive from Birmingham, he didn't make it an issue, either. And some dispute the suspects' claim that Gaither made a sexual advance toward them.

Donna McKee, a waitress and bartender at a bar Gaither frequented on weekends, said Gaither was a gentle, caring man who didn't try to push himself on anyone. "He was a good person. He didn't deserve this," she said.  The bar's owner, Marian Hammonds, also did not think Gaither would make unwanted advances.

Gaither worked in a local textile mill and lived at home because he promised his parents he would take care of them. Marion Gaither suffered from numerous medical problems, including a heart attack and trouble with his breathing. He said his son never missed a day of work, except to care for him.

The crime has drawn comparisons to the October 1998 killing of Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming. The two men charged with Shepard's murder were accused of luring him out of bar, assaulting and pistol- whipping him and leaving him lashed to a fence in near- freezing temperatures. Bradley and Sheriff's investigator Kelley Johnson said that, under questioning, the Alabama suspects provided harrowing details of the killing and seemed relieved to be telling the story, but they showed no remorse. According the account Mullins and Butler provided, Gaither had been "coming on" to them for about two weeks prior to the slaying. The day of the killing, Mullins called Gaither to get together in Sylacauga, about 40 miles southeast of Birmingham.

Remains dumped on rural road :
 That night, Gaither picked up Mullins in his car and they then drove to a bar called The Frame, where they picked up Butler. The three then drove to a remote area, where Mullins and Butler beat up Gaither, stuffed him in the trunk of his car and went for supplies.

"They got the kerosene, they got matches, they got tires from the back of the residence, and they got the ax handle," Johnson said. From there, they went to a creek in neighboring Coosa County, doused the tires with kerosene and set them ablaze, authorities said. "They started the fire as they pulled Gaither out of the car," Johnson said. "When Gaither got out of the car, he stood up, and that's when he was beaten to death." Gaither's body was then thrown onto the burning tires, Johnson said. The ax handle's charred remains were later found in the embers of the fire. Coosa County coroner Alan Wingfield said the cause of death was a blow to the head with a blunt object.

The two suspects later retrieved one of their cars and took Gaither's car to another rural spot, where they set it ablaze. A passerby found Gaither's charred remains on a dirt road.

"Regardless of his personal life or anything, he don't deserve to be killed for this," said Randy Gaither, the victim's brother. "To me, it's just a hate thing."

Even if prosecutors can prove the killing was motivated by Gaither's sexuality, it isn't a hate crime under Alabama law, which doesn't specify such crimes as hate crimes. But with the murder charges filed against them, both men could face the death penalty if convicted.

Gaither's father said he opposed the death penalty. "But I hope they get life without parole," he said.

Awful Headlines:

>ABC NEWS
Hate Crime in Alabama
Police: Suspects Say Pass Prompted Murder of Gay Man

DETROIT NEWS
2 kill gay man after claims of advance, police say

AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Pair jailed in slaying of gay acquaintance
Alabama men say bar buddy made a pass at them

Fair Or Good:

SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS
Police cite hate motive in gay Alabaman's death
Pair held in killing admit plotting slaying, police say

BERGEN RECORD
 2 held in gay man's fatal beating

MIAMI HERALD
2 men accused of plotting, carrying out slaying of gay man

LOS ANGELES TIMES
2 Charged With Fatally Beating, Burning Gay Man


GLAAD'S Suggestions For Covering the Murder of Billy Jack Gaither

Media advisory
Media Contact: Ben Stilp, Interim Director of Communications
phone: (212) 807-1700 x14
pager: (888) 656-9045
e-mail: stilp@glaad.org

NEW YORK, NY, FRIDAY, MARCH 5, 1999--Recent media coverage of the brutal murder of Alabama resident Billy Jack Gaither has prompted the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) to release suggested guidelines to media professionals covering this tragedy. These recommendations are aimed at ensuring fair and accurate coverage of the issue and of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Background:
39-year-old Gaither was murdered on February 19 in Coosa County, Alabama. He was bludgeoned to death with an axe handle by 21-year-old Charles Monroe Butler, Jr. and 25-year-old Steven Eric Mullins, both of whom confessed to the murder this week. Following the beating, the two men took Gaither's body to a remote location and set it on fire. In their confessions, they alleged that Gaither had made a sexual advance toward them.

Problems to Consider:
Framing the story with undue focus upon Butler and Mullins' allegation of a sexual advance from Gaither lends credence to the "blame the victim" mentality and the "homosexual panic" defense. It suggests that Gaither's alleged actions somehow gave Butler and Mullins license to commit murder, because he was gay. Sexual orientation - perceived or real - does not give license to discriminate, perpetuate violence, or commit murder.

Framing Your Story:
There is a direct and documented connection between anti-gay rhetoric, attitudes and violent attacks. During the past year, there has been a coordinated and deliberate rise in anti-gay rhetoric from politicians and other public figures. The fallout from this hate speech is devastating, as seen in this incident with Billy Jack Gaither.

GLAAD believes in the need to be conscientious in recognizing the influence that the media has in shaping our society's attitudes. GLAAD urges media professionals to be mindful of their responsibility to avoid perpetuating damaging stereotypes, which contribute to intolerance and violence.
 

For more information and referrals to sources, please contact Wonbo Woo, GLAAD Communications Associate at (212) 807-1700 x24 or page him at (800) 689-0196. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GLAAD is the nation's lesbian and gay media advocacy organization. GLAAD promotes fair, accurate and inclusive representation of individuals and events in all media as a means of combating homophobia and all forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity.Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) glaad@glaad.org

Statement From the Mothers of Matthew Shepard and Allen Schindler on the Murder of Alabaman Billy Jack Gaither

Mothers  Request that Gaither Family's Need for Privacy be Honoured Fri, 05 Mar 1999
rom: IHAVE Foundation info@IHAVE.ORG
In response to the brutal murder of Billy Jack Gaither in Alabama, the mothers of two gay men who were also victims of vicious hate-motivated murders asked today that the Gaither family's request for privacy be respected in this time of tragedy.

In a conversation earlier today, Mrs. Lois Gaither, mother of the victim, told Lee Thompson of the International Hate And Violence Education Foundation (IHAVE) Foundation that the family has been overwhelmed by phone calls from the media and from sympathetic community members.

Matthew Shepard's mother Judy issued the following statement: "The Shepard family wishes to extend their most heartfelt sympathy to the family of Billy Jack Gaither. The Shepard family requests that the Gaither family's request for the right to privacy be respected."

Dorothy Hadjys-Holman, mother of Allen Schindler, agreed with Mrs. Shepard, saying: "The grief that the Gaithers are surely experiencing is one that I hope most people will never know. I wish I could say that I didn't. The Gaither family is in my prayers and I hope that people will respect their need for privacy in this tragic time."

21-year-old Matthew Shepard was beaten nearly to death near his college in Laramie, Wyoming, in October, 1998. He was left for dead, hanging on a wooden rail fence for 18 hours, and died in Ft. Collins, Colo., four days later.

In 1992, Allen Schindler was brutally beaten by a number of his fellow Navy shipmates because he was gay. Every organ in his body was destroyed.

The IHAVE Foundation uses unique techniques to bring awareness and raise funds for organizations that combat hate and violence through education.

Condolences may be sent to the Gaithers in the care of the IHAVE Foundation's website.

 Legal recognition of same sex partnership conference

Centre of European Law
School of Law, King's College, University of London

Thursday to Saturday, 1 to 3 July, 1999

Confirmed Chairs (as of 25 Feb. 1999) include:
 


Confirmed Speakers (as of 25 Feb. 1999) include:
 

For  Further  Information  and a  Registration  Form:
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/kis/schools/law/research/cel/index.html
or
Administrator
Centre of European Law
School of Law, King's College London, Strand
London  WC2R 2LS, Great Britain
Telephone/Fax:  (44) (171) 873-2387 (changing to 848-2387 from 7 April 1999) e-mail: elizabeth.haigh@kcl.ac.uk

Mark Watson, Communications Director, Stonewall
16 Clerkenwell Close, London, EC1R 0AA

Tel. 0171 336 8860                Fax. 0171 336 8864              Immig. 0171 336 0620

mark@stonewall.org.uk           http://www.stonewall.org.uk

Letter:  Abuse rampant in prison

Anchorage Daily News
February 28, 1999
     As I sit in my prison cell, not a day goes by that I am not called a "faggot" or a "homo" by another inmate voicing his ill will toward me.  But it has become pervasive when correctional officers are laughing, joking, making innuendos and saying, "No-good faggots," "You're a sick SOB" and "You don't deserve to live."
     This is not only making things terrible for those inmates who put up with this harassment by other inmates, but now it's become twice as bad when officers side with those few inmates and pour gasoline onto a burning hatred. I'm being retaliated upon by correctional officers because I file grievances. Then they say, "Oh, that faggot is a liar," or, "He's just making it up."
     Nothing is ever done about harassment or the verbal abuse because inmates are afraid to speak up and complain.  Well, I'm tired of being mentally abused, and I want it to stop.  When the judge gave me my time, he did not say, "Correctional officers are to allow inmates and other officers to harass and verbally abuse you."  I do not care how many lawsuits I have to file, but by the time I leave the Alaska Department of Corrections, there will be change and there will be a lot fewer hateful people around me.  The First Amendment says that I have a right to free speech and a right to redress all my concerns.  But it also says those who retaliate are violating the law.  I need not say more.
– John J. Hines; Spring Creek Correctional center (Alaska)

FEEDBACK from Michael Haase (michaelh@servcom.com):
     An inmate at Spring Creek Correctional center in Alaska wrote a letter to the editor of Alaska's largest paper, the Anchorage Daily News, describing constant verbal abuse and threats of what could only be described as gay bashing.  The state agency responsible for investigating reports of abuse of inmates rights is the Alaska Attorney Generals office; specifically, Alaska Attorney General Bruce Bothelo.  To encourage an investigation of this reported abuse, Mr. Bothelo can be reached via e-mail at attorney_general@law.state.ak.us

This was taken from the Hate Crimes mailing List, a Lesbian and Gay Anti-Violence Project (AVP) initiative
Now archived @ http://www.queer.org.au/listarchive/hate-crimes/

    'Bolton 7' -- Terry Connell to appeal to Europe From: Outrage
Email

      Today, Friday, 5th March, the Court of Appeal dismissed Terry Connell's appeal against sentence for consensual gay sex in private: behaviour that would be legal elsewhere in Europe. If he were heterosexual, he would never even have been charged.

      The Court sat at 10:30 to hear Terry Munyard QC explain that this was a 'victimless crime', where all the participants were willing and no one was corrupted; that the sex took place in private behind closed doors, where no one was outraged or offended; that the video was not made for commercial purposes; and that the British Government has effectively abandoned its case against Euan Sutherland, recognising that, since current legislation breaches the European Convention on Human Rights, the law must and will change.

      [The Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill, shortly to be debated in the House of Lords, is a direct consequence of this.]

      Lord Justice Mantell interrupted Mr. Munyard at one point to state categorically that Connell's work as a gay activist did not count against him, since campaigning for the law to be changed "never could be a matter for complaint".

      The Court rose at 10:45. Three minutes later, after full consideration  and due deliberation, the Appeal Judges returned with their typed ruling, which was read by Lord Justice Douglas Brown. They found that, under the existing law, "the learned judge" (Michael Lever) was entirely correct in imposing nine months' imprisonment: though, in regard to the "special circumstances" of the case (as outlined by Terry Munyard), he had suspended this for two years.

      Mr. Munyard commented afterwards: "The attitude of the Court to what they know is a violation of the European Convention is absolutely grotesque".

      Connell, undismayed by today's ruling, is determined to take his  appeal to Europe. "The prejudice shown to black people in this country is akin to the prejudice shown to black people in America in the 60's", he said. "Although we will never be fully rid of racism or homophobia, the powers that be should be doing more to promote equality. The fight goes on."

      Connell was accompanied today by a number of friends, together with campaigners from OutRage! and CHE. John Hunt of OutRage! explained: "Nine months in prison (albeit suspended) seems out of all proportion for a blow-job in any circumstances. It is a bitter blow to have the sentence confirmed today: and, as counsel stated, it is a serious breach of the fundamental human right to equal treatment.

      "Last year's prosecution alone cost half a million  pounds; and the costs of the appeal have not yet been calculated. How paranoid are the authorities in this benighted country that they spend hand over fist to persecute peaceful citizens? Terry is to be commended in his resolve to continue fighting injustice. We will continue to support his appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, (which ruled in October 1997 that Britain's unequal age of consent is unlawful)."

      [Only on Monday the European Court found _prima facie_ evidence of breaches by the MoD of Articles 3 (torture and degrading treatment), Article 8 (Privacy) and Articles 12 and 14 (right to enjoy rights without discrimination!) in its treatment of lesbian and gay personnel. It is to be expected that they will find similarly in this case.]

Submissions to New Magazine Sought        

POKE (v. jab,push, nudge, jostle, shoulder, ram) is a provocative queer journal of ideas and sexual freedom. It will focus on subjects and points of view which most journalists (both straight and gay) choose to ignore, including issues around sex panic (public sex, nudity, prostitution, age of consent, inter-generational relationships) and AIDS dissidence. In addition POKE will re-think the generally accepted wisdom on censorship, pornography, bisexuality and the mainstreaming of gay culture. Inflammatory fiction and photographs will also be welcome.
        POKE will be be published bi-yearly in Toronto, and will be inexpensive and widely distributed.
        There is no payment at the present time for POKE articles but our goal is to generate enough funding to pay, eventually..
        Do you have any previously written articles or yet to be fleshed-out proposals for pieces which you see no hope of ever publishing?
        Send them to us. We are now accepting ideas and enquiries for our first issue in the spring.
        You can reach us at (the email):

        Sky Gilbert anita@istar.ca
         (the address):
        552 Church Street #89
        Toronto, Ontario
        m4y 2E3
        Please address your correspondence to The Editorial Board at POKE. The Editorial Board includes Max Allen, Shannon Bell, Joseph Couture, James Dubro, Sky Gilbert,  Toshiya Kuwabara, Matthew Loubser, Jearld Moldenhauer, Derek Norman,and Carl Strygg.

QLeft: Faith Proclamation For GLBT Equality

Sender: owner-queerleft@QueerNet.ORG

As committed people of faith representing diverse religions, creeds, nationalities, genders and sexual orientations, we join together to celebrate March 21 - 27, as "The Week of Equality for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people."  We join in solidarity with the hundreds of thousands who will celebrate Equality Begins At Home across the United States, a national campaign sponsored by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the Federation of Statewide LGBT Political Organizations to strengthen and unite the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and ally communities.

Tragically many LGBT people have repeatedly endured fear, suffering and even rejection by those in positions of power and leadership.  As people of faith, we know too well the discrimination, homophobia and hatred that exist in our communities of faith leaving in their wake broken and hurting souls longing for a healing balm.  We confess that our faith communities have betrayed the dignity and respect of LGBT persons and humbly ask for forgiveness.

We further pledge that in our daily living beyond today, we will work relentlessly to foster an environment of growth, acceptance and full equality for LGBT persons wherever we may have cause and reason to speak.  We solemnly recognize that we are to be held accountable for championing the rights and welfare of those who have been dismissed or marginalized by society. We pray that our united voices may begin the process of healing, offer hope to the disheartened and restore the broken trust in our communities.  Because we hold to the belief that the Divine is the Sustaining Source of genuine love, we in return offer the richness of that love to all LGBT people in our homes, our communities and in our houses of worship.

Many LGBT people find love and acceptance in their faith communities.  We applaud those people who have served as pioneers in our communities and lift up their efforts as a paradigm for the full equality of LGBT people.  In joining with our fellow sisters and brothers celebrating Equality Begins at Home, we affirm that LGBT people are indeed created in the image of God, deserving of mutual love and respect.  Our continued prayer is that one day intolerance, ignorance, bigotry and violence against all of God's children will be eradicated from the very places where compassion and peace should reign.  Until that day we stand in one voice, one spirit and one hope for the full equality of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Respectfully,
 

Please return with your name, address and email, and please circulate to others,  on and off the internet.

Name:
Title:
Affiliation/Organization:
Address:
Email:
Phone:

Return to: EPFNatlOfc@aol.com

Equal Partners in Faith
2026 P Street NW
Washington, DC  20036
(202) 296-4672 ext. 14
(202) 296-4673 fax
http://www.us.net/epf

We encourage you to use this proclaimation at houses of worship, interfaith services, and read it at the EBAH rallies, if desired. ----------------------------- EQUAL PARTNERS IN FAITH is a multi-racial network of religious leaders and people of faith committed to equality and diversity.  Our diverse faith traditions and shared  religious values lead us to affirm and defend the equality of all people, regardless of religion, race, gender or sexual orientation.  As people of faith, we actively oppose the  manipulation of religion to promote exclusion and inequality.

EQUAL PARTNERS IN FAITH is helping mainstream and progressive people of faith promote a more inclusive vision of religion and society.  Please join us in this important work.  Write, call or email us for more information.

(forwarded by Laura Montgomery Rutt, National Organizer, Equal Partners in Faith)

Two teens arrested in beating of couple

Halifax Chronicle Herald (Nova Scotia)
By Nadine Fownes / South Shore Bureau

Bridgewater - Two Lunenburg County teenagers have been charged in last weekend's beating and robbery of an elderly Hebbville couple.

The 17-year-old boys, whose identities are protected under the Young Offenders Act, were arrested Friday morning. They will be formally arraigned on charges of robbery and assault in Liverpool provincial court on Monday afternoon.

Stewart Hebb, 91, is still recovering in hospital. He was bruised and cut and has broken bones in his face and upper body. Mr. Hebb was pummelled with fists and feet after he opened the door to two masked men last Saturday evening.

"Oh yes, I'm very relieved," said his wife, Ruth Hebb, 74, who was struck in the face by one of the thieves.
"I think this will make Stewart feel better, knowing that (suspects have) been caught, because you know, today he was saying he didn't really know if he wanted to come home again. I think it's just starting to hit him now, exactly what happened to him, and it scares him."

The thieves believed there was money tucked away in the couple's farmhouse - as much as $3,000. They threatened to beat Mrs. Hebb as they had her husband when she handed over all she had - less than $100.

"Why they thought they had to do that to an old man like him, I just don't know. If they'd just come in and said what they wanted, but no, they had to do that. ... I think they were all doped up," Mrs. Hebb said. She said she may go to court on Monday to see the young men for herself, but she hasn't decided yet: "If I get a hold of 'em, they'll be old offenders!"

The brutal attack outraged this community where one is hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn't know the Hebbs.

The couple have operated a farm and greenhouse business for years. Even though many people their age have long since retired, Mr. and Mrs. Hebb still toil away in the fields and greenhouses with their sons.

Mr. Hebb is known countywide for his entries in giant pumpkin contests. "We've been getting calls from people we don't even know. They know us because they've been coming to the greenhouse, but we don't know them," Mrs. Hebb said, amazed by the outpouring of concern from friends, strangers and politicians.

She was especially appreciative of the work the Bridgewater RCMP had done, making arrests within a week of the attack. Police set up a special hotline at the detachment on Thursday to field calls from tipsters.

Mr. Hebb was told by his doctor Friday that he'd have to stay in the South Shore Regional Hospital for at least several more days, but his wife said he doesn't mind.

"They are really good to him. Everyone's been so good to us," Mrs. Hebb said.

Boy to be freed after serving three years for slaying couple

By The Canadian Press
March 7/99

Montreal - He went into custody as a boy with two grisly killings on his conscience.

Now 17, he'll be free on March 20 after serving three years for beating an elderly couple to death.

The boy, whose name cannot be published under terms of the Young Offenders Act, will then move into his mother's home. He's been behind bars for the second-degree murders of Frank Toope, 75, a retired Anglican Church minister, and his 70-year-old wife Jocelyn. The couple were in bed in suburban Beaconsfield when they were attacked about 2 a.m. on April 2, 1995, and slain with beer bottles and a baseball bat.

Quebec Court's juvenile division set the terms last week for the boy's release: two years of supervision by a probation officer and family counselling. At that hearing, he made a public statement for the first time since he and two slightly older boys were charged with the apparently senseless crime.

Turning toward prosecutor Louis Miville-Deschenes, he said:

"I had a lot of resentment towards you three years ago. I think you did a really good job and I kept replaying in my head your closing statement in my trial . . . I want to say thanks a lot. Because of what you did, it changed my life."

It was the first time the boy had expressed anything like remorse for a crime that spurred Ottawa to amend the Young Offenders Act. The changes included longer prison terms and an automatic transfer to adult court for 16- and 17-year-olds charged with serious offences such as murder or sexual assault. At the time, a court refused to grant a petition to transfer the other two boys, then aged 14 and 15, to adult court to be tried before a jury.

The pair pleaded guilty to two counts each of second-degree murder in June 1996 and are to be released this summer, likely under conditions similar to those set down last week for the third boy.

At the time of the crime, the boy was a strutting tough. On the day he was arrested, he told two acquaintances that he had murdered two people so they had better not mess with him.

In the past year, assessments by caseworkers and psychologists have taken on a more positive tone, said Miville-Deschenes. "After living for three years in an environment where there were few, if any, choices, he now has some. I hope it works out for him."

Defence counsel Hans Gervais said the key to his client's successful reintegration into society is how he gets along with his mother. 

U.S. aid workers slain in Colombia

By Andrew Jacobs / The New York Times

Three Americans who were kidnapped last week in the Colombian rain forest were found slain Thursday just across the border in Venezuela, the authorities said Friday.

The two women and a man, members of a group that is trying to preserve an indigenous tribe threatened by oil exploration, were found bound, blindfolded and shot several times, according to the Venezuelan military, which discovered the bodies in a wooded area on the outskirts of Rio Arauca.

Initial reports suggested that the three had been abducted by leftist guerrillas in Colombia, who often use ransoms from kidnapping to finance their military activity.

The State Department condemned the killings, for which it blamed a prominent leftist guerrilla group, and it called on the Colombian government to arrest and extradite to the United States those responsible.

The State Department has identified the three dead as Terence Freitas, 24, and Ingrid Washinawatok, 41, both of New York, and Lahe'ena'e Gay, 39, of Hawaii.

The three had traveled to Colombia to study conditions among the Uwa Indians in a community of 5,000 that is 200 miles northeast of Bogota.

In recent years, Occidental de Colombia, an affiliate of Occidental Petroleum of Bakersfield, Calif., has been trying to explore the region, a move that anthropologists and environmentalists say would devastate the Uwa and their land.

In 1997, the Uwa won a legal battle against the company that prevented it from drilling on their reservation.

The three Americans, members of the Hawaii-based Pacific Cultural Conservancy International, had been invited by Uwa leaders for a weeklong visit when they were abducted. "Everyone is in shock," said Myra Scheer, a spokeswoman for The Rainforest Foundation, on whose board Ms. Washinawatok served. "They went there to help people. We just can't understand why they were killed."

Friends and family members said they had assumed that the three would be released unharmed, as was a group of American bird watchers who last year were held captive by Colombian guerrillas for more than a month.

Ms. Gay and Ms. Washinawatok were shot four times each, and Freitas was shot six times, according to Col. Luis Eduardo Tafur, a Venezuelan police commander in La Victoria, which is just across the Arauca River from Colombia. He said officers had been drawn to the site by the sound of automatic gunfire.

Friends and relatives of the dead said the three had been aware of the potential danger in the region but were deeply committed to helping the Uwa people preserve their way of life. A graduate in biology from the University of California at Santa Cruz, Freitas had traveled to the area three times in the last few years, family members said. "I'm proud of my son," said his mother, Julie Freitas, who lives in Los Angeles. "He lived the life he wanted to live."

Ms. Washinawatok, a member of the Menominee tribe in Wisconsin, lived in Brooklyn with her husband and their 14-year-old son. She was a filmmaker and a lecturer on Native American issues and was active with the American Indian Community House in lower Manhattan.

Ms. Gay was the director of the cultural group that organized the trip. "We're really in shock right now," said her husband, John Livingstone. "It's too much to process."

No group has claimed responsibility for the killings, but a representative from the Uwa Indians who was with the group when they were abducted blamed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, Latin America's largest rebel group.

In recent months, the rebels have been holding preliminary peace talks with the Colombian government to end an armed conflict that has cost more than 30,000 lives in the last three decades.

Politically, the new killings made little sense, and they were far different from other abductions the FARC has carried out, raising some question about the rebel group's involvement.

The abductions occurred at a roadblock in Arauca, where right-wing paramilitary groups have been waging a campaign of extermination among trade unionists, leftists, human rights activists and suspected rebel supporters.

In addition, the FARC's roadblocks are typically manned by uniformed troops in full combat gear, not lightly armed fighters in civilian dress. Arauca is in an area under the FARC group's 43rd Front, whose squadrons of 12 rebels are each headed by a veteran fighter, making it unlikely that a handful of FARC teen-agers, as described by the Uwa, could carry out such an attack.

The rebels stand to win nothing from killing foreigners now. Since the overtures with the government began, the FARC has sought the support of foreign powers. In Washington, its alleged role in abducting two missionaries from the New Tribes Mission in 1994 continues to hamper the ability of Clinton administration officials to openly support the peace effort.

And the abductions did not bear other trademarks of FARC operations. Last year, when the group took three American bird watchers at a roadblock outside Bogota, the rebel group announced they would be investigated for possible intelligence links and either executed or released. This time, the FARC has yet to confirm or deny the abduction. 

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