Tag Archives: murder

TEXAS: GOP Controlled House Approves New Sweeping Book Ban.

Gay History – May 6, 1933: Nazi Youth Attack Magnus Hirschfeld’s Berlin Institute for Sexual Research – The “Säuberung” Book Burnings.

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On May 6, 1933, less than six months after Adolf Hitler and the Nazis had come to power, Nazi Youth of the Deutsche Studentenschaft made an organized attack on the Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institute of Sex Research.

The works of Magnus Hirschfeld, the Jewish doctor and sexual reformer were hardly in line with Aryan ideas about the nation’s sex life: his model of intermediate sexual stages allowed room for homosexuality as well as for hermaphrodites or transvestites. He welcomed racial mixing as an enrichment of the diversity of human life.  The Nazi reaction was unequivocal: “We will not have our people demoralized, so burn, Magnus Hirschfeld!”

Then on the night of May 10th, 1933  Hitler Youth and right-wing students in 34 university towns across Germany marched in torchlight parades “against the un-German spirit” and called for Nazi officials, university faculty and chaplains, and student leaders to address the participants and spectators. Then, singing songs and taking “fire oaths” as band music played, in large open-air bonfires, the students burned thousands of “un-German books,” taken in raids on public and university libraries, private collections, and bookstores. The events also received widespread media attention – not only newspaper coverage, but also “live” radio broadcasts of the songs and speeches.

The seemingly “spontaneous” demonstrations in Berlin were actually carefully orchestrated by Nazi leader Josef Goebbels, the Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, as part of the Nazi policy of Gleichschaltung (“synchronization”), which sought to align all elements of German society, polity, and culture with Nazi ideology by purging them of Jews and those considered “politically suspect” and by defining their work as “degenerate.”  40,000 people gathered in the square at the State Opera to hear Joseph Goebbels deliver a fiery address: “No to decadence and moral corruption!” Goebbels enjoined the crowd. “Yes to decency and morality in family and state! I consign to the flames the writings of Heinrich Mann, Ernst Gläser, Erich Kästner.”

The era of extreme Jewish intellectualism is now at an end. The breakthrough of the German revolution has again cleared the way on the German path…The future German man will not just be a man of books, but a man of character. It is to this end that we want to educate you. As a young person, to already have the courage to face the pitiless glare, to overcome the fear of death, and to regain respect for death – this is the task of this young generation. And thus you do well in this midnight hour to commit to the flames the evil spirit of the past. This is a strong, great and symbolic deed – a deed which should document the following for the world to know – Here the intellectual foundation of the November Republic is sinking to the ground, but from this wreckage the phoenix of a new spirit will triumphantly rise.— Joseph Goebbels, Speech to the students in Berlin

Three days later on May 13, 1933 famed gay writer Christopher Isherwood wrote:  

“It is a quarter past midnight and I have just finished packing. In eight hours I am going to leave Berlin, perhaps for ever……. I have already made the journey several times in my head, composed funny postcards to all my friends. And now the day which seemed too good, too bad to be true, the day when I should leave Germany, has arrived, and I only know about the future that, however often and however variously I have imagined it to myself, the reality will be quite different.” 

By the time of the book burning, Hirschfeld had left Germany for a speaking tour that took him around the world; he never returned to Germany.

On his 67th birthday, 14 May 1935, Hirschfeld died of a heart attack in his apartment at the Gloria Mansions I building at 63 Promenade des Anglais in Nice.

76 years after the destruction of Hirschfeld’s Institute of Sex Research in 2011, the Federal Cabinet of Germany granted 10 million euros to establish the Magnus Hirschfeld National Foundation (Bundesstiftung Magnus Hirschfeld), a foundation to support research and education about the life and work of Magnus Hirschfeld, the Nazi persecution of homosexuals, German LGBT culture and community, and ways to counteract prejudice against LGBT people.

Possibly coming again soon to a GOP controlled Red State near you!

May 4, 1970: Revisiting The Kent State Massacre.

May 4, 1970: Revisiting The Kent State Massacre.

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While many were posting “May the Forth” and Star War memes yesterday the memory of the most shocking and brutal school shooting that have ever happened in America at Kent State University was overlooked.

The Kent State massacre is a tragic event in American history that occurred on May 4, 1970, at Kent State University in Ohio. The incident involved the shooting of unarmed college students by the Ohio National Guard during a protest against the Vietnam War. The tragedy resulted in the deaths of four students and the injury of nine others, with a lasting impact on American society and politics.

The protest at Kent State was part of a larger movement against the Vietnam War, which had escalated in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Students across the country were mobilizing against the war, which they saw as unjust and immoral. The protest at Kent State began on May 1, with a series of peaceful demonstrations and rallies on campus. However, tensions rose on May 2, when the Ohio National Guard was called in to disperse the crowd.

On May 4, a group of about 2,000 students gathered on the Kent State campus to protest the presence of the National Guard. The atmosphere was tense, with some students throwing rocks and other objects at the guardsmen. The National Guard responded by firing tear gas canisters and ordering the students to disperse. However, some students refused to leave, and a small group even taunted the guardsmen.

At around noon, the National Guard opened fire on the students, without warning. The guardsmen fired a total of 67 rounds in 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others. The victims were Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer, and William Schroeder. Two of the students who were killed were not even participating in the protest, but were walking to class.

The Kent State massacre had a profound impact on American society and politics. The incident sparked a wave of protests and demonstrations across the country, as well as international condemnation. It also led to a nationwide student strike, with over 4 million students participating. The massacre became a symbol of government oppression and the dangers of militarism, and it contributed to the growing disillusionment with the Vietnam War.

In addition, the Kent State massacre had legal and political consequences. The victims’ families filed a lawsuit against the National Guard and the state of Ohio, and in 1979, the government agreed to pay a settlement of $675,000. The incident also led to changes in the way that the National Guard was used to control civil disturbances, with new guidelines issued to ensure that deadly force was only used as a last resort.

The Kent State massacre was a tragic event that had a profound impact on American society and politics. The shooting of unarmed college students by the National Guard was a shocking and brutal act, and it contributed to the growing opposition to the Vietnam War. The legacy of the massacre continues to be felt today, as a reminder of the dangers of government overreach and the importance of protecting the rights of citizens to protest and dissent.

NYC: Six Gang members Indicted in the “Roofie” Murders Of NYC Gay Men

NYC: Six Gang members Indicted in the “Roofie” Murders Of NYC Gay Men

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Violence and crime has risen dramatically for the LGBT community harkening back to the past thanks to the homophobic GOP.

Earlier this month we reported on he deaths of two gay men in 2022 have been labeled homicides by NYC’s s medical examiner. The men Julio Ramirez and John Umberger were found dead and had their bank accounts emptied. Both had gone to gay bars and had last been seen with several men.

Arrests have been made by the NYPD

Via The New York Post:

“Six members of a gang that preyed on gay men at Hell’s Kitchen nightclubs have been indicted over the “roofie” murders of John Umberger and Julio Ramirez last year. Warrants were issued Friday afternoon for the arrest of three of the men for first-degree murder, while all six men have been hit with charges of grand larceny and first-degree robbery as well as conspiracy to drug and rob at least a dozen victims. Umberger, 33, and Ramirez, 25, died from “acute intoxication” from a mix of fentanyl, cocaine, ethanol and other drugs, the city Medical Examiner found on March 3. Both men were victims of homicides caused by “drug-facilitated thefts,” after leaving the Q NYC and Ritz Bar and Lounge gay nightclubs, the ME found.”

NYPD Police said at least 16 people, mostly men, were drugged and robbed in Manhattan between Sept. 19, 2021 and Aug. 14, 2022. Roughly half of them overdosed on the powerful, toxic drugs.

Gay History - March 9, 1969: The Tragic Death of Howard Efland By Police At The Dover Hotel

Gay History – March 9, 1969: The Tragic Death of Howard Efland By Police At The Dover Hotel

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The Dover Hotel was a rundown five-story brick building located in downtown Los Angeles.  The hotel operated as an early version of the soon to become popular bathhouse scene.  Gay men checked in, removed their clothing, and laid on their beds with the doors ajar waiting for others to walk by in the hopes of meeting someone.

The Dover not surprisingly, was also the scene of a number of raids by the LAPD’s Vice Squad and was known to them as an easy bust for “faggots”.

During a raid by the Vice Squad on March 9th, 1969, just 4 months shy of the Stonewall riots in NYC, Howard Efland, a male nurse who checked into the hotel under the pseudonym of J. McCann.  By the end of that day Efland would be brutally beaten outside the hotel by police in front of numerous witnesses and would later die.

LA vice officers Lemuel Chauncey and Richard Halligan claimed that Efland groped them so they arrested him, dragged him naked, bleeding and screaming down a flight of stairs by his feet and into the street.  In front of several witnesses the two police officers who were well over 6’2 inches  started beating the slightly built, unarmed and and non-resisting gay man to death while he screamed  “Help me! My God, someone help me!” The two police officers kicked him repeatedly, did  knee drops onto his stomach, and savagely beat him.

While several witnesses claimed that Howard Efland died at the scene. Chauncy and Halligan stated that Elfland was alive as they “threw” the body into the back of the police wagon. The claimed that halfway down to the station from where they had arrested him that Efland  had kicked open the door and fell out onto the Hollywood Freeway.

The Admissions Officer who was on duty at County General Hospital testified at the Coroner’s inquest that when they received Efland, they tied him down to the bed and he was in bad shape. The Nurse testified that she went into the other room with the cop because the guy had bitten his finger. Forty minutes later while she’s still working on the cop (?) another nurse came and said ‘hey, the guy in the other room died.’

The L.A.P.D. first informed Efland’s parents that their son had merely died of a heart attack. Later the L.A. County Coroner ruled Elfland’s death an “excusable homicide” and the story was withheld from the mainstream media. However the once great gay newspaper the Advocate picked up the story and responded strongly by calling the L.A.P.D. “psychotics” 

The  Rev. Troy Perry, founder of the Metropolitan Community Church would lead 120 marchers in a rally to the the site of Dover to commemorate Efland’s fatal beating and murder.

“I had told my congregation over and over that our church was built on a three-prong gospel: the gospel of Christian salvation,  the gospel of Christian community and the gospel of Christian social action. Absolutely: Christian social action. We are meant to go out and bring deliverance to people. So I told them ‘I want you to come and march with me’. Perry said.

In the end no one was ever held accountable for the murder of Howard Efland.

After publishing this story in 2014 the nephew of  Howard Eflland contacted Back2Stonewall.com  Being very young when it happened he was never told the true nature of his Uncle’s death.

Back2Stonewall has attempted to contact the LAPD numerous times in the hopes of  getting an apology for Howard Elfland’s surviving family.

There has never been an official response to any of them.

We continue to try.

#NeverForget.

NYC: Two Gay Men Robbed and Murdered After Bar Visits

NYC: Two Gay Men Robbed and Murdered After Bar Visits

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The deaths of two gay men in 2022 have been labeled homicides by NYC’s s medical examiner. The men Julio Ramirez and John Umberger were found dead and had their bank accounts emptied. Both had gone to gay bars and had last been seen with several men.

New York’s chief medical examiner’s office said that the two were killed by “drug-facilitated theft.”

Twenty-five-year-old Julio Ramirez’s body was found in the back of a taxi after he left the Ritz Bar with some men on April 20, 2022. About $20,000 dollars had been taken from his bank accounts.

John Umberger, 33, the second murder victim was found about a month later after he and a couple of men left the Q, a gay bar in Hell’s Kitchen His bank accounts were also drained of about $20,000.

Both men died due to  “acute intoxication by the combined effects of fentanyl, p-fluorofentanyl, heroin, cocaine, lidocaine, and ethanol.”

A spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said in a statement to NBC News that the investigation is “ongoing.”

PLEASE BE CAREFUL IN OUR CURRENT GOP ANTI-LGBT POLITICAL CLIMATE WHEN GOING OUT. IF YOU GO TO A BAR MAKE SURE THE BARTENDER IS AWARE OF WHO YOU LEAVE WITH. WE DID THIS IN THE 70s AND 80s AND NOW WE MUST DO IT AGAIN.
IT’S ABOUT SURVIVAL. – BE SMART, PLAY SMART, AND BE AWARE.
The Jenny Jones Show "Secret Crush" Gay Panic Murder Subject of NETFLIX's "Trial by Media"

Gay History – March 5, 1995: The Jenny Jones Show “Secret Gay Crush” Episode Leads to Murder. [Video]

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Jonathan Schmitz was 24-years-old when his acquaintance Scott Amedure revealed he was romantically interested in him during the March 5th, 1995  taping of “The Jenny Jones Show,’ on secret admirers.

Schmitz, who said he wasn’t gay, later fatally shot Amedure in Lake Orion. Michigan three days later.

Schmitz turned himself in to police, saying he killed Amedure because he was embarrassed on national television.

Schmitz stated that he went on the show out of curiosity, and he later claimed that the producers implied that his admirer was a woman, although the producers of the show claim that they did tell Schmitz that the admirer could be male or female.

According to footage of the murder trial, it was later stated by a friend of Amedure’s that Amedure and Schmitz went out drinking together the night of the taping and an alleged sexual encounter occurred.  According to the testimony at the murder trial, three days after the taping, Amedure left a “suggestive” note at Schmitz’s house.  After finding the note, Schmitz withdrew money from the bank, purchased a shotgun, and then went to Amedure’s mobile home. He questioned Amedure about the note. Schmitz then returned to his car, took his gun, and returned to Amedure’s trailer. He then shot Amedure twice in the chest, killing him.

Schmitz was sentenced 25 to 50 years for second-degree murder.

Schmitz, now 47, was granted parole after a March 2017 hearing and was released from Parnall Correctional Institution after serving 22 years.

Scott Amedure’s older brother, Frank Amedure Jr. said he’s troubled by the parole decision and that he’s unsure Schmitz ‘learned what he should have’ in prison.

‘I wanted assurance that the (parole board’s) decision was not based on just good behavior in prison,’ he said.

‘I’d like to know that he learned something, that he’s a changed man, is no longer homophobic and has gotten psychological care.’

In 1999, the Amedure family sued The Jenny Jones Show, Telepictures, and Warner Bros. for the ambush tactics and, as the Amedure family saw it, their supposedly negligent role that led to Amedure’s death.  In May of that year, the jury awarded the Amedures $25 million dollars. The jury found that The Jenny Jones Show was both irresponsible and negligent, contending that the show intentionally created an explosive situation without due concern for the possible consequences.

The judgment was later overturned by the Michigan Court of Appeals in a 2-to-1 decision. The Michigan Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

The episode was never publicly aired in it’s entirety until many years after the incident.

 

*WE CAN REALLY USE YOUR HELP.

Back2Stonewall.com unlike many other LGBT websites has never had intrusive ads or a paywalls. The site is a labor of love and does not generate any revenue..  Recently medical issues and overwhelming Doctor and hospital bills  have left us on the verge of bankruptcy leading to the closure of this beloved LGBT History site.  So you can see why we need to ask for your help,

If you can PLEASE make a donation no matter how small to help us and help keep independent LGBT News and History alive and help with the oppressive medical bills we would really appreciate it.

Thank you in advance.

Will Kohler

PAYPAL will@back2stonewall.com   or   VENMO @Will-Kohler-1

Gay History - March 4: Vanity Plates, Man Hating Lesbians, and Murder

Gay History – March 4: Cali Vanity Plates, Betty Friedan and Man Hating Lesbians, and Murdered for Being a “F*g”

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1971: Village Voice columnist Jill Johnston comes out in her article, “Lois Lane is a Lesbian,” sparking a controversy between feminism and lesbianism that results in various Johnston antics, including simulating an orgy during a panel discussion moderated by Norman Mailer.

As recorded in Lesbian Nation, Johnston often was at the center of controversies within the feminist movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s She famously went on record stating that “all women are lesbians except those that don’t know it yet.”

Johnston was also one of the first countercultural and lesbian writers at Ms. magazine, eventually coming to the conclusion that the magazine was too mainstream, ultimately presenting feminism as palatable, family-friendly and safe. According to author Vivian Gornick:

For radical feminists like me, Ellen Willis, and Jill Johnston, we had a different kind of magazine in mind. We came out against marriage and motherhood. Gloria Steinem was uptown; we were downtown. She hung out with Establishment figures; we had only ourselves. It very quickly became obvious at that first meeting that they wanted a glossy that would appeal to the women who read the Ladies’ Home Journal. We didn’t want that, so they walked away with it.

Johnston is the subject of one of Andy Warhol’s portrait films, Jill, a 4½-minute silent movie shot in black and white (1963)

Johnston will be the first to call for intersectionality noting the difference between gay and lesbian issues.

1972: The California DMV reports that while the majority of the 65,000 vanity license plates have presented no censorship issues for the department, a few plates – including “HOMO”, “GAYLIB”, “EAT ME”, and “LOVE69” have been banned.

Continue reading Gay History – March 4: Cali Vanity Plates, Betty Friedan and Man Hating Lesbians, and Murdered for Being a “F*g” →
FLORIDA Man Who Brutally Killed 2 Gay Men Sentenced to Death

FLORIDA Man Who Brutally Killed 2 Gay Men Sentenced to Death

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Steven Lorenzo, 63, a Florida man who asked that the judge sentence him to death after he confessed to torturing and killing two gay men in 2003 was granted his wish on Friday for the brutal murders of Jason Galehouse and Michael Wachholtz, both were 26.  

In December 2003, Lorenzo and sidekick Scott Schweickert lured Galehouse and Wachholtz separately to Lorenzo’s home in Tampa. with promises of drinks and a bondage session. Schweickert said that Galehouse, who was already strapped down to the bed, was put in a chokehold by Lorenzo and struggled until he stopped moving .

Speaking at Lorenzo’s trial, Pam Williams, Galehouse’s mom, asked the judge to give him the death penalty, describing the pain she went through after her son died.: “ou are the scumbag of the Earth, and I cannot believe how you can sit there with no remorse, no ‘I’m sorry,’ no nothing,” Williams said to Lorenzo in court. “I don’t have a grave, I don’t have a tombstone, all I got is ground-up hamburger meat in the ground because of you, you scumbag. That’s exactly what you are. You should be dead already, as far as I’m concerned. You put me through holy hell.”

Also speaking at the trail Wachholtz’s mother, Ruth Wachholtz, said with tears in her eyes that he should be sentenced to death: “What he did to my son before murdering him should be done to him, eye for an eye,” Ruth Wachholtz said. “For 20 years he lived, and Michael hasn’t. At taxpayers’ expense, no less. It’s time to end this.”

In a 147-page letter filed to the court in November, Lorenzo, who represented himself, withdrew his not-guilty plea and requested the death penalty for his crimes, stating that the “comforts they get in death row are a lot more comfortable than it is in the federal system.” Adding: “That’s fine, I don’t really care, it doesn’t bother me, because the defense wants the death penalty. The defense is saying, ‘Yes, give me the death penalty, that is absolutely great,’” Lorenzo said in court. 

We agree.

Gay History – February 19, 1999: The Horrific Murder of Billy Jack Gaither And How It Changed A Small Alabama Town Forever

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On February 19, 1999, Billy Jack Gaither went to The Tavern, a Sylacauga, Alabama nightclub, where he had been friends with the owner, Marion Hammond, for twenty years. Gaither was a regular there, if he wasn’t at the Tool Box in Birmingham forty miles away. Hammond remembered that he was nonchalant about his sexuality. ” If they walked over to Billy Jack and they say, ‘Are you gay?’ he’d say, ‘Yes, and I love it.’ You couldn’t hurt his feelings on it, so we wasn’t worried about it.”

Another regular, Steve Mullins, 25, also started to hang out at the Tavern. His presence wasn’t so benign. He sometimes showed up wearing racist t-shirts and harassing African-American customers. He was known locally as a wannabe tough-acting skinhead. “He tried to walk around like a bully, but he wasn’t,” Hammond said. “He was mostly talk.” His buddy, a construction worker named Charles Butler, Jr., was quieter.

Gaither had a reputation for getting along with pretty much everyone, so nobody’s eyebrows were raised when Gaither left The Tavern that night with Mullins and Butler. The three drove to a remote area where Mullins and Butler beat Gaither, stuffed him into the trunk, and went for supplies: kerosene, matches, an axe handle and old tires form Mullins’s home. They then drove to the banks of Peckerwood Creek in neighboring Coosa County. They poured kerosene on the tires and set them ablaze. Then they pulled Gaither out of the trunk of his car. He tried to stand up and they beat him with the ax handle, cut his throat, and threw him onto the pile of burning tires. They moved Gaither’s car to another dirt road and set it on fire. It was found the next day.

Continue reading Gay History – February 19, 1999: The Horrific Murder of Billy Jack Gaither And How It Changed A Small Alabama Town Forever →

COLD CASE: The 1990 Murder of Gay Porn Star Billy London (William Arnold Newton) Solved.

COLD CASE: The 1990 Murder of Gay Porn Star Billy London (William Arnold Newton) Solved.

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Thought to be a victim of Jeffery Dahmer’s Billy London was actually murdered by a white supremacist transgender skinhead.

Only in Los Angeles.

LAPD Det. John Lamberti, with the help of Circus of Books Documentarian Rachel Mason, and amatuer sleuth Clark Williams, have helped solve the cold case murder and identified the killer of William Arnold Newton, who went by the gay male porn names Billy London.

Dubbed the Black Dahlia of the gay community. Newton was last seen at The Rage Nightclub in West Hollywood. His head and feet were found in a dumpster in Hollywood off of Santa Monica Boulevard on October 29, 1990.

London was originally believed to be one of Jeffery Dahmer’s unidentified victims was actually mudered by Darrell Lynn Madden, a former self-proclaimed white supremacist and skinhead who now identifies as an Orthodox Jewish woman named Daralyn Madden.

Madden pleaded guilty to killing a gay man in Oklahoma named Steven Domer and another man named Bradley Qualls, who had been Madden’s accomplice in Domer’s murder and has since confessed to abducting, robbing, beating and strangling Newton to death.

Madden said she approached Newton and put her arm calmly around his shoulder and told him that they were going to rob him and “probably beat the crap out of him,” and that he was going to go with them without making a scene. She said she couldn’t remember where they had taken Newton, but that she had ended up strangling him to death, which matched the coroner’s findings. She didn’t dismember Newton’s body, she knows who did but she refuses to “snitch.”

L.A. County Dist. Atty. George Gascón’s office has decided not to file charges against Madden, citing a lack of evidence beyond the confession, too many unanswered questions remain and prosecutors would have a difficult time proving Madden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt after 30 years.

William Arnold Newton’s grizzly murder will be the subject of a documentary by Rachel Mason the documentary will be a follow-up to Circus of Books and will be much “deeper dive into the world behind the videos.”

Via: The WeHo Times