1999 homophobic murder in Alabama, United States
The murder of Billy Jack Gaither took place in Alabama on February 19, 1999. Two acquaintances, Steven Eric Mullins and Charles Monroe Butler, beat Gaither to death, slashed his throat, and burned his body. Both admitted that they murdered Gaither because of his sexual orientation, as Gaither, who was 39 at the time of his murder, was a gay man.
Mullins, who took a plea deal to avoid the death penalty, argued that both he and Butler were equally responsible for Gaither's murder, while Butler argued at trial that Mullins was the primary aggressor in the crime. Butler was convicted of murder as well, and both men received sentences of life without parole.
Gaither's murder gained significant coverage in state and national news, especially as it occurred in relatively close proximity to the similar high-profile murders of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr, both of which were motivated by prejudice against sexual and racial minorities respectively. In 2000, Gaither's murder was covered in a PBS "Frontline" special called "Assault on Gay America: The Life and Death of Billy Jack Gaither." The murder sparked calls to change Alabama's hate crimes law, which, at the time of its passage in 1994, did not cover crimes based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
Background.
Billy Jack Gaither.
Gaither was religious and came from a Christian family; he sang in a choir at his Baptist church. One of Gaither's friends asserted that Gaither largely remained closeted to his parents due to their religious convictions. Gaither's brother said he knew Gaither was gay from an early age and that "you did not want to agree with it, but [Billy] was his own person." Gaither's father allegedly struggled to accept the notion of Gaither's homosexuality and told reporters after Gaither's murder that Gaither almost married a woman while he lived in Birmingham, Alabama, although he and Gaither's mother insisted that Gaither was protective and that Gaither had cared for his father after his father underwent thirteen operations. Gaither had two sisters, one of whom, Kathy, was a lesbian.
Gaither had dropped out of Sylacauga High School when he reached the 11th grade and obtained his GED, after which he joined the Marines and served for a year. He was honorably discharged due to his hypertension. Upon moving back to Sylacauga, Gaither frequented gay bars in Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama, and had brief relationships with at least two men. Gaither was also a regular at a non-gay bar called The Tavern, where the owner of the bar, Marion Hammond, stated Gaither would help her decorate the bar for holidays. She stated that Gaither "was not ashamed of who he was" and that "[h]e would not flaunt his gayness, but if someone asked if he was a 'fag' or 'queer', he would say yes." Gaither's brother also stated that Gaither attended gay bars in Atlanta.
At the time of his death, Gaither worked as a computer terminal operator at a Russell Athletic location in Alexander City, Alabama, a small town near Sylacauga. He also served as a caretaker for his disabled parents, with whom he lived in Sylacauga. Gaither frequented flea markets and collected memorabilia and trinkets related to "Gone with the Wind", including posters and Scarlett O'Hara dolls. Locals described Gaither as gentle and quiet.
Perpetrators.
Prior to the murder, Steven Eric Mullins identified as a skinhead. Sylacauga locals claimed Mullins often wore Ku Klux Klan shirts, sported Confederate flags, and made racist comments and taunts against black people, although he was not known prior to be a threat to the LGBT population. Mullins was also a regular at The Tavern. On one occasion, while wearing a KKK shirt, Mullins noticed black people in a restaurant and pressed his back against the window so they would be forced to see the racist symbols and messages on his shirt. On another occasion, while at The Tavern, Mullins mocked black patrons with racial epithets.
Mullins had spent time in prison prior to Gaither's murder after convictions of burglary and forgery. He did not have a close relationship with his father, who he claimed he only saw a few times, the second time being when the two were coincidentally serving jail sentences at the same time for different charges.
During his trial, witnesses testified that Mullins had experience with same-sex acts. Mullins denied having sexual experiences with men and insisted he was heterosexual. Mullins alternated between working in construction and being unemployed.
Charles Monroe Butler also worked in construction in Sylacauga. Butler's stepmother attested she had never heard Butler express homophobic sentiments, stating, "It wasn't a big issue here, but it might have been when he was out with his friends."
At the time of the murder, Mullins was 25, and Butler was 21. Mullins and Butler were familiar with each other dating back several years because Mullins lived with two of Butler's half-brothers, but the younger Butler had acted as Mullins' "sidekick" for only a month by the time Gaither was murdered.
Local attitudes toward the LGBT community.
Local LGBT residents of Sylacauga stated that it was uncommon at the time for anyone to be openly gay in the town and that, while violent incidents like Gaither's murder were rare, there was not a lot of local acceptance of LGBT people. David W. White, the Birmingham coordinator for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance of Alabama, said after the murder that he "would consider it difficult to live anywhere in Alabama other than Birmingham" and that "[e]ven in Birmingham, I would never in a public place grab my partner's hand and walk down the street. It would literally be a death wish in the state of Alabama."
One of Gaither's friends recalled an occasion prior to the murder when a group of businesses in downtown Sylacauga decided to hang a series of flags to "spruce up" the area. One of the flags contained a "rainbow symbol [that] was sometimes used by gay groups," prompting a local church to campaign for the flag's removal because its presence "promoted a gay lifestyle in Sylacauga." The flag was ultimately taken down.
Murder.
Steven Mullins claimed in his confession to Sylacauga authorities that Gaither had sexually propositioned him over the phone two weeks prior to the murder and that he felt Gaither's overture "broke the respect line" Mullins thought the two had established. Gaither's friends disputed that he would have propositioned anyone, insisting that Gaither was too careful to make such a solicitation. Nevertheless, Mullins claimed the alleged proposition led him to murder Gaither, stating, "I didn't feel like he needed to live any longer."
Mullins told authorities that he and Gaither spoke on the phone multiple times after Mullins resolved to murder him and that Gaither agreed to pick up Mullins from the trailer where Mullins was staying, so the two could visit a bar. The two went bar-hopping for several hours before ending up at a bar where Charles Butler was inside playing pool. Gaither stayed in the car, while Mullins entered the bar. Mullins claimed he told Butler about his plans to murder Gaither because Mullins "thought [he] could trust [Butler]" and "knew [Butler] didn't like queers either." After Butler finished his game of pool, he and Mullins convinced Gaither to join them at a slipway off of a rural highway.
The three then drove to the slipway in Gaither's car, where Butler got out of the car to urinate by the front of the car. Mullins confessed to Sylacauga investigators that while Butler was urinating, Mullins and Gaither were standing behind the car when Mullins grabbed Gaither, threw him onto the ground, and slit his throat with a pocketknife. The injury to Gaither's throat was not lethal, but it was profusely bleeding. Mullins instructed Butler to open the trunk of their car, at which point Gaither attempted to escape. Mullins stabbed Gaither twice more "in the rib cage" and then demanded that Gaither enter the trunk of the car. After Gaither climbed into the trunk, Mullins and Butler shut the trunk door and drove away from the slipway to retrieve two tires, a gallon of kerosene, a matchbox, and an axe handle from the trailer where Mullins was staying with Butler's half-brothers.
Mullins and Butler then drove Gaither to a creek. Mullins claimed that as he pulled Gaither out of the trunk, Butler doused the tires with kerosene and lit them on fire. Gaither attempted to escape one final time, knocking Mullins into the creek and trying to leave in his car, but Gaither did not have the keys to the car. Mullins dragged Gaither away from the car and beat him with the axe handle, while Butler wiped Gaither's blood out of the car with a shirt. When Mullins tired of beating Gaither, he stated that he dragged Gaither to the fire and that he and Butler "stood there for a few minutes" watching Gaither burn before they left the scene. Both Mullins and Butler agreed that Gaither was dead by the time he was dragged to the burning tires, although at trial, Butler claimed he ran away before Mullins delivered the fatal blows with the axe handle, and that he returned to help with burning Gaither's body and later burning Gaither's car to eliminate evidence. The next day, Gaither's body was found on a riverbank near a local church known for hosting baptisms.
Reaction.
Politicians.
U.S. President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton offered the Gaither family their condolences after the murder, releasing a statement calling the crime "heinous and cowardly" and comparing it to the recent hate murders of James Byrd Jr. in Texas and Matthew Shepard in Wyoming. Clinton's statement also read, "In times like these, the American people pull together and speak with one voice, because the acts of hatred that led to the deaths of such innocent men are also acts of defiance against the values our society holds dear."
On May 11, 1999, United States Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder released a statement condemning Gaither's, Byrd's, and Shepard's murders as well, branding all three hate crimes and quoting an Alabama newspaper that said Gaither was murdered "for being himself." Holder's statement asserted the American government's commitment to "prosecuting and preventing" hate crimes and called for the federal government to take a stronger stand against hate crimes.
California governor Gray Davis stated to a crowd in West Hollywood, California, that Gaither's murder "deeply grieved" him "because it strikes at the very heart of what it means to be an American." He also stated, "If any man or woman cannot walk safely down our streets for fear of violence simply because of his or her sexual orientation, then none of us are truly free."
Organizations and activists.
Weeks after Gaither's murder, LGBT rights activists attended an event in Birmingham's Covenant Metropolitan Community Church to advocate for Alabama's hate crime laws to include protections for sexual orientation. During the event, members of the Westboro Baptist Church stood across the street holding signs criticizing Gaither. Their leader, Reverend Fred Phelps, criticized the LGBT community for "exploiting" Gaither's murder and said, "It is no longer merely an event for the family and friends to grieve."
On March 15, 1999, in New York City, LGBT rights activists held a march that traveled from Broadway to Times Square. Marchers called the event a "political funeral" in memory of Gaither and other victims of hate crimes.
Gaither's family.
Some members of Gaither's extended family, including Gaither's uncle, expressed that they thought homosexuality was morally wrong but that Gaither did not deserve to be murdered for it. Gaither's uncle also lamented that the murder would "get all these gay activists involved."
Gaither's family members were split in their support of the death penalty for Mullins and Butler, with some, including Gaither's brother, expressing that he wished to see the killers executed because "They took my brother's life. Why can't the state take their lives?" Gaither's father opposed the death penalty, as he could not "see taking another human being's life, no matter what."
Investigation and arrests.
Investigators found Gaither's blood, hair, and teeth around the crime scene. Gaither's official cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma caused by the beating with the axe handle. Gaither's face and jaw had sustained severe injuries, and he had more than a dozen skull fractures.
Investigators asked Alabama's LGBT community to stay quiet about Gaither's murder until their investigation