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Published Every Two Weeks On Recycled Paper • Volume 14, Number 12 • October 30, 1999 • FREE
Hate Clime bill fails despite rise
of violence motivated by bigotry
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Angel Action stands against anti-gay protestors at McKinney's trial
Second Shepard trial marks
first anniversaiy of slaying
Phelps clan clashes
with angels
by Dan Van Mourik
Q-Notes Staff
LARAMIE, WY—On Monday, October
11, National Coming Out Day, jury selec
tion began in the second Matthew Shepard
murder trial. Accused slayer Aaron
McKinney, 22, faces first-degree murder
charges, as well as kidnapping and aggravated
robbery, in Shepard’s death. The prosecution
is seeking the death penalty. Russell
Henderson, McKinney’s friend, pled guilty
to felony murder during his trial in April and
is serving two life sentences. Henderson ac
cused McKinney of Shepard’s death and may
be called as a witness.
Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay stu
dent at the University of Wyoming, survived
in a Fort Collins, CO hospital for five days
without regaining consciousness after
McKinney and Henderson hit him 18 times
in the head with a handgun and left him tied
to a split-rail fence outside Laramie. Pros
ecutors argue that the pair lured Shepard out
of a bar by pretending to be gay to rob him.
The protest
Outside the Albany County Courthouse,
17 “angels” spread their wings in protest as
the Rev. Fred Phelps spewed his anti-gay
message. Phelps and five members of his
Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, KS re
turned to Laramie to rail against homosexu
als. “The everlasting word of God says what
they [homosexuals] do is filthy,” Phelps said.
To protest Phelps, a group of people called
Angel Action stood nearby, wearing angel
cosmmes made from white sheets. The sheets
were stretched across plastic pipes which
served as frames for enormous wings.
Romaine Patterson, 21, a friend of
Shepard, organized the angels. The group in-
See TRIAL on page 29
Eyewitness account:
by Jeffrey Montgomery
Special to Q-Notes
Have just returned from a stunning event.
Took part in the very last leg of the Hike for
Hope. Jerry Switzer and Jeremy Atencio
walked over 70 miles from Ft. Collins, CO
to Laramie, WY. Here’s the lead from a story
in today’s Denver Post. “[Switzer & Atencio]
trekked the last 20 miles to Laramie along
US 287 on Monday. Surrounded by wind
swept prairie and buffeted by gusts from pass
ing tractor-trailer rigs, they thought about
their friend Matthew Shepard, who died one
year ago today.”
Switzer and Atencio organized the hike
to raise awareness and to encourage people
to think and talk about gay rights and the
broader issue of tolerance for all.
To that end, they hooked up with the
BEAR (Bringing Equality and Respect)
Project which accounted for the fact that
hundreds of teddy bears accompanied them
on the walk. Each bear has been created by
someone to memorialize a victim of hate vio
lence, and bears have arrived from around
the world.
This was a beautiful memorial; one that
should be outstanding among all of those re
membrance events that are taking place
Hike for Hope
Jerry Switzer walks for change
throughout the country over these last and
next few days. Jerry and Jeremy are heroes
who have demonstrated the real human level
of the effect of loss through violence, while
making a meaningful and deeply personal
memorial to their good friend.
It was an honor and privilege to be with
them as their hike ended and to accompany
See HIKE on page 10
by David Stout
Q-Notes Staff
WASHINGTON, DC—Republican lead
ers allowed the Hate Crimes Prevention Act
(HCPA) to be removed from the Commerce,
State, Justice appropriations bill on October 18
— squashing hopes that federal hate crimes leg
islation would be enacted this year.
If approved, HCPA would have extended
current federal hate crimes protection — which
currently covers race, religion, color and na
tional origin — to include gender, sexual ori
entation and disability. HCPA would have
helped law enforcement by allowing federal
assistance, when necessary, in the investigation
and prosecution of hate crimes.
The head of the Human Rights Campaign
(HRC), the nation’s largest GLBT advocacy
organization, charged that the GOP’s inaction
on this key legislation, at a
time when hate crimes are on
the rise, sends a message of
legislative indifference to
ward hate crime victims and
their families.
“Apparently, the GOP
leadership learned nothing
from the recent wave of hate
crimes that have rocked our
nation,” said HRC Executive
Director Elizabeth Birch.
“This unconscionable action
is a cynical betrayal of the
American people who de
mand a safer society where
Bill Bradley:
“This is an outrage."
they are not menaced by violent haters.”
The GOP’s thwarting of this legislation
came just one day after the FBI released new
statistics showing a rise in hate crimes against
gay and lesbian Americans. According to the
FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports for 1998 — the
latest year for available statistics — hate crimes
based on sexual orientation increased 12.5 per
cent from 1997 to 1998.
Hate crimes based on sexual orientation have
nearly tripled since the FBI began collecting
statistics in 1991, comprising 16 percent of all
hate crimes for 1998 at 1260 Incidents. This is
particularly disturbing since the number of re
porting agencies for 1998 decreased from
11,211 to 10,461, and two fewer states re
ported, as well. Hate crimes based on sexual
orientation continue to make up the third high
est category of those reported to the FBI after
race and religion.
In July, the Senate passed
the Hate Crimes Prevention
Act for the first time as part
of the Commerce, State, Jus
tice appropriations bill. The
House version of the bill did
not include HCPA. The
GOP leadership omitted the
^ HCPA legislation in confer
ence, where a compromise
between the House and Sen
ate versions of the Com
merce, State, Justice bill was
crafted.
See BILL on page 29
US Air Force takes impressive
measures to stem discharges
by David Stout
Q-Notes Staff
SAN ANTONIO, TX—In response to the
controversy that erupted earlier this year over
the disproportionately high number of gay dis
charges at the Air Force’s basic training center
at Lackland Air Force Base, the service has made
a landmark change in the way it handles such
cases.
Under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pur
sue,” recruits who publicly declare themselves
to be gay must leave the service. Under the new
Lackland procedures, recruits are being given a
few days to recant their statements and stop
further investigation.
According to military brass, the impact has
been significant. “Almost no one is being dis
charged for being gay at Lackland,” said Jim
Wolffe, special assistant to Air Force Secretary
F. Whitten Peters.
The problems at Lackland, which houses
30,000 recruits, first came to light when
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
(SLDN), a gay military watchdog organization,
released its annual report last spring document
ing the number of gay discharges in each ser
vice branch.
Although the figures for all branches have
been flat or declining since 1994, the Air Force’s
numbers spiked in 1998 to a record 414 expul
sions. The shocking statistic was that 65 per
cent of the discharges were at Lackland alone.
After an intensive evaluation, SLDN attrib
uted the situation to four primary concerns: I)
a general lack of understanding about “Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue” implementation;
2) harrassment and speculation among enlist
ees; 3) inadequate procedures to safely resolve
problems or conflicts; and 4) a misguided pro
cess resulting in virtually automatic discharges.
“Many of the people with whom we spoke
at Lackland said they had no means to clear up
confusion or address problems arising under the
policy,” said Dixon Osburn, SLDN co-execu
tive director. He added that “gay, lesbian and
bisexual trainees did not know where to turn
for help or to ask questions about the policy
without potentially jeopardizing their careers.”
With the new policy, however, this problem
appears to have been corrected. Recruits are now
allowed to explore the details of “Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue” with Air Force law
yers in confidential discussions that cannot be
used against them.
Judging by the numbers, these changes are
making things a little easier for gay and lesbian
enlistees. Comparing the same periods from this
year and last, the number of gay discharges
among Lackland recruits has plummeted from
195 to 31.
Despite the improvements, Wolffe empha
sized that the changes do not reflect a tolerance
for openly gay recruits. “There’s no intention
of having openly gay people serve at Lackland
or anywhere in the Air Force.”
He explained that recruits are only allowed
to recant when they have made statements in
private to individual instructors or officers, not
in cases where they have made public declara
tions or displays — such as holding hands with
a member of the same sex.
Whatever their shortcomings, SLDN
praised the modifications in a letter to Secre
tary Peters. “This process appears to be a genu
ine effort to reduce the number of gay dis
charges.” ▼