FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MATTHEW SHEPARD UPDATE
Wired Strategies
July 13, 1999

** URGENT ACTION NEEEDED - POTENTIAL GRUESOME ANTI-GAY MURDER AT MILITARY BASE ***
*** Please Email the military base in question - address below ***

I received today an action alert from the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), a great organization that fights against the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. The best information I've received to date, from a variety of sources including SLDN, NGLTF and news reports, is that on July 5, 1999 a 21-year-old Private First Class in the army named Barry Winchell was attacked and bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. There are serious reports that Winchell "may" have been gay, and that this "may" have been an anti-gay murder. While one suspect has already been charged, Pvt. Calvin N. Glover, 18, problems abound with this case:

1. According to press reports, while the Army is claiming this was a simple altercation between two soldiers, local and national gay rights groups (SLDN alone interviewed over 50 Fort Campbell soldiers) reportedly think that more people may have been involved in the murder than just the suspect in military custody. But is the military looking for those potential accomplices? Not if they say it was a simple altercation between two soldiers.
2. The military is reportedly not even CONSIDERING whether this was a hate crime, motivated by Winchell's being perceived as gay. This is in spite of the fact that rumors are circulating around the army base that Winchell was gay and involved with another man, and SLDN's investigator has reported finding, according to a press report, "a general perception that Winchell might be gay." In spite of these reports, the military won't even consider the anti-gay motive, which means if this was an anti-gay crime, the animosity towards gays that led to the murder won't be addressed.

While it is not known yet whether this was or was not an anti-gay hate crime, and we of course should not jump to any conclusions, it is shocking that there are credible reports that the military has already summarily decided that they won't even investigate WHETHER there is any evidence suggesting an anti-gay motive, in spite of numerous reports of just such a motive. For those of us who remember poor 21-year-old Alan Schindler, beaten to a bloody pulp in Japan in 1992, and the farce of a trial the military held for his murderers, such a military disregard for the lives of the potentially-gay comes as no surprise.

CHANNEL YOUR ANGER - HERE'S HOW YOU CAN HELP:

1. SHARE THIS EMAIL: Please pass this email to anyone and everyone you know, particularly anyone in the military and/or anyone in Kentucky. Anyone with relevant information about the attack on PFC Winchell should contact SLDN by email at sldn@sldn.org or by phone at 202.328.3244, extension #113. If necessary, those contacting SLDN do not have to give their names.
2. EMAIL, CALL AND WRITE THE BASE:SLDN also asks that you contact the Public Affairs Office at Fort Campbell and tell them that this incident needs to be properly investigated, with ALL leads concerning the possibility that this may be a hate crime taken seriously. That includes leads suggesting an anti-gay motive.

   You can contact Fort Campbell by emailing: chamblissc@emh2.campbell.army.mil

   You can also contact Fort Campbell by calling: 270-798-3025

   Finally, you can also write to:

   Maj. Pamela Hart
   101st Airborne Division Air Assault
   Public Affairs Office
   2334 19th Street
   Fort Campbell, KY 42223-5375
   

   Overall, I'd recommend everyone contact this base. Don't be rude, but be stern. Let them know that we're watching, and that we want a full and fair investigation.

   Thanks for all your help, JOHN