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

Contents:

• THE TTH BEHD AMERI’S MOST FAMO GAY-HATE MURR
• WHY IS THE CONVICTED MURRER OF A GAY MAN BEG CELEBRATED AT A MAJOR METAL FTIVAL?
• THE MURR OF A GAY MAN GREENWICH VILLAGE
• LAST CALL: BEHD THE TERRIFYG UNTOLD STORY OF NEW YORK'S GAY BAR KILLER
• THE GAY MEN FREQUENTED MANHATTAN PIANO BARS. SO DID THEIR KILLER.
• STT JOHNSON: MAN NFS TO 1988 GAY HATE MURR
• KILLER ‘JENNY JON’ GAY CSH MURR RELEASED OM PRISON
• GAY MAN KILLED, ANOTHER CRILLY JURED GRDR MEETUP
• LOUISIANA MAN SENTENCED TO 45 YEARS FOR KIDNAPPG AND ATTEMPTG TO MURR A GAY MAN AS PART OF HATE CRIME SCHEME TARGETG USERS OF A DATG APP FOR GAY MEN

THE TTH BEHD AMERI’S MOST FAMO GAY-HATE MURR

They pistol whipped him wh a gun then tied him to a fence eezg ndns and set fire to him before leavg him to attack beme a e célèbre: precipated a natnal backlash agast hyper-macho culture and tac tolerance of homophobia. But the town also has a number of mobile home parks at the edg, some more ndown than the eveng of 6 October 1998, Matthew went to the Firi bar, a lol hangout that was purportedly gay-iendly.

WHY IS THE CONVICTED MURRER OF A GAY MAN BEG CELEBRATED AT A MAJOR METAL FTIVAL?

So why has he put such time and effort to attemptg to prove that Matthew’s murr was not a hate crime, pecially as has seen him acced of beg an ally to the rightwg Christian fundamentalists who ny the realy of homophobia?

”Wypijewski thks the reason some sectns of the gay muny are so angry about the Jimenez book is obv: “Jimenez has taken away their angel, and there is the reflexive sense that as a muny s sufferg was beg at last regnised. Photograph: Evan Agosti/Getty Imag Photograph: Evan Agosti/Getty ImagOn 16 September the Casper Star Tribune, the lol paper Matthew’s home town, published an edorial claimg that an award Jimenez had recently received for his book “serv rejectn”, sayg: “From the begng there have been those who want to ignore the sadistic homophobic motiv of Shepard’s attackers and stead sist the matter was a dg al gone bad.

But the mystery remas – not so much why Matthew died, but why the gay muny, after almost five s of mpaigng for equal rights, reli so fundamentally on the image of the perfect martyr to reprent the e.

THE MURR OF A GAY MAN GREENWICH VILLAGE

6, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old Universy of Wyomg stunt who was openly gay, went alone to the Firi Lounge Laramie after a meetg of the mp LGBT (Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr) stunt group and a quick stop at the Village Inn. Shortly after midnight, Shepard left the bar wh McKney and Henrson; police and prosecutors would assert that the two men lured Shepard, perhaps unr the pretense of themselv beg gay, but fact wh the tent of robbg him. Ed Andriki, The Associated their 36 hours of preparatn and travel, the story of the attack spread om lol to regnal to natnal media, unrsred by the reports om several of Shepard’s iends that he was gay and their fears that he had fallen victim to an anti-gay hate crime.

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

After his effort to mount a “gay panic fense” was led out by Judge Barton Voight, McKney’s unsel, prosecutor Cal Recha and the Shepards agreed to a siar plea barga for nsecutive life sentenc and McKney’s agreement not to speak to the media about the se, a provisn he would repeatedly vlate later years. Wyomg legislators 1999 nsired a state-level hate crime bill that extend to anti-gay and -lbian crimal motivatns, but the measure failed the state Hoe on a 30-30 tie on two nsecutive days and has not sce been serly bated. By parison, when Vikern dispatched Euronymo, who was cidly not gay, an almost intil manner, he was sentenced to the full Ehun was released, he was immediately ved to ntue playg mic.

In the HBO seri, “Last Call, ” the stori of the murred men are told poignant, tenr tail, unrsrg the strength of the gay muny of the era, and the btaly and vastatn bore for so many years.

In fact, there aren’t supposed to be shootgs of any kd Greenwich Village— all of last year, there was only one this weekend, rints of the Village and all of New York were shocked to hear that a man named Mark Carson was stalked and gunned down the heart of their tolerant neighborhood, apparently bee the way he was drsed—a tank top and shorts wh boots—suggted to the assailant that Carson was gay. ”New Yorkers who read news reports about the cint might have been surprised to learn that over-all hate crime agast gays and lbians and other genr-nonnformg New Yorkers Manhattan have creased dramatilly recent months.

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

In May alone, a gay man and his partner were beaten up outsi Madison Square Garn after a Knicks game, another gay man was attacked and beaten on Christopher Street, and a gay uple was beaten after leavg a pool hall on Wt Thirty-send Street.

Each attack was acpanied by anti-gay rants and shouted homophobic are askg how this was possible the same month that the legislatur three stat (Rho Island, Delaware, and Mnota) joed ne others enactg same-sex marriage laws. Ined, how uld the crim—targetg not jt dividuals but New York’s gay muny general, as crim of hate are tend to do—be risg along wh the polil realy that a lbian elected official, Cy Council Speaker Christe Qun, is the ont-nner to be the next New York Cy mayor? The latt crime did not occur some stretch of ral Wyomg, like the one where Matthew Shepard was killed fourteen years ago, but amid the lively gs and gogs on a by Friday night one of the untry’s most gay-iendly (and gayt) neighborhoods.

STT JOHNSON: MAN NFS TO 1988 GAY HATE MURR

But his anti-gay rants and accatns that eveng, right before and durg the fatal asslt—and documented by the fast-movg police vtigatns—ma clear what was his people are angry, and unrstandably so. Not bee the police or Mayor Bloomberg or even Print Obama—who, at the begng of his first term, fought for and signed to law a new feral hate-crim bill, which, for the first time, clud gays and lbians—had not done enough to prevent such heo crim but bee we all have not done enough to elimate prejudice our polil disurse and society more generally. And bee we fool ourselv and do a disservice to our untry when we enterta the ia that the fight for equaly is for example: the battle gog on Washgton right now over immigratn reform, a big qutn is whether the Republins the so-lled Gang of Eight, seekg a bipartisan promise, will abandon the bill if the Democrats ntue to prs for the cln of an amendment that would end discrimatn agast gay and lbian Amerin cizens who are legally married to non-cizen spo.

The movement for gay rights may fact have some “polil power” behd now, as Jtice Roberts also went out of his way to pot out, but gay Amerins do not have equaly, and they still n and are targeted for discrimatn and vlence every day, even on the streets of Greenwich Village. In fact, the people who were most at risk – this se, gay men who met for hook-ups at New York Cy bars that served the muny – were given no staed or amplified warngs by eher the thori or the media, creatg a safe space for the murrer to ntue to wreak havoc. In fact, the se got so ltle attentn relative to s horror that today few remember , even wh the gay, three s after the murrs, journalist Elon Green has wrten a book tled Last Call: A Te Story of Love, Lt, and Murr Queer New York that go beyond the facts of the story to reveal the larger issu that surround them.

Between 1987 and 1994 the cy saw a greater number of killgs than any other stretch more than half a that benighted era, gay bars were often ‘the one refuge om the perils of everyday life’, says Green.

KILLER ‘JENNY JON’ GAY CSH MURR RELEASED OM PRISON

In that same time ame, a close iend was gay-bashed to unnscns by a gang of young men, g a days-long stay the hospal, and I was punched so hard the stomach outsi a gay dance club I thought the guy mt have ed a hammer. Given a chance to acqu, they took ” the same time, Green said that he “ultimately realized that the killer (who was himself gay) was laborg unr the same societal nstrats his victims were. Both victims — olr, whe-llar profsnal men, wh the heterosexual vtments of marriag and children — had last been seen at an upsle Midtown Manhattan gay piano bar lled the begs Elon Green’s terrific, harrowg, te-crime acunt of an elive serial killer who preyed upon gay men the 1990s, perfidly turng the safe havens of gay bars to huntg grounds, and semi-anonymo late-night hookups to an opportuny to kill wh impuny.

The most prolific serial killers explo the vulnerabili of the social orr; the “Last Call Killer” took advantage of gay men’s need for discretn and the enmic homophobia of law enforcement. Wh great passn, he wins his spe to explore the social value of gay bars to the queer muny and the val work of grass-roots groups like the New York Cy Anti-Vlence Project, which fought for fair treatment for gay crime victims durg a perd when they were often treated like reer crimals. Image source, Steve JohnsonImage ptn, Stt me to Atralia 1986 om the USA man has fally nfsed to the murr of Cambridge Universy graduate Stt Johnson after more than 30 27-year-old's naked body was found at the bottom of North Head cliffs, a well known gay cisg ground Sydney, Atralia, back the time, his ath was led as suici - somethg his fay never Whe was arrted and charged 2020, and this week unexpectedly plead guilty at a pre-trial lawyers attempted to have the admissn whdrawn, argug that Whe, 50, was not mentally on Thursday, a Supreme Court judge rejected that motn, wrg the plea was entered " a loud clear voice, and an emphatic and termed manner".

"It was nceivable to me that Stt went somewhere and jumped off a cliff, " his brother Steve told Rad 1 Newsbeat 2018, when he was sperately mpaigng for the tth behd his brother's 2005 Steve says he beme aware of quts to siar aths of gay men at Bondi Beach Sydney - the moment when he says he "woke up" to what might have happened to his younger lol police showed ltle tert re-openg Stt's se, Steve hired an vtigator who unvered urt rerds of gangs who roamed northern beach Sydney at the time mtg asslts agast gay source, Steve JohnsonImage ptn, Steve (left) has spent more than 30 years tryg to fd out the tth about his brother Stt's athAll the years later, Steve told ABC that he was grateful a trial uld be avoid.

GAY MAN KILLED, ANOTHER CRILLY JURED GRDR MEETUP

On both ocsns police found nothg to nvce them Stt hadn't taken his own November 2017 a roner led Stt had been murred by a gay hate gang, which led to a new was timated up to 80 gay men were murred by homophobic gangs and around Sydney the late eighti - wh many phed off third qut created a lot of publicy, wh Atralian police eventually renewg their vtigatn and offerg a $1m reward for rmatn, wh Steve reportedly offerg an addnal $ rerds show "a strike force" was assembled, and followg rmatn received om a member of the public, foc turned to Stt was arrted and charged wh murr on 12 May source, Steve JohnsonImage ptn, Steve says he spent summers wh his brother travellg, readg philosophy and dog maths togetherNew South Wal Police Commissner Mick Fuller prevly said Stt's ath was one of the most challengg s he's ever worked on - mostly bee no-one was willg to talk about his murr. Stt moved om the US to Atralia 1986 bee, at the time, domtic partnership laws (siar to civil partnership) were some of the most clive the homosexualy had only been crimalised New South Wal 1984 and Steve believ police did not take hate crim serly at the time of his brother's source, Steve JohnsonImage ptn, Stt moved to Atralia 1986 to be wh a man he met at Cambridge Universy"The gay muny were send class cizens. This 7th-gra photo of Jse Dirkhisg is om the Lln (Middle) School yearbook 1999 — the same year he was killed after beg sadistilly raped and sodomized by homosexuals (and lovers) David Don Carpenter and Joshua Mave Brown.

LOUISIANA MAN SENTENCED TO 45 YEARS FOR KIDNAPPG AND ATTEMPTG TO MURR A GAY MAN AS PART OF HATE CRIME SCHEME TARGETG USERS OF A DATG APP FOR GAY MEN

The followg article by my good iend and AFTAH wrer Allyson Smh is adapted om her five 2002 article on the horrific and gome murr of a 13-year-old Arkansas boy, Jse Dirkhisg — who died om asphyfixiatn and dggg after beg btally and sadistilly sodomized by a homosexual man, unr the twisted guidance of another (his much olr “gay” lover). The two homosexual lovers who sexually tortured the boy — Joshua Brown and his olr partner, Davis Don Carpenter — were both iends of Jse’s mother, who reportedly was happy to let her son hang out wh the men and even stay over the weekend their apartment a town 32 away.

“Evince om the Jse Dirkhisg se suggt the Arkansas boy’s killers were followg bondage and sodomy ruals of the type laid out sr of books and magaz fuelg the growg “leather” subculture — popular among “gay” men — that eroticiz pa, domance and huiatn.

As fate would have , only a year and a few days separate the anniversary dat of the rape-murr of Dirkhisg (September 26, 1999) om that of the asslt on murred Wyomg homosexual llege stunt Matthew Shepard (October 6, 1998).