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Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Jan.25, 1996
issue of Workers World newspaper
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Neo-Nazi youths attacked two gay men, Kenneth Stern and Frank Mangione, with knives in a small neighborhood bar in a Houston suburb Jan. 4. Witnesses say the killers had said they were "going to get" some gays that night.
Though patrons tried to stop the attack, Mangione was stabbed dozens of times. He was pronounced dead after being rushed to the hospital.
Daniel Bean and Ronald Gauthier were charged with murder after they admitted killing Mangione. They have been denied bail.
The two told police they are members of the "German Peace Corps." According to the Southern Poverty Law Center in Atlanta, which tracks hate crimes, this is a California- based neo-Nazi group that may be affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan.
The crime aroused outrage all over Houston and in the small town of Katy, where Stern and Mangione lived. Hundreds of people attended Mangione's funeral. His friends and neighbors expressed shock and sadness that something like this could happen in their area.
Stern looked devastated. He and Mangione had been lovers for over 15 years. Mangione had died in his arms.
Rage now grips the lesbian and gay community here. According to gay activist Paul Mullan, organizers plan a demonstration and march for Jan. 20 at 6 p.m., to start on the corner of Montrose and Drew Streets.
It was on this corner in the heart of Houston's gay community that another gay man, Paul Broussard, was murdered on July 4, 1991. Days after Broussard's murder, the lesbian and gay community took to the streets and occupied the major intersection of Montrose and Westheimer for hours as traffic was blocked and cops stood by, immobilized by the anger and outrage in the gay community.
The demonstration is again being called by the group Queer Nation, which has been impelled into renewed activity by the killing of Mangione.
"This most recent murder is but the latest in a string of vicious hate-related murders, including about a dozen here in the last two years. We are going to take pro-active actions to stop this outrageous wave of hate," said Black gay activist Michael Crawford, one of the march organizers for Queer Nation.
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