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Annual vigil helps raise awareness of hate crimes

Brisk winds and rumbling trains did not stop a crowd of around 50 people from gathering Sunday afternoon at the Union Station Train Shed to honor gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender victims of hate crimes. Vigil for Victims of Hate and Violence began 13 years ago to honor the memory of Billy Jack Gaither, a 39-year-old Alabamian, who on Feb. 19, 1999, was brutally murdered allegedly because he was gay. The vigil aims to raise awareness of hate crimes against gays and lesbians and to advocate for the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity to Alabama's hate crimes law. According to the Human Rights Campaign, ( www.hrc.org), the state's law, Ala. Code 13a-5-13, only covers hate crimes related to race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity or physical or mental disability. Sam Wolfe, a civil rights lawyer with the Southern Poverty Law Center and the event's keynote speaker, underscored the group's effort to change the law by recounting the night of Gaither's death, in which Steven Mullins and Charles Butler -both found guilty of capital murder and

sentenced to life in prison -- cut Gaither's throat, bludgeoned his body with an axe a nd then threw his body, "like a bag of trash," Wolfe said, onto a pile of tires, which were then set on fire. The murder has never been identified as a hate crime. "Billy extended kindness to all around him, and this include Steven," Wolfe said of Gaither's prior acquaintance with Mullins. "What he didn't know was that Steven had plotted to murder him." Four months earlier, Wolfe noted, 21-yearold Matthew Shepard of Wyoming had endured a similar torture/murder, one that drew nationwide attention. "Far too many similar crimes and tragedies continue to involve our communities. These include families, churches, schools and workplaces that yet harbor hostility for people simply because they are gay or transgender, as though being gay were somehow a choice -- but it's not. For most
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of us, orientation is not a choice. It's just a part of who we are." The vigil, relocated from its traditional spot at the Capitol steps because of inclement weather, also recognized people who have worked toward the cause of raising awareness. Hoover High School student Sara Couvillon, who stood up for her right to wear a gayaffirming T-shirt to school, and was allowed to continue wearing the shirt to school, received the first Stephen Light Youth Advocacy Award, named for an avid LGBT advocate in Alabama who died last year at age 25.

studying the physical and mental wellbeing of gay people have found that supportive families, communities and states result in outcomes similar to other populations. "In Alabama, we're not there yet," Wolfe said. Before the band the Shouting Stones resumed their free concert, the Rev. Elizabeth O'Neill of Immanuel Presbyterian Church offered closing words, a prayer and then a sharing of the song "One More Word." " 'Till every word is heard by everyone, we'll say one more word," she sang with the crowd, who followed along with lyrics posted on signs. As the song progressed, another train -- the last of several that rambled by just yards away during the vigil, moved closer.

State Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham, the state's first openly lesbian legislator who recently introduced a bill to expand the state's hate crime law, presented the Billy Jack Gaither Award to James Robinson of GLBT Advocacy and Youth Services in "Come on," O'Neill said as the singers grew Huntsville. louder. "Let's drown out the train." Though the federal Hate Crimes Prevention Act addresses crimes committed because of sexual orientation, federal jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute is limited to hate crimes that affect interstate commerce -Alabama's cannot be prosecuted as hate crimes unless they meet the FBI's strict requirements, advocates said. Yet, Alabama's hate crimes law still excludes crimes based on sexual orientation or identity. Wolfe noted that the law reflects predominant attitudes within the state, adding that social scientists
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Vigil sponsors included Alabama NOW, Equality Alabama, Immanuel Presbyterian Church (Montgomery), New Hope Metropolitan Community Church, PFLAG (Parents, Friends and Families of Lesbians and Gays) Montgomery, the Alabama Safe Schools Coalition, the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Montgomery and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

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Amy and John Applegate listen to Sam Wolfe speak at Sundays Vigil for Victims of Hate and Violence. / AMANDA SOWARDS/ADVERTISER

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