Our 1999 Holiday Local mkt Gift Guide Preacher Agrees to Latino Break Bread Holidays Page 14 01111 Pages 24-28 Vol.13 • No. 4 The Weekly Voice of Wisconsin's LGBT Community December 15 - 21, 1999 Anatomy of a Murder What the media didn't tell you Analysis by Bill Meunier For all their similarities there are some stark differences between the deaths of these two 21 year old Gay men, Fort Campbell, KY - Matthew especially in the way that most of the press - including the Gay media - has treated them. We know a lot about Shepard and Barry Winchell. The Matthew Shepard. We know far less about PFC Barry Winchell. comparisons are eerie. Shepard There is also a difference in the Gay community's reac- wanted to serve his country as a tion to these murders. After Shepard died, thousands right- fully mourned him at memorial services around the coun- diplomat. Winchell was serving try. Where were the candlelight vigils for Barry Winchell? solider. Both were Matthew Shepard, the young scholar with a bright his country as future, who suffered for hours, before a passerby found Calvin Glover him, is a poster boy. PFC Barry Winchell, who endured brutally murdered because they months of abuse, is not. were Gay. The facts of Winchell's murder are well known. On July 5, Private Calvin Glover repeatedly Matthew Shepard hung on a fence, splayed out like struck the sleeping Winchell in the head with a baseball bat. He did so with the encouragement Christ on the cross, his skull bashed in beyond recog- of Winchell's roommate, Specialist Justin Fisher. Fisher allegedly supplied the bat and screamed nition. BantlyWinchell lay on his cot, his brains oozing "Let hlffi-die" as Winchell was loaded into an ambulance. out, his face unrecognizable, the blows to his skull For at least six months before his death, Barry Winchell is said to have faced anti-Gay harass- inflicted with enough force to splatter his blood on ment from other soldiers on a daily basis. The reports say that two days before the murder; Barry Winchell walls that were 15 feet away. Winchell bested Glover in a barracks fight. Initially, the Army said that revenge was Glover's Shepard's murder awakened America to the brutali- motive, later it would add hate to the equation. ty that can accompany being openly Gay in a hostile environment. It sparked outrage and calls Those facts tell us little about Winchell himself. We've heard little of his life story. for hate crime laws. Private First Class Barry Winchell's murder is creating momentum for a new Nothing came easy for Barry Winchell. He repeated Kindergamlen twice and didn't learn his look at the controversial Don't Ask Don't Tell Don't Pursue policy. ABC's until the third grade. Winchell, it is reported, was dyslexic and unable to write more than Hillary Clinton has spoken out against the policyWhile her husband, the President, stops short his own name in cursive script. He spent part of his early childhood in homeless shelters, while of calling for an end to "Don't Ask Don'tTell", he is openly admitting that the policy has no wrked his mother, who left an abusive husband, worked at waffle houses to support her two sons. as intended and needs bo be fixed.The Pentagon has issued a statement promising changes. Conitinued on Page 11 A Conversation with the New Editor Nadine A. Walther Comes to Town By Greg Quindel fter a nearly three month search, that affect all of us" New Jersey native Nadine A. With some struggle, I succeeded in getting Walther, has been appointed edi- Nadine to talk about herself. "Quick bio- A graphical? Ok, I am a Vietnam era Veteran" She tor of WI Light, effective with the first issue of the new millenium. WI Light, which in would not add much about her military career 2000 has scheduled one issue off per cal- except that, while she did receive letters of endar quarter, will publish that issue on commendation, "it is one area of life that still January 12. causes pain to discuss or remember." Current Editor William (Bill) Meunier will Walther hosted a radio talk show, Money assume his new role as Director of Internet Talks, for three years on New Jersey public Development on January 1. Besides assisting radio. This was at a time when she was an in the new Editor's transition he will also con- adjunct at Long Island University where she tinue as a regular news and politics contribu- taught various financial subjects. "I enjoy tor for WI Light. teaching, particularly about money and invest- As we prepared for this discussion, Ms. ment strategies. My students were fantastic Walther sat in her new office it the heart of but the truth is that the best classes I taught Milwaukee's Gay business area, leaning back were the ones I used to run for some organi- in her chair, drinking a Coke and getting ready zations in Trenton, and a few other cities, for to smoke a cigarette. welfare recipients. These were for individuals In a quiet yet firm voice, her first reply to a who were living below or just barely above question was,"What is important is not who I the poverty line." am, but rather the events going on this week Continued on Page 3 2 Light December 15 - 21, 1999 www.wiI ig ht.com lute Sing. lute Eat. lute Drink. lute Laugh. lute Cheer. lute Talk. lute Be Mary! Rainbow Holiday elves Room 121 West Main Street are on du Christmas Party Madison, WI 53703 The Center will be 17th (608) 251-5838 open 6-10pm Friday, Dec. • 8pm Thursday, Dec. 16th oil ctirki ma, Eve day. If and New Year's Eve & day. A Party for Boys who've been naughty! "Salsa Night Featuring ... So don your gay apparel, (Boys who've been nice are invited too!) to the Center. • "Millennium Men" and come down Be part of (lietree-I rimming All • Holiday Buffet • Open Bar8,opm (Rail & Tap) Free Conga Shots • Salsa & Chips • Gifts for ex nth, watch holiday movie, Do the Limbo • Join the Conga Line enjoy holiday treats. check ow Shots of Tequila $2 Dick Clarkis new glass ball. Less than Pitcher of Beer 4 50 and meet some new people. All in a safe, no alcohol/ 16 days 6til Saturday, Dec. 18th no smoking environment. 12.31.99 "Miss Kitty & Milwaukee 1 V V V TRIANGLE LGBT Get Ready to Reset Her Cowboy Strippers" V vv \ Ii Featuring ... Communii Meet the Furture @ Center 135 East National Ave. "Millennium Men" Milwaukee 10:30pm 170 South 2nd. Street 383.9412 414-271-2656 Uptown Is Where It's Happening! www.mkelght.org 93 Shari:Fmk:Bar The Shamrock Bar 1 4IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIk Chicago Area Gay & Lesbian R44116 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Chamber of Commerce The Rainbow Room Room Check out the best of LesBiGay Chicago - .111111110." antrot invite you to experience Visiting Chicago? Get a FREE visitor Madison's "Main Street" for Gay Night Life! pack by calling 1-888-452-4262 or visit our website at www.GLChamber.org. The Shamrock Bar The Rainbow Room 1 1 7 West Main Street 121 West Main Street Madison, WI 53703 Madison, WI 53703 http://www.GLChamber.org 1-888-GL-Chamber 608.255.5029 608.251.58.38 The Chamber Box #805, 3712 N. Broadway, Chicago, IL 60613-4198 Madison's Oldest Continually Operated Gay Bar Madison's Newest Kid on the Block * MILWAUKEE'S NEW AAUSICAL. HIT! -4r• * "A DEFINITE MUST SEE! A side-splitting * tapestry of wild fun!" -DON HOFFMAN CBS 58 4 • Ye-J*7 "THRILLING! 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I know men.That isn't going to be a problem.This isn't maintain a connection with individuals who are oppressed by poverty" about removing the G from LGBT" She also built a career in the New York financial marketplace where You have been working at WI Light for a couple of she developed Socially Responsible Investment Strategies for a Wall weeks. How is the transition going? Contents Street investment-banking firm. It was at that time that she had direct "Bill is an extraordinary individual and although I am assuming his contact with the Gay press as an advertiser of services to the LGBT com- position as Editor, he and I will be working closely News & Politics munity."In 1988,1 retired as Sr.Vice President of Retail Marketing.While together. Bill has strong ties to this community and to the paper.