Printed Sept. 24, 2000

By KIMBERLY O'BRIEN
THE ROANOKE TIMES

A drifter searching for a gay bar because he wanted to shoot gay people walked into the Backstreet Cafe in Roanoke Friday night, calmly ordered a beer and then opened fire, killing one person and wounding six others.

Witnesses said the man didn't say a word as he pulled a 9 mm handgun from underneath his black trench coat and methodically fired at least eight rounds, sending bar patrons scrambling for cover. Bullets struck people at random as they ducked and threw up their arms, trying to protect themselves.

Police charged 53-year-old Ronald Edward Gay, found about two blocks from the Salem Avenue watering hole, with first-degree murder. Gay had already tossed aside his gun because, he later told detectives, he didn't want to hurt a policeman.

"He put the gun down, knowing we'd be coming for him," said Lt. William Althoff, who heads the Roanoke City Police Department's criminal investigations division.

Witnesses who survived the shooting described a chaotic, horrifying scene that left many wondering why the crowded bar, popular with gay and straight people, was targeted by a man no one had seen before. The incident is being investigated by police as a hate crime.

Danny Lee Overstreet, sitting at a table closest to the gunman, dropped when a shot hit him in the chest. The 43-year-old Northwest Roanoke man died within minutes, despite efforts to help him.

"It was terrible," said a patron named Chris. "Blood everywhere. He was gagging on his blood, so we put him on his side. He died before police got there."

Chris, a bisexual man who asked that his last name not be used for fear of losing his job, said he watched the suspect come in, hunker down to the bar and order a mug of beer. Chris said he was headed to the bathroom when a noise behind him made him turn around.

"Like firecrackers ? pop, pop, pop, pop," he said. "I saw John fall. . . . I held his hand. He wouldn't let go."

John W. Collins, 39, was among those most seriously wounded, shot in the abdomen. Other victims include Iris Page Webb, 39, shot in the neck; Susan S. Smith, 45, shot in the right leg with the bullet exiting her buttocks; Linda R. Conyers, 41, shot in the right arm and hand; Joel I. Tucker, 40, shot in the small of his back; and Kathy S. Caldwell, 36, shot in the left hand and right shoulder.

"He started shooting anybody that was moving," Tucker said in a telephone interview from his hospital bed. "The only thing I saw was one woman running past me. Her finger had been shot."

Anna Sparks, celebrating her 37th birthday with her partner, at first thought she heard balloons popping. She turned around and watched in horror as people began falling to the ground.

"He was just swinging his arm and people were going down and dropping," as he worked his way around the room before he leveled the silver gun at Sparks, she recounted. Terrified, she couldn't move.

"He was staring at me like he was saying, ?You are next,? ? she said, her voice shaking with emotion.

But the man didn't fire again. He put his hand down, turned around and walked out of the bar like nothing had happened, Sparks said. The manager locked the door, and people inside began pulling off their sweaters and jackets, putting them onto the wounds of those hit to stop the bleeding.

"People were pulling together in that crisis situation," said Tucker, who said he's not gay and was at the bar with his girlfriend and another couple. "I didn't know any of these people and they were great."

Patrons said police officers at the scene were compassionate.

Five of the victims are from Roanoke; Tucker is from Roanoke County; and Webb is from Dublin. Saturday night, Smith, Tucker and Caldwell were listed at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital in stable condition, Webb was in very serious condition and Collins was in guarded condition. Conyers had been discharged.

Roanoke police still don't know why Gay, who confessed to the crime, did what he did. But his actions leading up to the shooting were bizarre. After giving away money and some belongings to people who rented a room near him at the Jefferson Lodge, he approached an employee in an alley outside Corned Beef & Co.

"He asked where the gay bar was, because he wanted to waste some gay people," said police spokeswoman Shelly Alley. Then the man pulled aside his trench coat, displaying a gun.

Police said the employee, probably thinking the man was joking, pointed him toward The Park at 615 Salem Ave., and the man walked away, heading in that direction. That was between 11 and 11:30 p.m. Seven minutes later, the employee called police, who reached Corned Beef by 11:39 p.m.

At 11:46 p.m., the officer broadcast a description of the man on his police radio. But five minutes later, the call came: A shooting at 356 Salem Ave. Not The Park, but a tiny bar called Backstreet Cafe.

Officers, some on foot, rushed to the scene. It was shift-change time, so officers on the midnight shift were outside the police department, waiting for the evening shift officers to turn over their cars. Those in cars drove to the area, some branching off to search for the suspect.

Within 10 minutes of the 911 call, an officer happened upon a gray-haired, gray-bearded man at First Street and Campbell Avenue. The man was Gay, who calmly put his hands in the air when asked. Then he told police the gun was in a trash can near the Virginia Museum of Transportation.

The gun was an autoloader, meaning it spews out casings as it fires. It contained a magazine that held 10 rounds, but police found only eight shell casings inside the bar. Gay purchased his gun late last year from a Roanoke gun dealer, and still had the receipt in his pocket when police apprehended him, police said.

Police asked Sparks and other witnesses to identify the suspect. Sparks peered through the window of the police cruiser and saw Gay staring into space.

"He didn't try to hide his face," she said. "He had this look on his face like, ?I'm proud.? I just wanted to get a hold of him and strangle him. He has no clue as to what he's done to these people and their families."

Police don't know much about Gay. Police weren't aware of a criminal record in Virginia on Saturday. Members of the gay community didn't know his name and hadn't seen him before.

Gay carried an identification card with an address in Citrus Springs, Fla., but he claimed to have been living at various addresses in Roanoke for about a year. He had checked into the Jefferson Lodge on Friday afternoon, and had recently been camping at Roanoke Mountain Campground. He told detectives he had been in Roanoke in the mid-1980s, and remembered a club in Southwest Roanoke that catered to homosexuals.

"He may have been looking for that," guessed Althoff, the police lieutenant. "We are not sure why, or why now."

Althoff, in his more than 20 years as a police officer, said he couldn't remember another incident like this one. The last mass shooting in Roanoke was on Jan. 1, 1995, when five people celebrating the new year were killed in an Old Southwest carriage house. But Roanoke has had few hate crimes, and those reported have been isolated incidents -- individuals threatening each other, epitaphs scribbled on buildings.

"I've never seen anything when anyone has gone after a group of people like this," Althoff said.

Gay is being held in the Roanoke City Jail without bond. Although charged only with a count of murder, police said more charges are anticipated. Roanoke Commonwealth's Attorney Don Caldwell said additional charges will likely be for aggravated malicious wounding and malicious wounding, both of which carry stiffer sentences than attempted murder.

The status of the victims still in the hospital could determine whether capital murder is considered, Caldwell said.

"It's clear this has a malicious act, which in of itself is malice, which is hate," he said. "Based on the evidence I've heard, certainly this man is looking at being locked up for the rest of his life."

As prosecutors prepare to bring the case before a grand jury Oct. 2, Caldwell said various statutes will be examined. But Virginia's hate crimes statute cannot be used. Although lawmakers have tried to add sexual orientation to the statute, that provision never made it out of committee.

Fred Jackson and Roy Mitchell, two friends who brought purple and white flowers and a balloon to the bar Saturday afternoon, said the public needs to realize that gays matter -- that crimes, when committed against them, count.

Jackson and Mitchell were only two of those who paid tribute, pausing to pray or to place flowers before the door. As the brightly colored blooms grew in number, one rose wrapped in tan paper stood out.

On the card were three words:

"Hate will kill."

Staff writers Zeke Barlow and Jon Cawley contributed to this story.

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Did Torment Over Name Push Man to Killing?

Printed Sept. 24, 2000

By ZEKE BARLOW
THE ROANOKE TIMES

Ronald Gay didn't like his last name.

In between his violent spats and drunken stupors, he complained his name was supposed to mean "happy," not "homosexual," according to his ex-wife, Laura Ramsey.

Ramsey said Gay, 53, felt a lifelong torment over his name, but didn't openly hate homosexuals. Friday night would suggest something different. Gay is suspected of shooting seven people in a Roanoke gay bar Friday night, killing one.

That it happened after Gay, a Vietnam War veteran who complained of post traumatic stress disorder, spent the day drinking was no surprise to Ramsey, who lives in Florida.

For those who spent Friday with Gay at the Jefferson Motor Lodge on Jefferson Street in downtown Roanoke, the news of Gay's arrest seemed shocking at first, then made sense in hindsight.

He spoke of death, religion, violence and of never coming back.

Shortly after he checked into the hotel Friday afternoon, he extended his arm with a Marine Corps tattoo to Virgil Glover and offered him a cigarette. Later, it was bourbon he offered, then money, his glasses and his room key. He was like a man preparing for his suicide.

"He said, if he wasn't back by morning, turn on the 8 o'clock news -- that's all he said," before he left the hotel Friday night, Glover said.

"He was an awful friendly guy it seemed," Glover said Saturday, as he stood just outside Gay's hotel room.

Now, Glover realizes Gay said and did some peculiar things.

At one point, Gay was sitting on the balcony watching a group of Christian singers in Elmwood Park. He saw two police officers ride by on appaloosa horses. Glover said that Gay, with a Bible beside him, said, "Death rides a pale horse."

Glover thought Gay was talking about the Bible. "I thought he had just read it in Revelations," Glover said. "Who would have thought the man had a gun in the room right there."

Glover said Gay didn't seem like a killer, but now Glover believes it was not a random comment.

"I think he was indicating something. I think he believed he was the justice, prosecutor and executioner," he said.

At first, Gay seemed to be a kind, giving man to Glover.

Gay gave $2 to the 2-year-old granddaughter of Virgil Glover's friend Kay Lawrence, then later bought two large pizzas for Glover, Lawrence and five of her relatives.

Gay said he bought the pizzas because he wouldn't see them anymore, according to Tanya Crookshank, another of Lawrence's granddaughters.

When Lawrence's grandson carried a table up to Gay's balcony, Gay gave him $5. Then he gave Crookshank a portable radio, and Lawrence a country-western tape called "Crying in the Chapel" to "listen to when you are sad," Lawrence said Gay told her.

He even offered one of Lawrence's children a shirt to wear when he thought she was cold. Gay was wearing that same shirt when he was arrested.

He showered about 9:30 p.m., then gave Glover his room key. He reeked of bourbon, Glover said.

"You got my key," Lawrence remembered Gay saying. "I may not be back. If not you can have my stuff in the room."

Gay said he was going to grab a hamburger and watch some fireworks.

Three hours later, he was arrested on a first-degree murder charge.

All this came as no surprise to Ramsey, Gay's fifth ex-wife.

Gay walked out on Ramsey and their 18-month-old son two years ago. She said the only time she saw him again was when he busted into her house on Father's Day this year, assaulting her and her new husband. She took out a restraining order and filed charges against Gay, she says.

"It doesn't surprise me that he killed somebody," she said.

Gay was often drinking Canadian whiskey and he always had a gun, Ramsey said. Once, she came home to find Gay with a gun to his head while their 6-month-old son sat on the floor. Ramsey said on one drunken Christmas, Gay started masturbating in front of her mother.

Gay was being treated at different Veterans Affairs hospitals for his post traumatic stress disorder, Ramsey said. She said he described Vietnam as a bloody confusion of fighting and picking up his buddies' body parts.

Ramsey said Gay told her he came to Virginia to get treated. He had no fixed address but had been in Roanoke for about a year, police said. He frequented Sharon's Graffiti and Tony's Place, both on Salem Avenue a few blocks from the site of the shooting. He never said much and kept to himself, regulars said.

He often talked about building a house in Virginia and settling down here, Ramsey said.

Saturday night, Gay was in Roanoke. Alone, in a city jail cell.

Staff writers Jon Cawley and Ron Nixon contributed to this story.

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Victim's Family Remembers Man's Joy

Printed Sept. 24, 2000

By JON CAWLEY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

Danny Lee Overstreet had a family that loved him.

He had a poodle named Friday that was his world. And the man with a quick and hearty laugh had a regular job like many in Roanoke.

Overstreet also had a sexual orientation that cost him his life.

He was gay.

For that, an angry stranger sentenced him to death.

A burst of gunfire at a dimly lit Salem Avenue bar struck seven people.

Overstreet, closest to the gunman, took a bullet in his chest. The 43-year-old crumpled to the floor of the Backstreet Cafe.

Several of Overstreet's family members were at his home on Spring Hollow Avenue in Northwest Roanoke on Saturday afternoon changing the locks, but they still can't believe he won't come home again.

Overstreet wasn't a drinker -- it was the socializing that brought him to the cafe on a semi-regular basis, they said.

Danny's mother, Ann Overstreet, said she was awakened by a friend of Danny's ringing her doorbell about 1 a.m. She was told to " 'Hurry up, get your clothes,? ? she said.

There was no other explanation.

"I was thinking, what happened? A car accident?" Ann Overstreet recalled. "But nothing like this. I cannot believe what happened."

The pain showed in the dull gaze of her eyes. It sounded through words that still refer to her son as if he were still alive.

"He's my youngest, my baby," she said.

The two were very close. Overstreet had a beautician's license but worked for Verizon as a customer service representative. He would perm his mother's hair, she said.

Mother and son ran errands and went shopping regularly -- just last week for furnishings for Ann Overstreet's new home. They were supposed to go shopping today, and Overstreet was scheduled for jury duty in October, she said.

"He was wonderful," Ann Overstreet said. "He was jolly. More so than all my children. He had a big, loud laugh. He got tickled at the slightest thing."

Overstreet had two sisters and a brother in Roanoke and a brother in Delaware. Another brother died in 1995 of throat cancer.

His sister, Darlene Overstreet, said two characteristics sum up her brother's life.

"He was the life of the party and he was always the center of attention," she said. "And everyone liked it that way. He was like a magnet. He drew people in to him."

John Goodhart Sr. of Rocky Mount worked with Overstreet at Verizon. "He was just one of those quiet, funny guys. Pleasant," he said. "He was overweight. Had a pot bigger than mine. He was just a mild-mannered guy -- the last person you would ever think would die a violent death."

Despite all his friends, Overstreet wasn't in a relationship, his family said. He filled that gap by doting affection on his poodle, Friday. He took took the dog everywhere ? even to the picket line during the Verizon strike.

"That was his joy, that little dog," Ann Overstreet said. "That was his company. He needed that."

For all the things he was, one thing Overstreet wasn't was political, his family said. They said they and friends knew he was gay, but coworkers may not have.

Longtime family friend Deb Smith said Overstreet never said anything about being afraid or that he suspected he would be someone's target.

Smith said Overstreet had been to Pride in the Park a couple of times, but she did not think he attended this year's gay pride event.

"He lived his life as normal as people can. It feels like he's going to get out of the car and walk up the steps," Darlene Overstreet said, turning away as tears filled her eyes. She put her arm on a porch column for support.

When she heard her brother had been shot, Darlene Overstreet went to the bar and waited. "So he wouldn't be alone, lying on the floor," she said.

She recalled advice she had given Danny Overstreet in the past. "Never leave your back to the door," she implored. "People are crazy. They've lost their minds."

Along with Overstreet, six others suffered wounds -- four women and two men. As of Saturday evening, one victim remained in critical condition and one had been released. The others fell in between.

Joel I. Tucker, 40, of Bonsall Lane in Southeast Roanoke County, was shot in the lower back. He was the only victim who agreed to be interviewed.

Tucker said doctors had decided to leave the bullet in his back because surgery would be too damaging to the soft tissue surrounding the bullet, lodged about an inch from his spine.

"I was one of the least hurt of anyone," he said.

Tucker had his back to the door when he said he heard a sound like firecrackers.

"I jumped up and the guy shot me," he said. "If I was sitting I think he would have shot me in the head.

"It's pretty scary. I never saw him. I jumped up and he clipped me in the belt line."

Tucker said the wound burned like a bee sting.

"Who would have thought something like that would happen," he said. "We were out on the town for the night, shooting pool. We thought that would be the end of it."

Staff writers Mike Hudson and Kimberly O'Brien contributed to this report.

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City's Gay Community Turns Out to Mourn

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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Church Fills With Mourners

Printed Sept. 25, 2000

By MIKE HUDSON, KATHY LU and CODY LOWE
THE ROANOKE TIMES

The crowd Sunday night came to grieve, share information, vent anger -- and talk about how to stop the hatred and violence that left one dead and six wounded this weekend in Roanoke at a bar frequented by gays and lesbians.

It was the second night in a row that gays, lesbians and heterosexuals gathered in large numbers to talk about Friday night's shootings. More than 150 people tried to cram into a Kirk Avenue church with a capacity of a few dozen people. Twenty minutes into the community forum, the word came that the city fire marshal had asked the meeting be moved outside Metropolitan Community Church of the Blue Ridge.

Overfilling a venue is "a good problem to have," Dan Hawes, an organizer with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, told the crowd as it reconvened in the street in front of the church. He said it was a sign that people are ready to come together and fight for change.

And he said it's not just happening in Roanoke.

"This is starting to bust out all over the country," Hawes said.

Sunday in San Francisco, the gay pride rainbow flag that flies over the Castro district was lowered to half staff in memory of Danny Lee Overstreet, who died in the Roanoke shootings that police say were motivated by anti-gay feelings. Hawes said people across the nation are prepared to hold vigils to coincide with a large ceremony being planned for Thursday night in Roanoke.

The location for the Thursday vigil is undecided, but smaller candlelight vigils will be held every night until then outside Backstreet Cafe, the Salem Avenue tavern where the shootings happened.

Hawes also announced that a fund is being set up to pay for therapy and medical bills for the shooting victims and those who witnessed the violence.

As he was announcing that he already had a $100 pledge, someone walked up and put a $10 bill in his hand. It came from Loretta and Jim Ferrin, a married couple who said they came to the meeting to represent Mountainville Neighborhood Watch, a group in Roanoke's West End.

"This is the type of crime Roanoke doesn't need," Loretta Ferrin, 63, said. "I don't care if you're straight or not, this injustice is intolerable."

Ronald Edward Gay, 53, has been charged with murder in Overstreet's death. Police say they also expect to charge him with several counts of malicious wounding.

Police spokeswoman Shelly Alley said all six remaining shooting victims are expected to survive. Two of them, Kathy S. Caldwell and Joel I. Tucker, were discharged from Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital on Sunday. Iris Page Webb remained in critical condition. John W. Collins was in stable condition, though he was heavily sedated in intensive care.

Since the shootings, churches, community groups and individuals have been trying to find ways to respond.

Emotions were high Sunday morning at Metropolitan Community Church, a Christian congregation whose membership is predominantly gay and lesbian.

Its 11 a.m. service drew almost 70 people -- including about a half-dozen reporters and photographers -- and was marked by tears, hugs and prayers.

The congregation included three women who had been in the Backstreet Cafe at the time of Friday's shootings: Anna Sparks, who identified the shooting suspect to police; her partner, Sue Stroud; and Pulaski County resident Judy Opincar.

Opincar said she came to church to be with family, "people who support me."

Sparks said it was "a little hard getting back out into the public, but on the other hand it's hard to be by yourself. . . . We keep the TV or something on all the time."

Both Sparks and Stroud wore black Backstreet Cafe shirts. Sparks said they wanted to show their respect for the the cafe "and to let the people there know we still love them."

Another churchgoer, Rhoda Chattin, said the shootings sent a chill of fear throughout the gay and lesbian community. Gathering at church "gives us the strength to do all we need to do" to fight intolerance and hatred of gays and lesbians.

A week ago, more than 1,000 people came to Roanoke's Highland Park for Pride in the Park, which celebrated tolerance, diversity and gay pride.

"We were so elated," Chattin said. "It was like we were invincible. Then this happens, and now we're picking up and beginning again."

Staff writer Mike Allen contributed information to this story.

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Suspect's Family Looks for a Reason

Printed Sept. 25, 2000

By MIKE ALLEN
THE ROANOKE TIMES

Ronald Edward Gay's father hated it when his children got into trouble. When Ron was 12, he started hanging around with the wrong crowd. His father, Cecil, became so angry that he made his son strip naked and whipped him.

But William Gay, 51, Ronald's brother, said the incident was the only time he could remember his father acting out of anger. Cecil Gay was a loving father who was very protective of his family, but "he was very strict. He didn't like trouble."

Late Friday night a bearded man wearing a black trench coat went into Backstreet Cafe on Salem Avenue in Southwest Roanoke, ordered a beer, then stood up and fired at least eight shots from a 9 mm handgun. One man was killed and six others were wounded. Police have charged 53-year-old Ronald Edward Gay with first-degree murder in connection with the shootings.

"He admits to shooting people," said Lt. William Althoff, head of the criminal investigations unit of the Roanoke City Police Department.

Police videotaped Gay's confession and it will be submitted as evidence against him. He is to be arraigned today.

Gay's mother, Rita Hack, who lives in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, said that Gay's sister Marilyn spoke to Ronald Gay on Saturday night at the Roanoke City Jail. "He said, ?I know, sis. I'm in trouble.? ?

Lt. Chuck Ferguson of the Roanoke City Sheriff's Department said Gay has been calm, cooperative and quiet. "He's not on a suicide watch."

"I didn't think it was going to happen to this family," Hack said. "I'm just in a daze. I think I cried all day." She said her son had called her a few days ago. "He said, ?I love you, Ma.? ?

Roanoke police said Gay approached a Corned Beef & Co. employee just before the shooting, asked where a gay bar was, said he wanted to kill some gay people and showed the employee his gun. The employee directed the man toward The Park at 615 Salem Ave., then called police after the man left. Instead, the man went to the Backstreet Cafe, a bar frequented by gays, at 356 Salem Ave.

William Gay is baffled by his brother's actions. Reached at his home in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Gay's voice often wavered and faltered. "He phoned me about four days ago," he said. During the conversation, his brother told him he was making plans to come to Dartmouth to visit.

He said his brother didn't hold anything against gays, but sometimes complained that the family name had taken on a new meaning of homosexual. "When I went to school, gay just meant ?happy,? ? he said.

Gay said his brother had been unable to obtain the medicine he took for post-traumatic stress disorder from the Salem Veterans Affairs Medical Center. "He is really frustrated with that hospital. He was reaching out. When they did not give him his medication . . . they were creating a time bomb."

Hack said that Ronald Gay had told his sister he was trying to get medication, but the VA hospital would not help him.

William Gay said the fact that his brother approached someone and said he was going to go to a gay bar and kill gays was a cry for help, as if he were saying, ? ?I'm going to do this, can you do something to stop me?? ?

A spokesperson for the Salem VA Medical Center could not confirm Sunday night whether Gay was a patient there.

As a child, he excelled in sports, loved baseball and bowling, and was meticulous about his appearance, his brother said.

When he was a teen-ager, Ronald Gay left Canada for the United States to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps. His father died while he was in training at Parris Island, S.C., William Gay said.

Ronald was teased often because of his last name while in the military, his brother said.

Ronald Gay served one tour of duty in the Vietnam War. His mother said he saw seven friends killed when their truck struck a land mine. His brother said Ronald cleaned up the bodies.

When he returned from the war, "that's when everything started to go downhill bad," his brother said.

Gay's fifth ex-wife, Laura Ramsey, said he had prescriptions for Prozac, an anti-depressant, and Clonipin, an anti-anxiety drug. She said he took his medication daily while they were married, but also drank constantly. She said he had a problem with alcohol.

After the Vietnam War, Ronald Gay spearheaded a land dispute his family was involved in.

In 1941, the Canadian defense department had taken 400 acres of the family's land for its use, William Gay said. Cecil Gay demanded the government pay his family for the value of the land. At the time of his death, the dispute had not been resolved.

The family finally reached a settlement with the government two years ago, William Gay said. The frustration of the long fight, coupled with his experiences in Vietnam, made Ronald bitter. "He still wasn't satisfied."

William Gay said his brother remains embittered by two losses: the U.S. loss in Vietnam and the long struggle to restore the land taken from his father, a man who hid his dispute with the government while his children were growing up.

"We didn't know it was a bad world out there," Gay said.

The Washington Post contributed to this story.

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Gay Had Been Ordered to Surrender Guns

Printed Sept. 26, 2000

By TAD DICKENS and KIMBERLY O'BRIEN
THE ROANOKE TIMES

A Florida judge in June ordered Ronald Edward Gay to surrender all his firearms and submit to a psychological evaluation after a domestic incident with an ex-wife.

Less than three months later, he still had at least one weapon -- a black Ruger 9mm pistol. And police say he used it Friday night in what national activist groups say is one of the worst anti-gay attacks in U.S. history.

Gay sat stone-faced Monday morning as a judge arraigned him on a first-degree murder charge for the shooting death of a Roanoke man at a downtown bar frequented by gays and lesbians.

Gay remained in jail with no bail.

Police say a man walked into the Backstreet Cafe on Salem Avenue late Friday, pulled a gun from his black trench coat and fired at least eight rounds at scrambling patrons.

Danny Lee Overstreet, 43, was killed by a gunshot wound to the chest. Six other people were wounded, two seriously.

Gay, who police say confessed on videotape, reportedly had been distressed about his last name.

Police did not find any anti-gay literature among his possessions, and they haven't found any information that he was linked with any anti-gay group, Roanoke police spokeswoman Shelly Alley said.

Police found no other firearms among his things in searches at the Jefferson Lodge and at Roanoke Mountain Campground, where he recently had stayed, Alley said.

Gay bought the pistol Oct. 25, 1999, at a Roanoke-area gun shop, according to a receipt he had in his pocket. Police would not name the gun shop.

On Father's Day, June 18, Gay came into the Citrus Springs, Fla., house of Laura Ramsey, his fifth ex-wife, according to police and Citrus County, Fla., court documents. Gay, overdue on his child support, had not seen their 4-year-old son in three years when he forced his way in. She forced him back out, then he pushed her and threatened her and their son, "stating he would shoot us," according to court documents.

He "just wanted to see his son," he said when he forced his way inside, according to Ramsey.

On June 30, 5th Judicial Circuit Judge Barbara Gurrola issued a protective order requiring Gay to surrender his firearms and ammunition to Florida authorities. The order, however, only applied to Florida.

The protective order also required Gay to have a mental health evaluation. It was not clear whether he reported for that evaluation, according to authorities in Citrus County.

But he had been in and out of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salem. Dr. Stephen Lemons said Gay last had been to the VA on April 26, but wouldn't say for what. On July 11, he called to say that he was leaving the area and wouldn't be back for a while, Lemons said.

At the Roanoke City Jail early Saturday morning, Gay told Roanoke sheriff's deputies that he had been suicidal 15 times in the past, Sheriff George McMillan said.

Gay said little at his hearing Monday. "Don't matter," he said when Roanoke General District Judge Julian Raney asked him whether he protested having cameras in the courtroom for the hearing.

It probably won't be the last time he'll see them. And it's not likely that first-degree murder will be the only charge he will face, Roanoke Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell said outside the courtroom.

Caldwell said he will seek grand jury indictments in October on six malicious wounding charges, some aggravated, and seven related firearms charges.

"Of course, if anyone else dies, we'll be looking at a capital murder charge" for Gay, Caldwell said.

Gay will not, however, face federal charges. Sexual orientation is not one of the protected categories under federal civil rights law.

The U.S. Attorney's Office did forward news stories about the case for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice to look into, said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ruth Plagenhoef.

Roanoke police clarified earlier information they released about Gay's encounter with a Corned Beef & Co. employee before the shooting.

Police said Monday that the employee had no idea of Gay's intentions when he directed him to The Park, another gay bar farther up Salem Avenue from the Backstreet Cafe.

The employee, whom police are not identifying, told investigators he was in an alley outside the restaurant when Gay approached him sometime between 11 and 11:30 p.m. and asked where the nearest gay bar was. The employee told him about The Park. It was then that Gay showed him his gun, saying he was going to "go waste some faggots," according to Lt. William Althoff.

After Gay left, the employee went inside and called police at 11:37 p.m., Althoff said.

Jason Hurd, an employee at Corned Beef & Co., said the person who told Gay about The Park was very upset.

"He's taking some time off," Hurd said.

After getting directions to The Park, Gay apparently headed up Salem Avenue. Police believe he heard music coming from inside Backstreet Cafe, and walked in and ordered a beer at the bar.

Police had broadcast lookouts, based on a description from the Corned Beef employee, at 11:44 and 11:46 p.m. At 11:51 p.m., someone from inside Backstreet Cafe called 911 to report the shooting.

After shooting for about 20 seconds, Gay walked out and headed toward the Virginia Museum of Transportation, Althoff said. There, he removed his black trench coat, wrapped his gun in it, and stuffed them in a trash can near the museum's front entrance, Althoff said. Witnesses told police they saw a man wrapping something in his coat, but didn't know what it was, he said.

An officer apprehended Gay at First Street and Campbell Avenue within 10 minutes of the shooting. Inside the patrol car, the officer told Gay of his rights and asked him if he wanted to talk, Althoff said. A video camera inside the police car caught Gay's comments on tape.

Gay told the officer he "came from the fag bar and blew them away."

In interviewing Gay, detectives learned about his discomfort with his last name, Althoff said. Gay said he often was chided, and was bothered that his sons later changed their last names.

"That was distressing that they were not going to use the family name," Althoff said.

Roanoke police say Gay is 53, but, according to Florida court documents, he is 54.

Staff writers Zeke Barlow and Jen McCaffery contributed to this report.

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Victim Describes Shooter Stepping Over Him

Printed Sept. 26, 2000

By KIMBERLY O'BRIEN
THE ROANOKE TIMES

Lying in a puddle of his own blood, John Collins played dead.

Around him, turmoil reigned. Bullets flew through the air. People were screaming, crying, diving for cover.

He felt the arms of his good friend, Danny Overstreet, wrapped tightly around his legs. But suddenly, the grip loosened ever so slightly.

"I realized Danny was already gone," Collins said. "There was nothing I could do for him."

Collins was lucky. One of the most seriously injured in the Friday night shooting at the Backstreet Cafe, he lived to tell the tale of losing his friend of 25 years and to tell the horror that filled the Salem Avenue bar that night.

He almost didn't make it. Doctors told his mother, Lois Collins, that it was touch and go. Shot in the stomach, Collins lost parts of both intestines and his colon. He'll have to wear a colostomy bag for at least three months before another operation to try to repair the damaged organs.

The emotional damage is another thing.

Speaking Monday afternoon from his room in Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, the 39-year-old Northwest Roanoke man recounted the minutes when a man opened fire in the crowded bar, killing one and wounding six.

A drifter named Ronald Edward Gay was later arrested and charged with murder in connection with the shooting.

Less than a half-hour earlier, Gay had told an employee at another bar he wanted to "go waste some faggots," police said.

Collins was at the bar, known to cater to gays and lesbians, at the invitation of Overstreet. It was a place he periodically went to hang out with friends and play a few rounds of pool.

The night started uneventfully. Collins saw some buddies at the bar and grabbed a stool. He ordered a Zima and went to the bathroom. When he returned, he saw Overstreet at a table with another friend.

Collins grabbed his Zima and went to say hello. He knelt down and chatted for a few minutes. As he got up, he leaned over and gave Overstreet a hug. Collins is always hugging people, his mother says.

Then it began.

The bearded man sitting across the table stood up. He pulled a gun from beneath a black trench coat and looked Collins in the eye.

The man fired. A bullet pierced Collins' stomach.

"It was so fast," Collins said. "I said to myself, 'This isn't happening.' I looked down and saw the blood, and it started burning. It was a terrible, terrible burn. I went down to the floor. I was crawling toward the door. The pain was so intense, and there was so much blood."

While crawling, Collins felt Overstreet latch onto his legs. The man was still shooting, so Collins stopped, thinking that if he wanted to survive, he had better play dead. Then the pop-pop-pop that sounded more like firecrackers than bullets stopped.

The man stepped over Collins and headed for the door. Collins, on his side, felt the long coat rake across his shoulder. When the man left, pandemonium grew as patrons tried to help the wounded.

Overstreet, shot in the chest, was dead. Collins and five others were rushed to the hospital. Monday, he and one other victim, Iris Page Webb of Dublin, remained at Roanoke Memorial. Webb, shot in the neck, still is in very serious condition.

Collins, speaking calmly, said the reality of what happened hasn't quite sunk in. He does know, however, that he's angry. He's angry that his friend had to die. Angry that he is in so much pain. Angry that a stranger so filled with hate changed so many lives forever.

National gay and lesbian activist groups have called the shooting one of the worst anti-gay attacks in U.S. history.

In his hospital room, his mother pleads with him not to hate. Hate, after all, is what brought him here in the first place.

But Collins is adamant.

"I don't know if I can ever forgive him," he said. "Maybe eventually. It'll give me some time to figure out why. But when you kill a man right in front of me who means something to me, then right now I can hate this man."

Since the shooting, Collins has had nightmares in which he relives the scene again and again.

He knows that once he gets out of his hospital bed, he'll have a huge task before him. He'll have to come to grips with the fact that Overstreet, a perpetually happy man who was the brother Collins never had, is gone.

"The doctors want to get my body working before I start dealing with my mind," Collins said. "I haven't had time to mourn his death yet. That's coming."

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Co-Workers Stunned, Friends in Disbelief at Man's Death; Others Hope for Lesson Learned

Printed Sept. 26, 2000

By MARY BISHOP
THE ROANOKE TIMES

Danny Lee Overstreet's cubicle was a place where phone company workers often stopped for a laugh.

Monday morning, it was a shrine of flowers, sympathy cards and money collected for the family of the popular Verizon employee shot to death by a gunman in search of gay targets.

"Thank you Lord for sharing Danny with me in my life," Jana Hull wrote on a card for the family of the 43-year-old Overstreet. He died Friday night after a man shot him and six others at Roanoke's Backstreet Cafe, a favorite bar of gays and lesbians, as well as many straight people.

Overstreet handled orders and complaints about home service at the Verizon center on Airport Road. Counselors spent five hours there Monday listening to grief-stricken workers, many wearing bits of white ribbon in Overstreet's memory. Other Verizon offices handled calls so people could begin to process their loss.

Atop Overstreet's computer monitor a friend placed a framed picture of the rotund Overstreet sitting there, grinning and raising his arms with his usual exuberance.

On his desk lay eight white roses -- one for each of the seven members of his work team and one for his supervisor, Judy Scearce. She had been on vacation and didn't learn of his death until she heard phone messages at home Sunday night. Then she picked up Sunday's newspaper and couldn't believe what she read. Monday, her face was red from hours of intermittent tears.

Days ago, she said, Overstreet's team talked about Halloween costumes. Somebody wanted to be a werewolf. Overstreet volunteered to save trimmings from his poodle, Friday, to glue on their face and arms. It was just another way, Scearce said, that he threw himself into work and play. His was the first violent death of a co-worker that Scearce, 62, could remember in 43 years with the company.

"He had an infectious laugh," said his 17-year-old niece, Misty Overstreet. Her uncle's enthusiasm for plays and old black-and-white movies inspired her to take theater classes at William Fleming High School, where she is a senior.

He sometimes performed in drag under the name Iwanna, she said. An animal rights advocate, he donated regularly to organizations such as the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

"This man did not have a shred of prejudice in his body." That's why, she said, everyone who knew him and learned of his murder said, "No, not Danny!"

People around the Roanoke Valley have been trying to make sense of the shootings.

The shootings were the cause of much prayer and soul-searching Sunday at Unity Church of the Roanoke Valley, where Bruce Steele, 60, is a member. Though the shootings have brought unsavory national media coverage, it shouldn't reflect on Roanoke, he said. Instead, "it reflects on people who don't get the concept of getting along."

Before the shootings, Wendy Moore heard clergy say that Roanoke doesn't have hate crimes. She is director of the regional chapter of the National Conference for Community and Justice and vice president of the Roanoke Valley Ministers Conference.

"I'm sorry somebody had to die," she said, "but now we need to come together and say this is not going to happen in our town." On Oct. 11, NCCJ and the ministers conference will sponsor a forum on "Hate Crimes and the Response by the Religious Community" at 7:15 p.m. at Temple Emanuel on Persinger Road Southwest.

"The church has to say something," said the Rev. William Lee, pastor of Loudon Avenue Disciples of Christ. "We have to talk about this intolerance of persons who openly declare they are gay, and not pretend like it's not real."

At Virginia Western Community College, professor Betty Shepherd said the shootings prove Roanoke is not immune to violence. "We shouldn't think it wouldn't happen to us because we're too good or too small."

Despite what happened Friday night, City Councilwoman Linda Wyatt said, Roanoke is still a tolerant community as a whole. "I do hope it's a wake-up call to our community," she said, "that we need to teach our children about love and acceptance -- and not hate."

Staff writers Cody Lowe, Mike Allen, Kathy Lu and Todd Jackson contributed information to this story.

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Activists Ask Lawmakers to Expand Hate-Crime Laws to Protect Gays

Printed Sept. 26, 2000

By MIKE HUDSON
THE ROANOKE TIMES

In the wake of a shooting spree in Roanoke, gay-rights activists are pushing to expand state and federal hate-crime laws by including attacks based on sexual orientation.

The Friday night violence at a bar that is frequented by gays and lesbians has prompted a Roanoke Valley legislator to rethink his opposition to including anti-gay violence in the provisions of Virginia's hate-crime law.

"What it has pointed out to me is there is a lot of diffuse hate out there," Del. Richard Cranwell, D-Vinton, said Monday. "This is something that will tear our society to shreds if we don't get a handle on it."

Opponents of hate-crime laws say they are unnecessary because crimes such as assault and murder can already be prosecuted under criminal statutes.

Supporters say violence motivated by hatred of a group warrants extra law enforcement and tougher punishments because the violence not only harms the victim but intimidates the whole group.

On the federal level, gay activists are asking Sen. John Warner, R-Va., to reconsider his opposition to legislation that would expand the definition of hate crimes.

Passage of the provision would give federal law-enforcement agencies the authority to investigate and prosecute crimes that target gays and lesbians.

Warner is a member of the House-Senate conference committee where the hate-crime bill is stuck. A letter from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force says Warner "has the ability and therefore responsibility to ensure that the existing federal hate-crimes law is expanded to cover crimes based on actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender or disability."

A spokesman for the task force said the letter is being circulated among gay activists in Roanoke to get their signatures before it is sent to Warner.

Carter Cornick, a spokesman for Warner, said the senator is "profoundly concerned about what occurred in Roanoke." He said Warner has opposed the hate-crime provision, which has been attached as an amendment to a defense bill, because it might threaten military funding, because it might not survive constitutional review, and because it might overrule tougher state hate-crime laws. Warner did support a study proposal aimed at finding out whether there are hate crimes that are not being prosecuted at the state level.

Roanoke police say the suspect in the Friday night shootings expressed a desire to kill gay people and was searching for a gay bar when he entered the Backstreet Cafe and opened fire. One person was killed and six others were wounded.

Virginia's hate-crime statute makes it a felony if someone assaults another person based on the victim's race, national origin or religion. A conviction carries a mandatory 30-day sentence.

Attempts to add sexual orientation to the law have failed in recent years. Cranwell has voted against the expansion, saying he had qualms with using the status of the victim as a way of elevating the perpetrator's punishment.

Once you start adding protected groups, he has said, "where does it stop?"

Cranwell said an expanded hate-crime provision wouldn't make any difference in the case of Ronald Edward Gay, the man held in the Backstreet Cafe shootings.

Don Caldwell, Roanoke's commonwealth's attorney, has said Gay "is looking at being locked up for the rest of his life."

Prosecutors plan to bring Gay to trial on a first-degree murder charge along with several felony counts of wounding and firearms violations.

In light of the shootings, Cranwell said Monday an expanded hate-crime law might be one way of sending a message that "hate based on status" is not acceptable.

Other legislators continue to oppose including sexual orientation in the Virginia law.

Asked about efforts to expand the hate-crime law, Del. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, said: "Gee, I thought they'd be pushing to allow law-abiding citizens to arm themselves in restaurants. Because those who are determined to commit crimes are going to have the guns."

Having guns probably would not have protected the first victims, Griffith said, but "based on what I've read, you would have to wonder how many of those other folks would be in serious condition" if they'd had weapons to defend themselves.

As for the hate-crime law, Griffith said he didn't believe it was right to single out any group of victims for special provisions in the law. "Anybody who's assaulted or wounded or maimed ought to expect the law to punish the perpetrator no matter what the underlying motive is," he said.

According to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, 23 states and the District of Columbia include sexual orientation in their hate-crime statutes. Virginia is one of 17 states that does not. (Ten states have no hate-crime laws.)

Del. James Almand, D-Arlington, and state Sen. Patsy Ticer, D-Alexandria, have been the perennial sponsors of legislation to expand hate-crime provisions to include anti-gay violence. Both said they will try again when the General Assembly meets in January.

Each year, Ticer said, her bill has come a little closer to passing. Last year it fell one vote short of gaining committee approval and coming to a vote in the full Senate.

"I will keep trying," Ticer said. "And I think with each vicious crime that gets publicity, people will get to know the innocent faces of the victims. Then I think people will open their hearts.

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Anti-Gay Minister Says He'll Orotest at Overstreet Funeral

Printed Sept. 26, 2000

By CODY LOWE
THE ROANOKE TIMES

As the Roanoke Valley proceeds with its mourning of Danny Overstreet, killed Friday in the Backstreet Cafe, some familiar signs will be visible at his funeral and vigil.

"God hates fags."

"AIDS cures fags."

"No tears for queers."

The Rev. Fred Phelps and his family from Topeka, Kan., "have got our bags packed" for a trip to Roanoke, he said Monday. The luggage will include the signs that have become a familiar sight in recent years at the funerals of gays and at gay pride events around the country.

Phelps, pastor of a small Primitive Baptist church, says the Bible teaches that God hates some sinners, as well as the sins they commit.

His Web site defends the practice of picketing at funerals as a way "to warn the people who are still living that unless they repent, they will likewise perish. When people go to funerals, they have thoughts of mortality, heaven, hell, eternity, etc., on their minds. It's the perfect time to warn them of things to come. Is it mean, hateful, uncompassionate, etc.? I'm sure it is, according to your standards. However, according to my standards, it would be infinitely more mean, hateful, uncompassionate, etc., to keep my mouth shut and not warn you that you, too, will soon have to face God."

Phelps also is motivated by political concerns, arguing against the passage of hate-crime laws. "We say all crimes are the same, all victims ought to be treated the same."

"We've been victims lots of times" of vandals who have attacked his church and counter-protesters, he said, but "they don't call that a hate crime."

In Seattle recently, Phelps said it took 100 police officers to protect him and other pickets from a hostile crowd.
"That would be all the city needs for that guy to show up," said Lt. William Althoff, head of the Roanoke City Police Department's criminal investigations division.

Police here have been monitoring Phelps' Web site.

Phelps said he will have a lawyer meet with police before he pickets to impress on them the need for protection.

Roanoke police plan to have uniformed officers and plainclothes detectives at the vigils and the funeral, Althoff said.

"We have concern for the victims and his family," Althoff said. "We want the gay community to know we're not there to spy on them; we're there to ensure their safety. We're aware and concerned about copycat crimes."

Police spokeswoman Shelly Alley, talking about the events planned by the gay community, added: "Whatever we can do to accommodate them this week, we'll do."

The Rev. Jerry Falwell called Phelps "another idiot" in an interview Monday in which he condemned the killing of Overstreet.

"It is a terrible thing when a bigot or even a deranged person because of his hatred sets out to hurt another human being." If shooting suspect Ronald Gay "is not deranged, I'm sure he will be penalized to the full extent of the law, which in my opinion should be execution."

Falwell said the shooting does not increase the urgency for continued talks such as those he had with gay rights advocates, led by the Rev. Mel White, last fall.

"I don't think for a moment that the man who pulled the trigger had just left a Billy Graham crusade," Falwell said.

"Preaching against the sin of homosexuality is the responsibility of every minister who takes the Bible seriously. . . . I don't believe preaching God's truth in love ever engenders violence."

Falwell "is a media genius," White said. "He knows the answer for every question, but they're the wrong answers."

White was a ghost writer for Falwell and other evangelical Christian leaders until he acknowledged his homosexuality. With his partner, he now directs an organization called SoulForce advocating nonviolent passive resistance to bring attention to gay and lesbian concerns.

"I'm glad Fred Phelps is going to be there with those sickening, revolting, hateful signs. At least in Fred Phelps we see what Jerry Falwell is really like at heart. . . . At least Phelps is honest enough to be open and not hide behind a patina of self-righteousness.

"We need Phelps to hold up his signs to see what we are really up against.

"I sat down with him for an hour and a half one time," White said. "He believes every word on those signs, that if he doesn't shake us loose, we'll not find the kingdom of heaven.

"I'm hoping like everything that we won't hurt Fred Phelps, take our anger out on him, and make him a martyr."

Staff writer Kimberly O'Brien contributed information to this report.

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Task Force Readies to Face Anti-Gay Activist

Printed Sept. 27, 2000

By MARY BISHOP
THE ROANOKE TIMES

It was raining and chilly Monday night, but mourners still came to the candlelit door of the Backstreet Cafe.

People have come every evening since Friday night, when a man police say was hunting homosexuals shot and killed one gay man and wounded six other people in the little bar. Monday night, mourners stayed almost all night outside the closed club.

Few knew each other, but they were bonded in anger by the news that Fred Phelps was coming. Phelps, an anti-gay minister from Kansas, picketed the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student brutally murdered in Wyoming in 1998. He has announced plans to bring his "God hates fags" signs to today's funeral of 43-year-old Danny Lee Overstreet.

"I was so angry yesterday, my mother and all my friends were trying to calm me down," said Eddie Ratliff, a Web builder in Salem.

Overnight, outside the cafe, Ratliff and others came up with a way, they say, to turn Phelps' visit into a positive thing. They're calling it a "Phelps-A-Thon."

For every five minutes Phelps protests, the new Hate Free Roanoke Task Force is asking people to pledge a dollar amount toward the victims' medical expenses and for counseling of others in the club that night. Kathryn Marlow, 22, had heard of a similar counteraction at a Ku Klux Klan rally years ago and helped hatch the plan.

The task force will post a pledge box near Phelps at the funeral in Vinton and at any other events where Phelps protests. A poster thanking Phelps for picketing will say, "Fred, you've already helped us raise" -- followed by a blank space where the amount will be updated every five minutes.

Tuesday, Marlow asked the Rev. Jerry Falwell of Lynchburg and First Baptist Church on Third Street in Roanoke for pledges. She also asked "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" for a mention. She hadn't heard back Tuesday night.

Dan Hawes, a field organizer with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, warned people at a meeting Tuesday not to say or do anything to Phelps. "In no way engage with him," Hawes said. "First of all, you're not going to change his mind, and it's going to provoke a lawsuit," which is how Phelps raises money, Hawes said.

Cathy Renna, a regional spokeswoman for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation in Washington, has seen Phelps in action many times. "I think the bottom line," she said, "is to maintain a safe environment and to allow him his free speech, however vile that speech may be."

Oakey's Funeral Service is in charge of Overstreet's funeral today at 6 p.m. at Oakey's Vinton chapel. Sammy Oakey, president of the funeral home, called Casper, Wyo., this week. He talked with the Episcopal priest who led Shepard's funeral about how to deal with Phelps and his band of picketers. "The main thing he said is to completely stay away from them."

Phelps accused Roanoke police in a Tuesday fax of encouraging violence against him. Asserting his right to protest on public sidewalks, Phelps told the police that their statements in the news media "give us grave concern that you are either unable or unwilling to protect us." A police spokesman had no comment and noted that the funeral is in Vinton, not Roanoke.

Investigator Craig Harris of the Vinton Police Department said three or four of its officers will be at the funeral, and that Roanoke County police and state police will be on call.

Tuesday, the Roanoke Valley Ministers' Conference issued this statement about the shootings: "As people of faith, we recommit ourselves to be agents of healing and reconciliation, welcoming all as God's children. We envision a community that is inclusive, honoring our unique religious traditions, sexual orientations and cultural and ethnic differences."

The Washington Post ran a front-page story on the Backstreet Cafe shootings Monday, and the Los Angeles Times published stories Sunday and Tuesday. Planetout.com, a gay and lesbian news service, continued to play the story as its lead Tuesday. The unitedagainsthate.org Web site included a color photo of Overstreet with its story.

Two groups are collecting donations for the shooting victims:

Marlow, of the Hate Free Roanoke Task Force, is taking pledges for the "Phelps-A-Thon" at 343-4494, or at phelpsathon@yahoo.com. Donations to the task force also can be sent to Christ the Good Shepherd American Catholic Church, P.O. Box 3359, Roanoke 24015, with checks made out to the church but designated for the Hate Free Roanoke Task Force.

Overstreet's co-workers at Verizon have set up a fund for his family. Checks, made out to the Danny L. Overstreet Fund, may be sent to First Citizens Bank, 1959 Valley View Blvd., Roanoke 24012. Donations are being accepted at all First Citizens branches.

Staff writers Cody Lowe, Kimberly O'Brien, Kathy Lu and Lisa Applegate contributed to this story.

Mary Bishop can be reached at 981-3358 or at maryb@roanoke.com

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Mourners Celebrate Life

Printed Sept. 28, 2000

By ZEKE BARLOW
The Roanoke Times

Death brought talk of laughter.

For if there was one defining thing that Danny Lee Overstreet brought to this world, it was laughter, his family said.

A laugh that pierced the soul, a laugh that his family said will live on past Overstreet's grave.

Beside Overstreet's casket at his funeral Wednesday, pictures of him laughing and living reminded people of the man gunned down in a bar Friday night. Six others who were shot at Backstreet Cafe on Salem Avenue live to remember the night. Overstreet, 43, died on the floor of the bar in minutes, paramedics said.

He hung out at the gay bar because of the camaraderie, his mother, Ann Overstreet, has said. He never drank, but always smiled.

"He was the laughing man," his niece, Misty Overstreet, said in a eulogy. "He hated to see sadness."

Mourners overflowed from the Oakey's Vinton Chapel, about 800 people in all. Once the chapel was full, the remaining 300 people stood outside in the warm sunset.

Inside the chapel, tears flowed as Misty Overstreet said the eulogy for the man she said was like her older brother and great friend.

"He was taken before his time in a way no man or woman should have been," she said. "Danny was there for all of us, and he still is there for all of us."

Men hugged men. Women hugged women. Men hugged women. Many wore white ribbons, which have come to symbolize innocence.

The Rev. Catherine Houchins, pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church of the Blue Ridge, which has a large gay and lesbian membership, presided over the service.

"What's happened in the city of Roanoke is horrible. What's happened to you and your life because you knew Danny is horrible," Houchins said during the service. "But we have to block the hate of the world with love."

The shock of the slaying is being felt all around Roanoke, some said.

"It's the non-gay community, too, that's grieving," said Richard Ward, who stood as part of the Hate Free Roanoke Task Force. "It's not just one orientation; it's all orientations."

Many who never heard Overstreet's name before it became national news attended the funeral.

Donald Hitchcock with the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, D.C., was on hand for the week, helping people understand the crime and keeping people focused on the message of ending them.

Lee Phillips and Tricia Goadagni, Hollins University students from New York, never met Overstreet. They just wanted to make a stance against hate crimes.

Kathy Caldwell was there, too. Although she didn't know Overstreet, she does know what he went through Friday night. She was one of the seven shot. Wearing a cast that held her finger that was almost severed by a bullet, Caldwell walked up to the open casket, shook her head and walked away, tears puddling in her eyes. It was one of the first times since the shooting that she's gone out in public.

"When someone's life drains away in front of you, you want to show your respect," she said earlier in the day. Caldwell was the only victim at the funeral.

As the mourners were preparing to leave the service, Bishop Anthony Hash of Christ the Good Shepherd American Catholic Church called on the approximately 300 people who remained outside to join in a circle for prayer.

"Lord, we thank you for the courage to stand up as people against hate," he said, while beseeching God to heal those injured physically and psychologically by the shooting.

The crowd spontaneously burst into song afterward, singing the civil rights anthem "We Shall Overcome." Smaller circles of mourners hugged, cried and continued to sing the hymn "We Are Standing on Holy Ground," and John Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance."

Talk of Overstreet and his exuberance continued throughout the songs and chants.

Ann Hines, who knew Overstreet for more than 20 years, was in the crowd.

"He had a laugh you couldn't forget. A smile as big as the outdoors. I've never seen him angry," she said.

"I know one thing -- he's smiling right now."

Staff writers CODY LOWE and KIMBERLY O'BRIEN contributed to this story.

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Pastor Who Planned Protest is a No-Show

Printed Sept. 28, 2000

By CODY LOWE and KIMBERLY O'BRIEN
The Roanoke Times

Fears that Roanoke Valley law-enforcement agencies wouldn't protect them apparently dissuaded Kansas pastor Fred Phelps and his followers from picketing at Wednesday's funeral for Danny Lee Overstreet.

Roanoke City Police Department statements, such as "all we need is for that guy to show up," published in Tuesday's Roanoke Times, "set an atmosphere and a tone ... that said it was open season on the picketers," said Shirley Phelps-Roper, Phelps' daughter, who serves as legal counsel to his church.

Phelps, pastor of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., is known for picketing the funerals of gays who die by violence or AIDS, holding up signs that say such things as "God hates fags" and "AIDS cures fags," and yelling to the mourners that the deceased is burning in hell. The confrontations sometimes degenerate into shouting matches, and the pickets are occasionally pelted with eggs or other objects.

Phelps-Roper said from Kansas that her father was attempting by "moral suasion" to change the lives of homosexual people he believes are condemned to hell if they do not change.

In a telephone interview Wednesday night, Phelps-Roper said she advised her father not to make the trip. She wasn't sure he took her advice, she said, because she had been gone on a business trip for the last two days.

About 50 officers from Vinton, Roanoke County, Virginia State Police and the Roanoke County Sheriff's Office were at the funeral and nearby in case there were any problems.

"All of it may turn out to be unnecessary and I'll end up taking these guys to dinner," Vinton Police Chief Herb Cooley said at 5:30 p.m., when it looked as if Phelps would definitely be a no-show.

The only apparent protest came from a car that drove by with a white banner that read, "Ronnie Gay for Pres." Members of the Hate Free Roanoke Task Force formed a protective wall at the curb and turned their backs to it .

"You ignore stuff long enough and it'll go away," said Ann Sines, who represented both the gay community and the Mountain View Neighborhood Watch in Southwest Roanoke.

One man, standing across Hardy Road, surveyed the crowd gathered outside the funeral home and called the showing a "damn disgrace" and the police presence a "waste of taxpayers' money." The man would not give his name.

That view was clearly in the minority, evidenced by the more than 800 people who turned out.

Kathryn Marlow of the Hate Free Roanoke group said a planned "Phelps-a-thon" to raise money for the shooting victims and their families was a success even without his appearance. Donors were asked to pledge money for each minute Phelps picketed. About $4,200 was pledged, and Marlow said she expected most people would make the contributions anyway.

An additional $1,500 already has been raised for the fund, said Bishop Anthony Hash of Christ the Good Shepherd American Catholic Church. Several in the funeral crowd stopped him to present donations Wednesday night.

"It's good to see this many supporters out there," said Susan Hristov, of Vinton, who stood across the street and watched with her husband, Peter, and their 11- and 13-year-old daughters.

Cooley said that Phelps, even by not coming, accomplished one thing he wanted.

"He did what he expected to do -- disrupt the community," Cooley said. "He got his media attention and didn't have to spend the money."

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Death of Danny Overstreet Mourned Here and Across the Nation

Printed Sept. 28, 2000

By KATHY LU and LISA APPLEGATE
The Roanoke Times

Prayers in Florida. A vigil in Detroit. An in memoriam passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

All in memory of Danny Lee Overstreet, a gay Roanoke man who was shot to death Friday night at Backstreet Cafe. Six others were wounded in what national activist groups say is one of the worst anti-gay attacks in U.S. history.

"We were struck by the brutality of what happened," said Tom Ammiano, president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He is one of three openly gay members of the 11-member board. "This is just so horrible. My hope is that it will educate people so he will not have died in vain."

News of Overstreet's death has spread quickly across the country, especially among the gay and lesbian community. Just two days after his death, the rainbow flag that flies over San Francisco's Castro district was lowered to half staff in his honor.

Wednesday evening , members of the Metropolitan Community Church of Tampa, Fla., included Overstreet and his family and friends in their prayers and will do so again Sunday. Prayers also were extended to Ronald Gay, the man charged with killing Overstreet.

John Goodhart Sr. of Rocky Mount, Overstreet's co-worker at Verizon, will be the guest speaker today at a vigil in Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C. Sponsored in part by Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, the vigil will focus on hate-crime legislation.

Vigils will be held around Virginia tonight. A vigil at an Arlington church will be sponsored by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

In Detroit, Jeff Montgomery, executive director for the Triangle Foundation, said his organization is sponsoring a vigil tonight because violence against gays is a universal problem. In fact, he said, a gay man was shot and wounded outside a Detroit bar Tuesday night.

"These incidents happen in large cities and small towns all over the country every day, unfortunately," he said. "That's part of why these vigils are important."

In Denver, Equality Colorado is sponsoring a symposium on hate crimes tonight. Lori Girvan, executive director, said the event was planned months ago, but they added a vigil for Overstreet.

New Yorker and actor Paul Lucas has a personal reason to try to organize a vigil soon. He was "Jinx" in the play "Forever Plaid," performed at Mill Mountain Theatre in 1995. Lucas said he and fellow cast members went to Backstreet Cafe often while in Roanoke.

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