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Texas Judge Goes Light
on Sentencing of
Killer of Gays
District Judge Jack Hampton rejected a
prosecution request to sentence an 18-
year-old killer to life imprisonment
because the victims--two homosexual
men--were not blameless. "These two
guys that got killed wouldn't have been
killed if they hadn't been cruising the
streets picking up teenage boys,” Judge
Hampton said. "These homosexuals, by
running around on weekends picking up
teenage boys, they're asking for
trouble...! put prostitutes and gays at
about the same level, and I' d be hard
put to give somebody life for killing a
prostitute."
Testimony in Richard Lee Bednarski's
trial indicated that he and a group of
high school students drove to a Dallas
neighborhood for the purpose of
harassing homosexuals on the night of
May 15, 1988. Bednarski, a college
student, persuaded another youth to
join him in robbing the two victims,
who had invited the young men into
their car. After the four left the
car, Bednarski ordered the two Gay men
to disrobe at gunpoint. When they
refused, Bednarski shot them.
Judge Hampton said that, in sentencing
Bednarski, he also took into account
the defendant's lack of a criminal
record, his college attendance, and the
fact that he was raised in a good home
with a police officer as a father.
But the victims' homosexuality seemed
to have been the focus of the
sentencing. "I don't much care for
queers cruising the streets picking up
teenage boys," Hampton said. The
sentence would have been much stiffer,
he said, if the victims had been "a
couple of housewives out shopping, not
hurting anybody."
Gay and Lesbian rights organizations in
Texas are pressing for a review of
Hampton's actions. Hampton has since
stated that he did not intend to offend
homosexuals.
Lesbian TV Character Threatened
The positive portrayal of a lesbian in
the ABC series Heart/Beat has prompted
Christian fundamentalist ^ groups to
organize a negative form-letter-writing
campaign, demanding that ABC either
cancel Marilyn, the lesbian character,
or the series. The network has been
receiving between 1000 and 1500
negative letters a week.
The series is set in a women's health
clinic, and several early episodes
portrayed Marilyn's lesbian
relationship in a positive light and
explored the problems she encountered
with her daughter's failure to accept
her mother's sexuality.
Lesbian and Gay organizations encourage
those interested in the continuation of
the series to write to Aaron 'Spellin
Productions/ Warner-Hollywood Studies/
1041 N. Formosa Ave./ Los Angeles, CA
90046.
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