2004 marks the 20th anniversary of the murder of Charlie Howard. In July 1984 the 23-year old man was beaten up by three teenagers and thrown to his death into the Kenduskeag Stream in Bangor because he was gay.
“This brutal murder was the reason of the largest gay and lesbian public gathering in the history of Maine,” said Dorn W. McMahan, USM Graduate student and Social Work major, “when several hundred people gathered in front of the Unitarian Church and a month later Maine Lesbian-Gay Political Alliance (MLGPA) was formed so the goal of this conference is to increase public awareness and discussion around the prejudice and violence directed at the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community”.
Mary Bonauto, a member of the Boston offices of Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD), and lead attorney in the Massachusetts court ruling on the constitutional right of same-sex couples to marry, gave the conference’s keynote address. Maine’s Attorney General Steven Rowe and USM President Richard Pattenaude also spoke. The Maine Gay Men’s Chorus performed “The Kenduskeag Trilogy.”
The conference concluded with a candle-lighting ceremony on the Luther-Bonney Hall lawn, led by Nancy Bouchard, Bangor Theological Seminary, Bill Gordon, Northern Lights Metropolitan Community Church in Augusta and Andrea Thompson-McCall, USM’s interfaith chaplain.
Nino Kemoklidze can be contacted at [email protected]