Last Call: behd the terrifyg untold story of New York's gay bar killer | Books | The Guardian

Contents:

• IN 'LAST CALL', A SERIAL KILLER TARGETS MANHATTAN'S '90S GAY BARS. INSI THE TE STORY
• STREAM IT OR SKIP IT: ‘LAST CALL: WHEN A SERIAL KILLER STALKED QUEER NEW YORK’ ON HBO, A DOCERI THAT TAK A LOOK AT 1990S POLICE INDIFFERENCE IN THE FACE OF GAY MEN GETTG MURRED
• ‘RIGHTEO ANGER WAS A PART OF ’: THE SHOCKG STORY OF NEW YORK’S GAY BAR KILLER
• RH, “AN ALL NEW GAY BAR” G TO SHAW, POSTS LIQUOR LICENSE PLARD
• THE GAY MEN FREQUENTED MANHATTAN PIANO BARS. SO DID THEIR KILLER.
• LAST CALL: BEHD THE TERRIFYG UNTOLD STORY OF NEW YORK'S GAY BAR KILLER

IN 'LAST CALL', A SERIAL KILLER TARGETS MANHATTAN'S '90S GAY BARS. INSI THE TE STORY

HBO’s doceri “Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked New York” has gaed tractn sce premiered on July four-part seri vtigat the stori surroundg a serial killer who targeted gay men a seri of btal murrs and dismemberments the 1990s.

STREAM IT OR SKIP IT: ‘LAST CALL: WHEN A SERIAL KILLER STALKED QUEER NEW YORK’ ON HBO, A DOCERI THAT TAK A LOOK AT 1990S POLICE INDIFFERENCE IN THE FACE OF GAY MEN GETTG MURRED

"Like his victims, who were bisexual and gay, Rogers is a gay man, per his trial ’s book go over some of his bgraphil tails: Rogers was the elst of five children born to a fay Plymouth, had had n-s wh the law before for siarly morbid allegatns. A total of four murrs were brought up at his trial, but he was only charged Thomas Mulhy and Anthony Marrero’s four victims were middle-aged, gay or bisexual men, last seen at gay bars Manhattan. In July 1993, Michael Sakara, a gay man his 50s, left Five Oaks Piano Bar, where he was a regular, wh Rogers and was never seen the killgs, evince prented durg Rogers’ trial stated that he stopped visg the bars.

It turns out that the last place anyone saw Mulhy was an Upper East Si gay bar named The Townhoe, where olr, sophistited men met each other, or met younger men attracted to their type. Through extensive archival footage and terviews wh people who participated the AVP particular and New York’s gay scene general, we are remd of jt how dangero was for people who were jt beg themselv, ually via vlence perpetrated by people who ma a practice out of queer-bashg.

‘RIGHTEO ANGER WAS A PART OF ’: THE SHOCKG STORY OF NEW YORK’S GAY BAR KILLER

But the realy is brought home by the members of AVP and Edgar Rodriguez, a former NYPD sergeant and a member of the Gay Officers Actn League, who discsed the rampant and open homophobia the partment, which was so severe that Rodriguez knew was unsafe for him to e out while he was a p. This is illtrated a really tellg scene durg the terview wh the two Pennsylvania State Police, when the director asks them if he missed anythg durg the terview and one of them potedly says, “Why is the emphasis [of the terview] on the gay part?

” To them, the fact that Anrson was gay was irrelevant, but ’s important for a lot of reasons that they jt n’t wrap their mds around. As an exhsted and emotnal gay man says archival footage: “Do you know what is to be asslted for beg alive? ”It’s a grim picture by self but that era also saw another threat enter the ame, quietly and gomely pickg off gay men already livg on a knife’s Last Call killer, as the media me to ll him, mostly found his victims the one place his victims ed as safe refuge: gay bars.

RH, “AN ALL NEW GAY BAR” G TO SHAW, POSTS LIQUOR LICENSE PLARD

“Righteo anger was a part of , ” says Gertler, of makg the project as a gay man. “The gay thg wasn’t really relevant to the vtigatn, apart om who might have killed him and where he hung out, ” one says, straight-faced.

At another pot, a tective turns the qutns back to ask: “Why is the emphasis on the gay part?

” Photograph: HBOWhile the thori dragged their feet, missg important leads and claimg ignorance over how to handle the se (“I don’t know about where all the gay bars are New York Cy, ” one says, a sense of rigid mascule pri unrlyg) and the media chose to eher ignore or salacly explo, was left up to the same activists who had helped the muny through the early stag of the HIV epimic and ntued to protect them om other forc to do the work. “We’re hearg the same thgs over and over aga by Ron DeSantis, ” Caronna says, parg the rhetoric of now to that of before, phed by the hateful sger turned vol homophobe Ana Bryant, clud the seri. “It’s this legacy of homophobia that’s still very prent and then we get people like Tmp who stoke the flam of homophobia bee they know ’s a wedge issue, bee they know that their fanbase will love if they e after trans people or they e after gay people.

THE GAY MEN FREQUENTED MANHATTAN PIANO BARS. SO DID THEIR KILLER.

It’s all about power, ’s all jt people knowg how to stoke the flam of homophobia for power. ”Last year also saw a story that chillgly mirrored elements of the Last Call killer’s se, wh a spate of men targeted at New York gay bars before beg murred.

”But what Last Call also do is show the undyg importance of the gay bar, even to those who might not unrstand s need (straight lleagu and iends have asked me why gay bars still exist when “Every bar is a gay bar now” and siarly, madngly, “Is g out even a thg anymore? To both Caronna and Gertler, pecially at a time of tensified homophobia, the gay bar is as val as ever.

“I thk we all have our own lived experienc and my lived experience happens to be the clost wh the gay people that I’m around, ” Caronna says. When Matt [Foreman] said I don’t thk straight people unrstand what ’s like to walk to a gay bar, we were like we need to put this le bee actually is a good way of amg .

LAST CALL: BEHD THE TERRIFYG UNTOLD STORY OF NEW YORK'S GAY BAR KILLER

“So much of our life is the bars, and that’s where so much gay history took place, ” Karl recently told our sister publitn, The Advote. ” That led to a number of lotns that were home to a seri of gay bars and clubs over the years.

“Illois was the first state to crimalize homosexualy, 1961, ” la Croix said. “All the obv homosexuals the Midwt livg small towns, drag queens and thgs, they all thought, ‘This is great, ’ so they all moved to Chigo. “That rptn actually gave gay people a space Chigo.

“Young people don’t go to gay bars as much anymore, ” Karl said. “They jt go to any bar they want…which is what we fought for all those years — that gay people uld go anywhere and be accepted anywhere. Unfortunately, now ’s bg the gay bs muny the ass, bee people don’t feel as much of a need to go to gay bars.