AUGUST 14 . 2004 • Q-NOTES
National
21
Alabama mourns murder of gay teen
Scotty Joe Weaver was reportedly
killed by his roommates
by Mark Johnson
BAY MINETTE, Ala. — An 18-year-old
Alabama teen named Scotty Joe Weaver
who vyas found dead July 22 was report
edly murdered in his trailer home because
he was gay and dressed in drag occasion
ally, the town’s police have confirmed.
The murder of gay teen Scotty Joe Weaver
(left) brings to mind the death of another
gay Alabama man, Billy Jack Gaither, in
19^. LGBT activists point to the deaths as
evidence of intolerance in the state.
Weaver’s severely decomposed body
was found on the side of a dirt road by a
man driving an all-terrain vehicle.
Investigators point to statements by the
accused and that the perepetrators robbed
Weaver of less than $100 as strong evi
dence to believe it may have been a hate
crime. Weaver had been beaten, strangled,
stabbed, partially decapitated and burned.
Three people have been charged in the
crime: Chris Gaines, 20, and Nichole
Kelsay, 18, who were Weaver’s room
mates, and 18-year-old Robert Holly
Lofton Porter, who is described as a friend
of the pair who spent a considerable
amount of time at Weaver’s home.
According to a lawyer representing co
defendant Christopher Ryan Gaines, Porter
expressed his hatred of gays and told oth
ers he wanted to kill Scotty Joe Weaver just
days before Weaver was killed.
Weaver was last seen alive July 18,
when he stopped by his mother’s home to
repay a loan after his shift at Waffle House.
His burned and decomposed body was
found four days later in a wooded area not
far from the trailer home he shared with
Gaines and Kelsay.
All three suspects were out of work and
Weaver was paying their bills. Police said it
appeared that the roommates plotted the
murder for several days before acting and
then they amended their story on July 27 to
say that only one of the roommates had start
ed to kill Weaver and the others joined in.
The Bay Minette Sheriff’s Department
said July 26 that an autopsy indicated that
Weaver was beaten, strangled and cut with
an edged weapon, although it is unclear
which caused his death. No weapons have
been recovered or identified.
The death penalty is being pursued by
police even though sexual orientation is
not protected by Alabama hate crimes
laws.
Those who knew Weaver in high school
say that the climate for gay teens in Mobile
— which is about 25 miles from Bay
Minette — is not at all accepting.
“Everybody talked about him (Weaver)
real bad, they acted like they hated him,”
said Destannie Edmonson, a former class
mate. “1 know for a fact Chris Gaines did,
because he used to talk about him all the
time. He lived with him.”
Members of Mobile’s LGBT community
came out in force Aug. 2 to honor Weaver
with a candlelight vigil. About 130 people
attended the event in the town’s
Washington Square, where local LGBT
leaders talked about Weaver and the polit
ical environment for gays.
“We started the community center [here]
to prevent things like this from happening,
and all week, I’ve felt like we’ve failed,” said
Tony Thompson, of Mobile’s Bay Area
Inclusion. “But when I come out here and
see all these people who came to remember
someone most of us probably never even
met, 1 feel like we’ve succeeded.”
A friend of Weaver’s spoke about the
teen to the Mobile Register.
“He was a sweet kid. funny, always smil
ing — a happy-go-lucky individual,” said
Jane White. “He loved his friends, loved his
mother. There’s just no reason for this.”
Weaver’s death is a disturbing
reminder of the murder of Billy Jack
Gaither, who was kidnapped and beaten
to death before his body was set on fire in
a pile of kerosene-soaked tires in rural
Alabama’s Coosa County in 1999. His
killer and a cohort received sentences of
life in prison without the possibility of
parole.
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