The Roanoke Times

Printed Sept. 28, 2000

By KATHY LU and LISA APPLEGATE
The Roanoke Times

Prayers in Florida. A vigil in Detroit. An in memoriam passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

All in memory of Danny Lee Overstreet, a gay Roanoke man who was shot to death Friday night at Backstreet Cafe. Six others were wounded in what national activist groups say is one of the worst anti-gay attacks in U.S. history.

"We were struck by the brutality of what happened," said Tom Ammiano, president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He is one of three openly gay members of the 11-member board. "This is just so horrible. My hope is that it will educate people so he will not have died in vain."

News of Overstreet's death has spread quickly across the country, especially among the gay and lesbian community. Just two days after his death, the rainbow flag that flies over San Francisco's Castro district was lowered to half staff in his honor.

Wednesday evening , members of the Metropolitan Community Church of Tampa, Fla., included Overstreet and his family and friends in their prayers and will do so again Sunday. Prayers also were extended to Ronald Gay, the man charged with killing Overstreet.

John Goodhart Sr. of Rocky Mount, Overstreet's co-worker at Verizon, will be the guest speaker today at a vigil in Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C. Sponsored in part by Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, the vigil will focus on hate-crime legislation.

Vigils will be held around Virginia tonight. A vigil at an Arlington church will be sponsored by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

In Detroit, Jeff Montgomery, executive director for the Triangle Foundation, said his organization is sponsoring a vigil tonight because violence against gays is a universal problem. In fact, he said, a gay man was shot and wounded outside a Detroit bar Tuesday night.

"These incidents happen in large cities and small towns all over the country every day, unfortunately," he said. "That's part of why these vigils are important."

In Denver, Equality Colorado is sponsoring a symposium on hate crimes tonight. Lori Girvan, executive director, said the event was planned months ago, but they added a vigil for Overstreet.

New Yorker and actor Paul Lucas has a personal reason to try to organize a vigil soon. He was "Jinx" in the play "Forever Plaid," performed at Mill Mountain Theatre in 1995. Lucas said he and fellow cast members went to Backstreet Cafe often while in Roanoke.

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