The Roanoke Times

Printed Sept. 24, 2000

By MIKE HUDSON and MARY BISHOP
THE ROANOKE TIMES

Candles flickered along Roanoke's Salem Avenue on Saturday night as more than 300 people gathered to express their grief -- and their determination to fight the hate that killed Danny Lee Overstreet.

"I'm not going back. I didn't come to Roanoke to hide in the closet," said the Rev. Catherine Houchins, pastor of Metropolitan Community Church of the Blue Ridge, a congregation with a large gay and lesbian membership. She urged the people in the tearful crowd: "Don't grieve like those with no hope."

Friday night's shootings in a Roanoke gay bar prompted waves of outrage among gays and lesbians and others across the nation.

All day, the shootings dominated gay-community Internet conversations, said David Elliot, of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. He said it was one of the worst episodes of anti-gay violence in recent years.

The Washington-based task force is sending its field organizer here today to lend moral support to local gay activists. Houchins' church, at 110 Kirk Ave., will host a community meeting at 7:30 p.m. today to discuss hate crimes in Roanoke.

In Roanoke, gays and lesbians spent the day trying to learn more about what happened and how to respond.

By early afternoon, word was out: Gather on the sidewalk in front of the Backstreet Cafe, where Overstreet was shot to death and six others were wounded.

People began arriving at 7 p.m. -- some striding up alone, some in small groups, others in a contingent of 15, who walked from Highland Park in Old Southwest accompanied by the rhythm of mournful drumming.

By 9 p.m., the crowd spilled onto Salem Avenue, forcing Roanoke Police to cordon off the block. Organizers began the formal ceremony by asking anyone who didn't want to be photographed by the news media to step to the back of the crowd.

It was an indication that many gays and lesbians still hesitate to acknowledge their sexual orientation -- for fear of how their families, their employees and strangers will react.

But few people stepped back. Instead, many stepped forward, held hands and sang spirituals.

The scene provided a hopeful ending to a day full of painful emotions and questions.

Saturday afternoon, Roanoke Mayor Ralph Smith and City Manager Darlene Burcham called a news conference to decry the shootings. "We do not want this to reflect upon our community at all," Burcham said.

Saturday morning at Hale's Exxon at the Plantation Road exit of Interstate 81, manager Tom Hale and his customers talked about the shootings. Most people were saddened, he said, but at least one person expressed support for Ronald Edward Gay, charged with first-degree murder: "It's a shame he didn't have more bullets."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Hale told him. "We all have a right to live. Nobody in that bar was causing any of us harm last night."

All day long, people came to mourn at Backstreet Cafe.

Nancy Dancy, 43, wanted to come to the bar Friday night, but her friend Gayle Beverly, 57, preferred to watch the Olympics. So the two stayed away, and now they feel as violated as if they'd been there.

Dancy said gays and lesbians "don't hurt anybody. We don't press ourselves on anybody. We just want a place where we can go and feel comfortable and not be harassed or chastised or put down."

For many, the shootings may prompt a deeper resolve to fight for the civil rights of homosexuals.

The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs reported 29 anti-gay murders in the United States last year, and 26 the year before. All reported violent incidents -- anti-gay assaults, vandalism, verbal abuse and other attacks -- totaled 1,965 around the country in 1999, and 2,017 in 1998.

Shirley Lesser, executive director of Virginians for Justice, an anti-hate-crime group based in Richmond, said perhaps 90 percent of anti-gay assaults go unreported.

She said anti-gay incidents often rise after gay pride events. Roanoke held its annual Pride in the Park a week ago. There was no indication Saturday whether or not Gay visited or knew about Pride in the Park.

Sam Garrison, a Roanoke lawyer and gay activist, said Friday's shootings should prod legislators to add sexual orientation to Virginia's hate crimes statute. National activists said the shootings offer more proof that stronger federal laws are also needed.

Toward the end of Saturday night's vigil, Kathleen Fowler spoke up softly from amid the crowd: "Can I say something?"

"It's not a matter of just the gay and lesbian community," she said. "Everybody has to step up. It's gays, lesbians and everybody else. . . . I expect better from the rest of us."

Staff writers Jon Cawley and Mike Allen contributed to this report.

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