Word: gaither
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...friendship with people we disagree with." Many of the kids have grown up in conservative homes where gays are rarely spoken of, especially not in exhortations to friendship, and now they sit stone-faced, motionless. Falwell laments the murders of Matthew Shepard, the gay Wyoming student, and Billy Jack Gaither, the gay man clubbed to death and burned in Alabama. Falwell makes clear that, to him, homosexuality is still a sin. But he says Christians must be more vigilant about observing both halves of "that cliche," as he calls it: "Love the sinner but hate...
SENTENCED. CHARLES BUTLER JR., 21, and STEVEN MULLINS, 25; to life in prison without parole, for the murder of gay computer operator Billy Jack Gaither; in Rockford...
According to police, Steven Eric Mullins, 25, and Charles Monroe Butler Jr., 21, plotted for two weeks to murder Billy Jack Gaither, 39. On Feb. 19, they arranged to meet him at a Sylacauga bar and lured him to a secluded area. There they beat him and dumped him into the trunk of his car. They then drove about 15 miles to Peckerwood Creek in Coosa County. There, says Coosa County Sheriff's Deputy Al Bradley, "they took him out of the trunk, took an ax handle and beat him to death." They set two old tires aflame, says Bradley...
...Gaither's death has become a rallying point for gay-rights organizations' and state legislators' pushing a bill that would extend Alabama's three-year-old hate-crimes law beyond race, color, religion and national origin to cover crimes related to sexual orientation as well. "It's unfortunate that somebody had to lose his life in order for this legislation to pick up momentum here in the state of Alabama," says state Representative Alvin Holmes, who failed to get the original law amended when it was passed in 1996. Holmes filed for extending the law after Matthew Shepard...
...Before Gaither's murder, activists were planning a major national pro-gay offensive. From March 21 to March 27, the task force will launch its "Equality Begins at Home" campaign, with 250 grass-roots events in all 50 states aimed at passing anti-gay-bashing legislation. Says Conaty: "These laws reflect the conscience of a community and send an important message." The March events, says Urvashi Vaid, director of the task force's policy institute, will involve straight people concerned about neighbors denied basic human rights. Adds Vaid: "It's more than just a gay thing...