Murder of Billy Jack Gaither

Murder of Billy Jack Gaither
Family photo of Gaither
Location	Sylacauga, Alabama, U.S.
Date	February 19, 1999 (1999-02-19)
Attack type	Gay bashing
Victims	Billy Jack Gaither, 39
Perpetrators	Steven Eric Mullins Charles Monroe Butler
Motive	Homophobia
Convicted	Capital murder

The murder of Billy Jack Gaither took place in Alabama on February 19, 1999. Two acquaintances, Steven Eric Mullins and Charles Monroe Butler, beat Gaither to death, slashed his throat, and burned his body. Both admitted that they murdered Gaither because of his sexual orientation, as Gaither, who was 39 at the time of his murder, was a gay man.

Mullins, who took a plea deal to avoid the death penalty, argued that both he and Butler were equally responsible for Gaither's murder, while Butler argued at trial that Mullins was the primary aggressor in the crime. Butler was convicted of murder as well, and both men received sentences of life without parole.

Gaither's murder gained significant coverage in state and national news, especially as it occurred in relatively close proximity to the similar high-profile murders of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr, both of which were motivated by prejudice against sexual and racial minorities respectively. In 2000, Gaither's murder was covered in a PBS Frontline special called "Assault on Gay America: The Life and Death of Billy Jack Gaither." The murder sparked calls to change Alabama's hate crimes law, which, at the time of its passage in 1994, did not cover crimes based on sexual orientation or gender identity.^[1]