BY RYAN LEWIS
NEW YORK - More than 800 people took part in a March 15
rally here to protest the brutal beating and killing of Billy
Jack Gaither, who was gay, in Sylacauga, Alabama. "Hey, hey!
Ho, ho! Homophobia has got to go!" and "No more silence!"
chanted demonstrators marching from 59th Street to Times
Square. Organizers of the event built it as a political
funeral for Gaither, as well as for a number of other gays
murdered by rightists and victims of police brutality.
The rally attracted a small layer of militant workers who came out to show their intolerance for these attacks. Ronald William McLean Duncan, a 24-year-old member of Plumbers Union Local 1, hopped a train downtown to get to the protest after seeing it on the news after work. He built solidarity for the 1997 Teamsters strike against UPS, and has been a part of actions demanding a new trial for framed-up Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Andrea Ryan, a young writer, carried a sign denouncing New York City police brutality and quickly drew a parallel between the killing of Gaither and the recent killing of Amadou Diallo, a street vendor from Guinea, by four city cops. This was on many people's minds as "Arrest the Diallo Four!" was chanted at the march's final rallying point. Ryan has taken part in some of the protests against Diallo's killing as well as an October rally here against the murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay student, in Wyoming.
Many signs and chants at the action blamed "hate" for all these killings. Some people called for more "hate crimes" laws. When it was pointed out that these laws would be used primarily against fighters for social justice, a number of protesters began shifting their position.
Referring to the protest as one of the most effective ways to oppose the killing, Gabrielle Bossau, a 23-year-old gay rights activist said, "I think visibility is very important."
In anticipation of the protest, the city government deployed more than 800 police, who encircled the march as it moved down the street. They were unable to disrupt it, though.