Erasure & Sensationalism

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At first, the passing bicyclist thought the crumpled form lashed to a ranch fence was a scarecrow. But when he stopped, he found the burned, battered and nearly lifeless body of [[Matthew Shepard|int 1 Shepard]], an openly gay college student who had been tied to the fence 18 hours earlier. Today, Mr. Shepard, a 22-year-old University of Wyoming student, was in a coma in critical condition. Set in a treeless landscape defined by barbed-wire fences, grazing cattle and a busy freight railroad line, Laramie is a town where pickup trucks outnumber sport utility vehicles, where fall entertainment revolves around this Saturday's homecoming football game and the start of the hunting season in the nearby mountains. 'Wyoming is not really gay friendly,' Marv Johnson, executive director of the Wyoming chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said from Cheyenne. 'The best way to characterize that is by a comment a legislator made a few years back, when he likened homosexuals to gay bulls as worthless and should be sent to the packing plant.' Mr. Shepard joined the campus gay association at the university within days. One of his favorite haunts was the Fireside Bar, which drew a mixed crowd of college students and rodeo cowboys, gay and straight. Beating him inside the truck, the pair drove him one mile southeast to an isolated part of a new rural subdivision, the County Attorney's report said. There, it said, the men tied their captive to a fence and pistol-whipped him with a .357 magnum handgun 'while he begged for his life.' Relatives said that Mr. Shepard also suffered burns on his body. After nearly beating the young man to death, said the Laramie Police Commander, David O'Malley, the assailants stole his wallet and shoes and left him tied to the fence. 'If I were a homosexual in Laramie, I would hang low, very low,' said Carla Brown, manager of the Fireside. 'Openly gay behavior is not only discouraged, it's dangerous.'

At first, the passing bicyclist thought the crumpled form lashed to a ranch fence was a scarecrow. But when he stopped, he found the burned, battered and nearly lifeless body of Matthew Shepard, an openly gay college student who had been tied to the fence 18 hours earlier. Today, Mr. Shepard, a 22-year-old University of Wyoming student, was in a coma in critical condition. Set in a treeless landscape defined by barbed-wire fences, grazing cattle and a busy freight railroad line, Laramie is a town where pickup trucks outnumber sport utility vehicles, where fall entertainment revolves around this Saturday's homecoming football game and the start of the hunting season in the nearby mountains. 'Wyoming is not really gay friendly,' Marv Johnson, executive director of the Wyoming chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said from Cheyenne. 'The best way to characterize that is by a comment a legislator made a few years back, when he likened homosexuals to gay bulls as worthless and should be sent to the packing plant.' Mr. Shepard joined the campus gay association at the university within days. One of his favorite haunts was the Fireside Bar, which drew a mixed crowd of college students and rodeo cowboys, gay and straight. Beating him inside the truck, the pair drove him one mile southeast to an isolated part of a new rural subdivision, the County Attorney's report said. There, it said, the men tied their captive to a fence and pistol-whipped him with a .357 magnum handgun 'while he begged for his life.' Relatives said that Mr. Shepard also suffered burns on his body. After nearly beating the young man to death, said the Laramie Police Commander, David O'Malley, the assailants stole his wallet and shoes and left him tied to the fence. 'If I were a homosexual in Laramie, I would hang low, very low,' said Carla Brown, manager of the Fireside. 'Openly gay behavior is not only discouraged, it's [[dangerous->int 2 Shepard]].'

At first, the passing bicyclist thought the crumpled form lashed to a ranch fence was a scarecrow. But when he stopped, he found the burned, battered and nearly lifeless body of Matthew Shepard, an openly gay college student who had been tied to the fence 18 hours earlier. Today, Mr. Shepard, a 22-year-old University of Wyoming student, was in a coma in critical condition. Set in a treeless landscape defined by barbed-wire fences, grazing cattle and a busy freight railroad line, Laramie is a town where pickup trucks outnumber sport utility vehicles, where fall entertainment revolves around this Saturday's homecoming football game and the start of the hunting season in the nearby mountains. 'Wyoming is not really gay friendly,' Marv Johnson, executive director of the Wyoming chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said from Cheyenne. 'The best way to characterize that is by a comment a legislator made a few years back, when he likened homosexuals to gay bulls as worthless and should be sent to the packing plant.' Mr. Shepard joined the campus gay association at the university within days. One of his favorite [[haunt->int 3 Shepard]]s was the Fireside Bar, which drew a mixed crowd of college students and rodeo cowboys, gay and straight. Beating him inside the truck, the pair drove him one mile southeast to an isolated part of a new rural subdivision, the County Attorney's report said. There, it said, the men tied their captive to a fence and pistol-whipped him with a .357 magnum handgun 'while he begged for his life.' Relatives said that Mr. Shepard also suffered burns on his body. After nearly beating the young man to death, said the Laramie Police Commander, David O'Malley, the assailants stole his wallet and shoes and left him tied to the fence. 'If I were a homosexual in Laramie, I would hang low, very low,' said Carla Brown, manager of the Fireside. 'Openly gay behavior is not only discouraged, it's dangerous.'

At first, the passing bicyclist thought the crumpled form lashed to a ranch fence was a scarecrow. But when he stopped, he found the burned, battered and nearly lifeless body of Matthew Shepard, an openly gay college student who had been tied to the fence 18 hours earlier. Today, Mr. Shepard, a 22-year-old University of Wyoming student, was in a coma in critical condition. Set in a treeless landscape defined by barbed-wire fences, grazing cattle and a busy freight railroad line, Laramie is a town where pickup trucks outnumber sport utility vehicles, where fall entertainment revolves around this Saturday's homecoming football game and the start of the hunting season in the nearby mountains. 'Wyoming is not really gay friendly,' Marv Johnson, executive director of the Wyoming chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said from Cheyenne. 'The best way to characterize that is by a comment a legislator made a few years back, when he likened homosexuals to gay bulls as worthless and should be sent to the packing plant.' Mr. Shepard joined the campus gay association at the university within days. One of his favorite haunts was the Fireside Bar, which drew a mixed crowd of college students and rodeo cowboys, gay and straight. Beating him inside the truck, the pair drove him one mile southeast to an isolated part of a new rural subdivision, the County Attorney's report said. There, it said, the men tied their captive to a fence and pistol-whipped him with a .357 magnum handgun 'while he begged for his life.' Relatives said that Mr. Shepard also suffered burns on his body. After nearly beating the young man to death, said the Laramie Police Commander, David O'Malley, the assailants stole his wallet and shoes and left him tied to the fence. 'If I were a homosexual in Laramie, I would hang low, very low,' said Carla Brown, manager of the Fireside. 'Openly gay behavior is not only discouraged, it's dangerous.' [[Return->index]]

A woman who had posed as a man and dated women was found shot to death on Friday, two weeks after residents of this rural area learned her true identity, the authorities said today. The body of Teena [[Brandon->int 1 Teena]] was found along with the bodies of Lisa Lambert, 23, and Phillip DeVine, 22, both of whom had also been shot, in a farmhouse about three miles south of Humboldt, a southeastern Nebraska town of 1,000 residents. Ms. Brandon shared the rented house with Ms. Lambert and Ms. Lambert's infant son, who was not harmed. Mr. DeVine was from Fairfield, Iowa, and his stepfather said in a telephone interview that Mr. DeVine had left home to visit friends in Nebraska. John Lotter, 22, and Marvin Nissen, 21, both of Falls City, were arrested for investigation of murder and held in the county jail. They were also charged with kidnapping and sexually assaulting Ms. Brandon on Dec. 25, said the Richardson County Attorney, Douglas Merz. The authorities refused to say if they believed the slayings were connected to the earlier assault complaint, to Ms. Brandon's double life or to some other incident. Stories of Sex Change Surgery. Friends said Ms. Brandon, 21, had posed for two months as a man, using the name Brandon Teena, and had told stories of an incomplete sex-change operation or of being a hermaphrodite. "She said she felt like a man inside, but she was a female outside," said Michelle Lotter, a friend of Ms. Brandon and a sister of Mr. Lotter. Ms. Brandon had lived with Ms. Lambert for about three months, but their relationship was unclear, Mr. Merz said. Her friends said she moved to the area from Lincoln about three months ago and went by the name Brandon Teena. One woman she dated was Lana Tisdel, 19, of Falls City, who said she met Ms. Brandon at a party in November. The two dated for about a week, and Ms. Tisdel said she had believed that Ms. Brandon was male until Ms. Brandon was arrested about two weeks ago on alcohol and forgery charges. After the authorities referred to Ms. Brandon as a woman, Ms. Tisdel said, she confronted her. "She told me that she had a sex change and it's not all done," Ms. Tisdel said.

<s>A woman who had posed as</s> a man <s>and dated women</s> was found shot to death on Friday, two weeks after residents of this rural area learned <s>her</s> true identity, the authorities said today. The body of Teena Brandon was found along with the bodies of Lisa Lambert, 23, and Phillip DeVine, 22, both of whom had also been shot, in a farmhouse about three miles south of Humboldt, a southeastern Nebraska town of 1,000 residents. <s>Ms.</s> Brandon shared the rented house with Ms. Lambert and Ms. Lambert's infant son, who was not harmed. Mr. DeVine was from Fairfield, Iowa, and his stepfather said in a telephone interview that Mr. DeVine had left home to visit friends in Nebraska. John Lotter, 22, and Marvin Nissen, 21, both of Falls City, were arrested for investigation of murder and held in the county jail. They were also charged with kidnapping and sexually assaulting <s>Ms.</s> Brandon on Dec. 25, said the Richardson County Attorney, Douglas Merz. The authorities refused to say if they believed the slayings were connected to the earlier assault complaint, to <s>Ms.</s> Brandon's double life or to some other incident. Stories of Sex Change Surgery. Friends said <s>Ms.</s> Brandon, 21, had posed for two months as a man, using the name Brandon Teena, and had told stories of an incomplete sex-change operation or of being a hermaphrodite. "<s>She</s> said <s>she</s> felt like a man inside, but <s>she</s> was a female outside," said Michelle Lotter, a friend of <s>Ms.</s> Brandon and a sister of Mr. Lotter. <s>Ms.</s> Brandon had lived with Ms. Lambert for about three months, but their relationship was unclear, Mr. Merz said. <s>Her</s> friends said <s>she</s> moved to the area from Lincoln about three months ago and went by the name Brandon Teena. One woman <s>she</s> dated was Lana Tisdel, 19, of Falls City, who said she met <s>Ms.</s> Brandon at a party in November. The two dated for about a week, and Ms. Tisdel said she had believed that <s>Ms.</s> Brandon was male until <s>Ms.</s> Brandon was arrested about two weeks ago on alcohol and forgery charges. After the authorities referred to <s>Ms.</s> Brandon as a woman, Ms. Tisdel said, she confronted <s>her</s>. "<s>She</s> told me that <s>she</s> had a sex change and it's not all [[done|int 2 Teena]]," Ms. Tisdel said.

A woman who had posed as a man and dated women was found shot to death on Friday, two weeks after residents of this rural area learned her true identity, the authorities said today. The body of Teena Brandon was found along with the bodies of Lisa Lambert, 23, and Phillip DeVine, 22, both of whom had also been shot, in a farmhouse about three miles south of Humboldt, a southeastern Nebraska town of 1,000 residents. Ms. Brandon shared the rented house with Ms. Lambert and Ms. Lambert's infant son, who was not harmed. Mr. DeVine was from Fairfield, Iowa, and his stepfather said in a telephone interview that Mr. DeVine had left home to visit friends in Nebraska. John Lotter, 22, and Marvin Nissen, 21, both of Falls City, were arrested for investigation of murder and held in the county jail. They were also charged with kidnapping and sexually assaultingMs. Brandon on Dec. 25, said the Richardson County Attorney, Douglas Merz. The authorities refused to say if they believed the slayings were connected to the earlier assault complaint, to Ms. Brandon's double life or to some other incident. Stories of Sex Change Surgery. Friends said Ms. Brandon, 21, had posed for two months as a man, using the name Brandon Teena, and had told stories of an incomplete sex-change operation or of being a hermaphrodite. "She said she felt like a man inside, but she was a female outside," said Michelle Lotter, a friend of Ms. Brandon and a sister of Mr. Lotter. Ms. Brandon had lived with Ms. Lambert for about three months, but their relationship was unclear, Mr. Merz said. Her friends said she moved to the area from Lincoln about three months ago and went by the name Brandon Teena. One woman she dated was Lana Tisdel, 19, of Falls City, who said she met Brandon at a party in November. The two dated for about a week, and Ms. Tisdel said she had believed that Ms. Brandon [[was->int 3 Teena]] male until Ms. Brandon was arrested about two weeks ago on alcohol and forgery charges. After the authorities referred to Ms. Brandon as a woman, Ms. Tisdel said, she confronted her. "She told me that she had a sex change and it's not all done," Ms. Tisdel said.

A woman who had posed as a man and dated women was found shot to death on Friday, two weeks after residents of this rural area learned her true identity, the authorities said today. The body of Teena Brandon was found along with the bodies of Lisa Lambert, 23, and Phillip DeVine, 22, both of whom had also been shot, in a farmhouse about three miles south of Humboldt, a southeastern Nebraska town of 1,000 residents. Ms. Brandon shared the rented house with Ms. Lambert and Ms. Lambert's infant son, who was not harmed. Mr. DeVine was from Fairfield, Iowa, and his stepfather said in a telephone interview that Mr. DeVine had left home to visit friends in Nebraska. John Lotter, 22, and Marvin Nissen, 21, both of Falls City, were arrested for investigation of murder and held in the county jail. They were also charged with kidnapping and sexually assaulting Ms. Brandon on Dec. 25, said the Richardson County Attorney, Douglas Merz. The authorities refused to say if they believed the slayings were connected to the earlier assault complaint, to Ms. Brandon's double life or to some other incident. Stories of Sex Change Surgery. Friends said Ms. Brandon, 21, had posed for two months as a man, using the name Brandon Teena, and had told stories of an incomplete sex-change operation or of being a hermaphrodite. "She said she felt like a man inside, but she was a female outside," said Michelle Lotter, a friend of Ms. Brandon and a sister of Mr. Lotter. Ms. Brandon had lived with Ms. Lambert for about three months, but their relationship was unclear, Mr. Merz said. Her friends said she moved to the area from Lincoln about three months ago and went by the name Brandon Teena. One woman she dated was Lana Tisdel, 19, of Falls City, who said she met Ms. Brandon at a party in November. The two dated for about a week, and Ms. Tisdel said she had believed that Ms. Brandon was male until Ms. Brandon was arrested about two weeks ago on alcohol and forgery charges. After the authorities referred to Ms. Brandon as a woman, Ms. Tisdel said, she confronted her. "She told me that she had a sex change and it's not all done," Ms. Tisdel said. [[Return->index]]

Although recent polls indicate that an anti-homosexual measure on the Oregon ballot is headed for defeat, the referendum has produced a sharp increase in recent weeks in harassment and violence, by both sides. The police in Oregon say that in the last month the number of arson fires, vandalism incidents and verbal threats, from both gay rights opponents and those in favor of laws protecting homosexuals, has gone up sharply as the campaign has heated up. Ballot Measure 9 would classify homosexuality as "abnormal, wrong, unnatural and perverse" and would require the state government to be assertive in discouraging homosexuality, teaching that it is a moral offense similar to pedophilia, sadism and masochism. Both sides have tried to use the escalation in harassment to their political advantage. But the most highly publicized incident, a fire that led to the deaths last month of two people in the capital, Salem, may have had less to do with emotions generated by Ballot Measure 9 than with racial intolerance and a feud, say the police, prosecutors and others who have been investigating the crimes. [[Hattie Mae Cohens->int 1 Cohen/Mock]], a 29-year-old black lesbian, and [[Brian H. Mock->int 1 Cohen/Mock]], 45, a white homosexual, were killed in the firebombing. Some witnesses have told the Salem police that the firebomb was thrown hours after a relative of one of the victims had a fight with skinheads. Witnesses have also said that Ms. Cohens, along with several black youths who were staying with her, had been feuding with the skinheads for several weeks. "This clearly was not a crime targeted at homosexuals," said Dale Penn, the District Attorney of Marion County, prosecutor of the case. "When all is said and done, the primary motive for the killings will likely not be race or sexual orientation, but both of them played a role…” Mr. Penn said it was not clear if Ms. Cohens and Mr. Mock were the intended targets of the firebomb or if the assailants knew that they were homosexuals. But other witnesses have told the police that both the victims had been harassed with racial and sexual taunts. "What Ballot Measure 9 has done is open up a window for people who are bigoted to display those feelings, and that's what happened in the Salem slayings," said Suzanne Pharr, a spokeswoman for No on 9. "Measure 9 has lit a match to a fuse that was already there."

Although recent polls indicate that an anti-homosexual measure on the Oregon ballot is headed for defeat, the referendum has produced a sharp increase in recent weeks in harassment and violence, by both sides. The police in Oregon say that in the last month the number of arson fires, vandalism incidents and verbal threats, from both gay rights opponents and those in favor of laws protecting homosexuals, has gone up sharply as the campaign has heated up. Ballot Measure 9 would classify homosexuality as "abnormal, wrong, unnatural and perverse" and would require the state government to be assertive in discouraging homosexuality, teaching that it is a moral offense similar to pedophilia, sadism and masochism. Both sides have tried to use the escalation in harassment to their political advantage. But the most highly publicized incident, a fire that led to the deaths last month of two people in the capital, Salem, may have had less to do with emotions generated by Ballot Measure 9 than with racial intolerance and a feud, say the police, prosecutors and others who have been investigating the crimes. Hattie Mae Cohens, a 29-year-old black lesbian, and Brian H. Mock, 45, a white homosexual, were killed in the firebombing. Some witnesses have told the Salem police that the firebomb was thrown hours after a relative of one of the victims had a fight with skinheads. Witnesses have also said that Ms. Cohens, along with several black youths who were staying with her, had been feuding with the skinheads for several weeks. "This clearly was not a crime targeted at homosexuals," said Dale Penn, the District Attorney of Marion County, prosecutor of the case. "When all is said and done, the primary motive for the killings will likely not be race or sexual orientation, but both of them played a role…” Mr. Penn said it was not clear if Ms. Cohens and Mr. Mock were the intended targets of the firebomb or if the assailants knew that they were homosexuals. But other witnesses have told the police that both the victims had been harassed with racial and sexual taunts. "What Ballot Measure 9 has done is open up a window for people who are bigoted to display those feelings, and that's what happened in the Salem [[slayings->int 2 Cohen/Mock]]," said Suzanne Pharr, a spokeswoman for No on 9. 'Measure 9 has lit a match to a fuse that was already there.'

Although recent polls indicate that an anti-homosexual measure on the Oregon ballot is headed for defeat, the referendum has produced a sharp increase in recent weeks in harassment and violence, by both sides. The police in Oregon say that in the last month the number of arson fires, vandalism incidents and verbal threats, from both gay rights opponents and those in favor of laws protecting homosexuals, has gone up sharply as the campaign has heated up. Ballot Measure 9 would classify homosexuality as "abnormal, wrong, unnatural and perverse" and would require the state government to be assertive in discouraging homosexuality, teaching that it is a moral offense similar to pedophilia, sadism and masochism. Both sides have tried to use the escalation in harassment to their political advantage. But the most highly publicized incident, a fire that led to the deaths last month of two people in the capital, Salem, may have had less to do with emotions generated by Ballot Measure 9 than with racial intolerance and a feud, say the police, prosecutors and others who have been investigating the crimes. Hattie Mae Cohens, a 29-year-old black lesbian, and Brian H. Mock, 45, a white homosexual, were killed in the firebombing. Some witnesses have told the Salem police that the firebomb was thrown hours after a relative of one of the victims had a fight with skinheads. Witnesses have also said that Ms. Cohens, along with several black youths who were staying with her, had been feuding with the skinheads for several weeks. "This clearly was not a crime targeted at homosexuals," said Dale Penn, the District Attorney of Marion County, prosecutor of the case. "When all is said and done, the primary motive for the killings will likely not be race or sexual orientation, but both of them played a role…” Mr. Penn said it was not clear if Ms. Cohens and Mr. Mock were the intended targets of the firebomb or if the assailants knew that they were homosexuals. But other witnesses have told the police that both the victims had been harassed with racial and sexual taunts. "What Ballot Measure 9 has done is open up a [[window->int 3 Cohen/Mock]] for people who are bigoted to display those feelings, and that's what happened in the Salem slayings," said Suzanne Pharr, a spokeswoman for No on 9. "Measure 9 has lit a match to a fuse that was already there."

Although recent polls indicate that an anti-homosexual measure on the Oregon ballot is headed for defeat, the referendum has produced a sharp increase in recent weeks in harassment and violence, by both sides. The police in Oregon say that in the last month the number of arson fires, vandalism incidents and verbal threats, from both gay rights opponents and those in favor of laws protecting homosexuals, has gone up sharply as the campaign has heated up. Ballot Measure 9 would classify homosexuality as "abnormal, wrong, unnatural and perverse" and would require the state government to be assertive in discouraging homosexuality, teaching that it is a moral offense similar to pedophilia, sadism and masochism. Both sides have tried to use the escalation in harassment to their political advantage. But the most highly publicized incident, a fire that led to the deaths last month of two people in the capital, Salem, may have had less to do with emotions generated by Ballot Measure 9 than with racial intolerance and a feud, say the police, prosecutors and others who have been investigating the crimes. Hattie Mae Cohens, a 29-year-old black lesbian, and Brian H. Mock, 45, a white homosexual, were killed in the firebombing. Some witnesses have told the Salem police that the firebomb was thrown hours after a relative of one of the victims had a fight with skinheads. Witnesses have also said that Ms. Cohens, along with several black youths who were staying with her, had been feuding with the skinheads for several weeks. "This clearly was not a crime targeted at homosexuals," said Dale Penn, the District Attorney of Marion County, prosecutor of the case. "When all is said and done, the primary motive for the killings will likely not be race or sexual orientation, but both of them played a role…” Mr. Penn said it was not clear if Ms. Cohens and Mr. Mock were the intended targets of the firebomb or if the assailants knew that they were homosexuals. But other witnesses have told the police that both the victims had been harassed with racial and sexual taunts. "What Ballot Measure 9 has done is open up a window for people who are bigoted to display those feelings, and that's what happened in the Salem slayings," said Suzanne Pharr, a spokeswoman for No on 9. "Measure 9 has lit a match to a fuse that was already there." [[Return->index]]

<center>Why else do we live, except to be loved and remembered by those we love? -Tom Spanbauer, In The City of Shy Hunters [[Index->index]] | [[Credits->credits]]</center>

Marsha P Johnson Howard Efland Upstairs Lounge Robert Hillsborough Dick Button <<timed .65s>><<goto "pg 2 Shepard">><</timed>>

Harvey Milk Tennessee Williams Terry Knudsen Robert Allen Taylor Steven Charles <<timed .45s>><<goto "pg 3 Shepard">><</timed>>

Rick Hunter John Hanson Robert Altom Charlie Howard Rebecca Wight <<timed .85s>><<goto "pg 4 Shepard">><</timed>>

Tommy Lee Trimble John Lloyd Griffin Venus Xtravaganza James Zappalorti Julio Rivera <<timed .65s>><<goto "pg 2 Teena">><</timed>>

Paul Broussard Allen Schindler Scott Amedure Chanelle Pickett Roxanne Ellisa Michelle Abdill <<timed .65s>><<goto "pg 3 Teena">><</timed>>

Fred Mangione Kenneth Stern Julianne Williams Lollie Winans Nich Moraida <<timed .65s>><<goto "pg 4 Teena">><</timed>>

Nahshon Dion Anderson Billy Jack Gaither Gary Matson Winfield Mowder Steen Fenrich <<timed .65s>><<goto "pg 2 Cohen/Mock">><</timed>>

Philip Walsted Rodney Valasquez Gwen Araujo Nizah Morris Terianne Summers Sakia Gunn <<timed .65s>><<goto "pg 3 Cohen/Mock">><</timed>>

Sissy Bolden Arthur "JR" Warren Danny Overstreet Fred Martinez Gary Raynall <<timed .65s>><<goto "pg 4 Cohen/Mock">><</timed>>

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