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Two young men have confessed to a murder based on
anti-gay bias, making national headlines
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Rev. Casey Chaney
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Travel
y all accounts Billy Jack Gaither $500,000. They have been charged with sim­
was a quiet, gentle man, a loyal ple murder, which carries a maximum sentence
friend, a good employee, a regular of life imprisonment. According to authorities,
Bible reader, and a loving son who a grand jury could indict the two men on cap­
lived with and cared for his mother ital charges based on evidence of premedita­
and disabled father. He also happened to be tion, conspiracy and kidnapping. If that hap­
gay. And that, according to several media pens, the duo could face the death penalty.
Gaithers friends reportedly don’t believe
sources, led to his death.
Not many people knew that 39-year-old the suspects’ claim that Gaither made a sexual
advance toward the men.
Gaither was gay. He kept
5 “He didn’t ever put any-
that part of his life to him­
o body in [an awkward] posi-
self, driving from his home
§
tion. A lot of people didn’t
in Sylacauga, Ala., to
know he was gay. I danced
Atlanta if he wanted to go
with
him all the time,” says
to a gay bar.
Marian Hammond, owner
Two men who did know
of
The Tavern, a bar fre­
of Gaithers sexual orienta­
quented by Gaither and
tion were casual acquain­
the one he visited the
tances from nearby Fay­
night of his death.
etteville, Ala. On the night
Gaither commuted
of Feb. 19 Steven Eric
each day to his job at Rus­
Mullins, 25, and Charles
sell Corporation’s distribu­
Monroe Butler, 21, lured
tion center in Alexander
Gaither from a local bar,
City, Ala. He was a well-
beat him with an ax handle
and threw him in the trunk
respected employee. He
of his own car. They then Above: Billy Jack Gaither; below: handled all his regular
drove the car to a secluded suspects Steven Eric Mullins (left) duties and, when needed,
filled in for the supervisor.
site on the hanks of Pecker- and Charles Monroe Butler
SM
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“He was an outstanding employee,” says
Russell spokesperson Nancy Young. “He was
one of those people who had a good attitude.
The folks that worked with him were dis­
traught about his death and now more so with
the stories that have come out since his
death.”
Alabama’s hate crimes law does not include
sexual orientation. A proposal to include ori­
entation has been filed by state Rep. Alvin
Holmes, a Democrat from Montgomery.
“This is not the type of place where this
happens,” says George Carlton, president of
the Sylacauga City Council. “Just because you
don’t like someone, you don’t beat them to
death.”
Collins. Her complaint alleged that Pueblo RV
Resort was a lesbian enclave and that resort
managers made it hard for her to sell her lot.
The gated resort first became a destination
for an all-women’s RV club five years ago. Its
228 spaces are individually owned. One of them
is currently owned by a man.
According to Joan Montana, resort manager,
Pueblo RV Resort has never discriminated. She
The Arizona Republic.
states that residents have sold their lots without
This all came about because of a complaint regard to race, gender, religion, family status or
filed in 1996 by a former resident, Dehra handicap.
T
a pleasant and affordable experience.
Je a n R o sen b au m
wood Creek. Once there, Mullins and Butler
beat Gaither to death with the ax handle.
They tossed his body on a flaming pyre of
kerosene-soaked tires and left. The next day
Gaither’s burned-out car was found on a coun­
try road.
Mullins and Butler have confessed to the
murder. They claim Gaither made a sexual pass
at one of them. Angered and upset by that
alleged action, the two men spent two weeks
plotting the murder.
“Mullins and Butler stated the reason they
killed him was because he was a homosexual,”
says Coosa County sheriff’s deputy A1 Bradley.
“We believe this to he the true motive.”
Both suspects are being held in the Coosa
County jail. Bond for each has been set at
he Arizona attorney general’s office has
ruled that an all-women recreational vehi­
cle resort violated fair-housing laws.
In a conciliation agreement reached
between Pueblo RV Resort and the attorney
general’s office, the resort agreed to open its
facilities to men and allow surprise inspections
to ensure compliance, reports the Mar. 5 issue of