The Roanoke Times

Printed Sept. 27, 2000

By MARY BISHOP
THE ROANOKE TIMES

It was raining and chilly Monday night, but mourners still came to the candlelit door of the Backstreet Cafe.

People have come every evening since Friday night, when a man police say was hunting homosexuals shot and killed one gay man and wounded six other people in the little bar. Monday night, mourners stayed almost all night outside the closed club.

Few knew each other, but they were bonded in anger by the news that Fred Phelps was coming. Phelps, an anti-gay minister from Kansas, picketed the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student brutally murdered in Wyoming in 1998. He has announced plans to bring his "God hates fags" signs to today's funeral of 43-year-old Danny Lee Overstreet.

"I was so angry yesterday, my mother and all my friends were trying to calm me down," said Eddie Ratliff, a Web builder in Salem.

Overnight, outside the cafe, Ratliff and others came up with a way, they say, to turn Phelps' visit into a positive thing. They're calling it a "Phelps-A-Thon."

For every five minutes Phelps protests, the new Hate Free Roanoke Task Force is asking people to pledge a dollar amount toward the victims' medical expenses and for counseling of others in the club that night. Kathryn Marlow, 22, had heard of a similar counteraction at a Ku Klux Klan rally years ago and helped hatch the plan.

The task force will post a pledge box near Phelps at the funeral in Vinton and at any other events where Phelps protests. A poster thanking Phelps for picketing will say, "Fred, you've already helped us raise" -- followed by a blank space where the amount will be updated every five minutes.

Tuesday, Marlow asked the Rev. Jerry Falwell of Lynchburg and First Baptist Church on Third Street in Roanoke for pledges. She also asked "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" for a mention. She hadn't heard back Tuesday night.

Dan Hawes, a field organizer with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, warned people at a meeting Tuesday not to say or do anything to Phelps. "In no way engage with him," Hawes said. "First of all, you're not going to change his mind, and it's going to provoke a lawsuit," which is how Phelps raises money, Hawes said.

Cathy Renna, a regional spokeswoman for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation in Washington, has seen Phelps in action many times. "I think the bottom line," she said, "is to maintain a safe environment and to allow him his free speech, however vile that speech may be."

Oakey's Funeral Service is in charge of Overstreet's funeral today at 6 p.m. at Oakey's Vinton chapel. Sammy Oakey, president of the funeral home, called Casper, Wyo., this week. He talked with the Episcopal priest who led Shepard's funeral about how to deal with Phelps and his band of picketers. "The main thing he said is to completely stay away from them."

Phelps accused Roanoke police in a Tuesday fax of encouraging violence against him. Asserting his right to protest on public sidewalks, Phelps told the police that their statements in the news media "give us grave concern that you are either unable or unwilling to protect us." A police spokesman had no comment and noted that the funeral is in Vinton, not Roanoke.

Investigator Craig Harris of the Vinton Police Department said three or four of its officers will be at the funeral, and that Roanoke County police and state police will be on call.

Tuesday, the Roanoke Valley Ministers' Conference issued this statement about the shootings: "As people of faith, we recommit ourselves to be agents of healing and reconciliation, welcoming all as God's children. We envision a community that is inclusive, honoring our unique religious traditions, sexual orientations and cultural and ethnic differences."

The Washington Post ran a front-page story on the Backstreet Cafe shootings Monday, and the Los Angeles Times published stories Sunday and Tuesday. Planetout.com, a gay and lesbian news service, continued to play the story as its lead Tuesday. The unitedagainsthate.org Web site included a color photo of Overstreet with its story.

Two groups are collecting donations for the shooting victims:

Marlow, of the Hate Free Roanoke Task Force, is taking pledges for the "Phelps-A-Thon" at 343-4494, or at phelpsathon@yahoo.com. Donations to the task force also can be sent to Christ the Good Shepherd American Catholic Church, P.O. Box 3359, Roanoke 24015, with checks made out to the church but designated for the Hate Free Roanoke Task Force.
Overstreet's co-workers at Verizon have set up a fund for his family. Checks, made out to the Danny L. Overstreet Fund, may be sent to First Citizens Bank, 1959 Valley View Blvd., Roanoke 24012. Donations are being accepted at all First Citizens branches.

Staff writers Cody Lowe, Kimberly O'Brien, Kathy Lu and Lisa Applegate contributed to this story.

Mary Bishop can be reached at 981-3358 or at maryb@roanoke.com

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