Echoes

Charles O. Howard (January 31, 1961 – July 7, 1984)

Charles O. Howard (January 31, 1961 – July 7, 1984)

Charles O. Howard was an American hate-crime victim in Bangor, Maine in 1984. As Charles and a male companion, Roy Ogden, were walking down the street, three teenagers: Shawn Mabry-16, Jim Baines-15, and Daniel Ness-17, harassed Charles for being gay. The youths chased the pair, yelling homophobic epithets, until they caught Charles and threw him over the State Street Bridge into the Kenduskeag Stream, despite his pleas that he could not swim. He drowned, but his friend escaped and pulled a fire alarm. Charlie Howard's body was found by rescue workers several hours later.

Excerpt from ‘Memoriam to Charles Howard: Murdered in Maine for Being Gay’ By: Doug Watts

(http://my.firedoglake.com/dougwatts/2009/05/06/a-memoriam-to-charles-howard-murdered-in-maine-for-being-gay/)

'I was a sophomore at the University of Maine at Orono when Charlie Howard was murdered on July 7, 1984.

At that time, I did not know anyone who was out about being gay. My friend Frank Harding was diligent in covering Charlie’s death for the Maine Campus, the daily newspaper of the University of Maine, where we both toiled. Frank’s reporting was better than the Bangor Daily News’ coverage. Through Frank’s reporting I learned who Charlie Howard was and the grisly details of how and why he was murdered. Here is a succinct account:

On the night of Saturday, July 7, 1984, Charles O. “Charlie” Howard was walking through downtown Bangor with his friend Roy Ogden, having spent the evening at their church’s potluck supper. Charlie, who was openly gay, had recently moved to Bangor from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he grew up.

Three teenagers in a car drew close to the pair, shouted homophobic slurs and eventually left their vehicle. The teens attacked Charlie, throwing him to the ground. When Roy Ogden ran for help, the assailants threw Charlie over a nearby bridge railing, even as he screamed that he could not swim.

Charlie Howard drowned in Kenduskeag Stream, twenty feet below. He was 23 years old.

When Charlie Howard was murdered for being gay, much of the Bangor community desperately tried to sweep his murder under the rug and, in the alternate, to blame him for his own murder. A non-closeted homosexual did not fit into the Bangor Chamber of Commerce self image. If Charlie Howard had not been so "flamboyantly gay," (the phrase the newspapers fixatedly used), those poor innocent teenagers who beat him to a pulp and killed him would not have been forced to beat him to a pulp and kill him. The bridge in downtown Bangor over Kenduskeag Stream where Charlie Howard was thrown to his death quickly became known to area high school kids as "Chuck-A-Homo Bridge." Good times were had by all.'

Charlie Howard was originally from Portsmouth. He was a young, small boned and fair-haired man who suffered from asthma. He was teased and made fun of as a child, and was bullied in high school due to his sexual orientation. He did not attend his graduation to spare his family from the taunts he often received.

Charlie left Portsmouth and eventually landed in Ellsworth chasing a romantic relationship that ended in January 1984 and he left Ellsworth for Bangor, Maine.

In Bangor, two local gentlemen Paul Noddin and Scott Hamilton befriended homeless Charlie and gave him shelter in their home. After a month, Charlie's opportunities ran out and his friends convinced him to return home to Portsmouth to live with his mother and stepfather, only to invite him back to Bangor after a week when they realized Charlie was hurting badly.

Charlie returned - in high sprits and determined. He joined the local supportive Unitarian Church on Union Street as well as the group Interweave. Here he made new friends and was accepted for who he was. In thanks for their support, Charlie prepared an Easter dinner for Paul and Scott and decorated their home. Eventually Charlie took an apartment on First Street, near his church and adopted a kitten.

Charlie was an individual and at a time when most homosexuals were still closeted, he was "out" and even flamboyant. He was known for singing the song "I Am What I Am" from the musical La Cage aux Folles.

In 1984, many were not tolerant of homosexuality and victims of gay bashing often did not report incidents. Charlie was often tormented by local high school boys and was asked to leave a local night club when he danced with a man. He was accosted by a woman in a local market one day shouting epithets such as "You pervert" and "You queer!" Frightened, Charlie had made a hasty retreat, but as he was leaving, he stopped, turned around, and blew a kiss. After this, Charlie was more wary of strangers. Leaving his apartment one day, he found his pet kitten dead on the doorstep. It had been strangled.

On Saturday, July 7, 1984 at around 1 am Charlie’s life less body with an eel wrapped around his limp throat, was found by rescue workers. An autopsy would later show he had suffered from a severe asthma attack and drowned.

The next day one of the boys turned himself in after he learned that Charlie had died. The other 2 boys decided to leave town on a freight train and then thought better of it. Returning home, they were arrested.

The boys were sent to the Hancock County Jail and later released into their parents' custody. The boys were tried as juveniles and sentenced to the Maine Youth Center not to exceed their 21st birthdays. The boys were sentenced on 1 October 1984. According to the Bangor Daily News, "Baines was released after serving two years and Mabry was released after 22 months."

The following Monday a memorial service was held at the Unitarian church. From the church, a walk began to Charlie's murder site where his mother requested that a rose be dropped into the Kenduskeag. Looking up at a nearby wall, someone had spray painted "faggots jump here".

From the Bridge, the mourners walked to the police station where they stood in silent observance. Along the route, the crowd hurled homophobic epithets at the mourners.

Remembering Charlie Howard on State Street Bridge, Bangor Daily News Photo

Twenty-five years later, The Bangor Daily News tried to locate all three boys, now middle-aged men, for their views. The whereabouts of two of the men are unknown. One lives and works in Bangor. Following his release from the detention center, he spoke regularly about tolerance to local students and even address the Maine State Legislature in "support of a bill to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation". In addition, he has co-authored the book Penitence with Ed Armstrong in 1994. That same year, another one of the boys expressed his regrets about his participation. He stated that he thinks about Charlie Howard every day.

On May 6, 2009 Maine Governor John Elias Baldacci, himself a native of Bangor, signed Maine’s gay marriage law at 12:30 p.m., almost as soon as he received the law from its final vote in the Maine Senate. Gov. Baldacci’s statement was short and eloquent. He said, "I have come to believe that this is a question of fairness and of equal protection under the law, and that a civil union is not equal to civil marriage."

Today, a short distance from Charlie's murder site, a memorial has been erected. July 7, Charlie's death date, is now Diversity Day in Bangor.

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Howard_(murder_victim)