DATE: Monday, August 4, 1997                TAG: 9708040067

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A8   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO                     LENGTH:  105 lines

ACTIVISTS WANT ANSWERS IN UNSOLVED GAY KILLINGS

Andrew Cunanan's suicide halted one of the nation's most lurid cases of spree killings. But from New Jersey to Virginia to Texas, the slayings of as many as 30 gay men or transvestites, which activists believe are the work of five serial killers, remain unsolved.

In some cases, investigators have been hindered by lack of resources and, some allege, lack of interest.

``What's the difference between my son and Versace? Money and notoriety. If you've got money and fame, it's going to get solved,'' says Donna Smith, whose 18-year-old son's strangled body was found 10 years ago in Chesapeake.

Smith, who now lives in Cocoa, Fla., does not believe her son, Charles, was homosexual, although he frequented the gay scene, as did most of the 11 victims in Virginia who followed him in death.

She watched the Cunanan case in south Florida with fascination - and with anger that the Virginia serial killer has not - she believes - been sought with the same fervor as the man suspected in the slayings of fashion designer Gianni Versace and four other men.

``All the victims were seen as expendable,'' Smith says of the deaths linked to her son's slaying. ``They labeled them as gays and druggies, so nobody cared.''

Activists who track violent crimes against gay men and lesbians acknowledge some police departments, even the FBI, are beginning to reach out to the gay community to build trust and understanding.

``On the local level, many of us have seen day-and-night changes in the last five to 10 years,'' says Jeffrey Montgomery, a spokesman for the Michigan Anti-Violence Project. ``In Detroit, for example, there's been a 180-degree change in the way they handle cases, from very, very, very badly to extremely efficient and good.''

Other activists, however, remain frustrated and say it still takes pushing to get many officers to take seriously any crimes involving homosexual victims, even homicides.

``Gay-related cases aren't popular cases. And whether it's ignorance or homophobia, it's a big problem,'' asserts Bea Hanson, director of client services for the Anti-Violence Project in New York.

The possible serial killings include the 1994 stabbing deaths of three homosexual men in Irving, Texas; the shooting deaths, from 1987 to 1992, of six Atlanta men dressed in women's clothing; and the 1992 stabbing deaths of four men who were last seen in Denver gay bars, according to Anti-Violence Project statistics and newspaper accounts.

Hanson also has helped police link at least three slayings in the New York area, although she thinks as many as five may have been killed from 1991 through 1994.

Four of the victims were last seen in Manhattan gay bars. Their bodies, hacked to pieces, were dumped in New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Rockland County, just north of New York City. The killer stuffed one man's body into a trash barrel and left his hands and head on top of the lid.

To date, police have no suspects. But investigators reject the suggestion they treat homosexual slayings differently.

``That would be a real cheap shot,'' says Detective Sgt. Glenn Miller of the New Jersey State Police. ``That's like saying an agency wouldn't investigate the death of a black person as much as they'd investigate the death of a white person.''

Miller, who has worked on the killings with police in New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, says he has 300 unsolved homicides in his files and all carry the same weight.

``It's a dead person,'' Miller says. ``I don't care what their lifestyle was.''

In the Virginia cases, one man was acquitted for Charles Smith's slaying and another is in custody for the slaying of the 12th victim in 1994.

Law enforcement officials in Virginia defend their investigation as vehemently as Miller does his.

``We have thousands of hours logged on this,'' says Officer Dave Hughes, a spokesman for the Chesapeake Police Department. ``It's been an all-out effort. It's just a difficult case.''

Community activists are wary.

Shirley Lesser, executive director of Virginians for Justice, a gay advocacy organization, was asked if she thought police response had improved over time. ``In the incidents that we have had, whether it involves murder or harassment or property damage against gay people, I don't know of any case that has been solved through police effort,'' she said.

Some homosexuals think the FBI should get involved in the slayings, but federal law limits FBI jurisdiction. They could pursue Cunanan, for example, because he fled across state lines. They worked on the bombing of an Atlanta lesbian bar this year because explosives were used.

In June, President Clinton devoted one of his weekly radio talks to hate crimes and specifically cited violence against homosexuals. The White House has scheduled a conference on hate crimes for November.

Activists expect Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and other members of Congress to introduce an amendment to the federal hate crimes law after the August recess. It would include sexual orientation, disability and gender - all classifications now unprotected by that law.

Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have sexual orientation protections: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.

``People may disagree or agree about homosexuality,'' says Winnie Stachelberg, legislative director for the Human Rights Campaign, a Washington-based gay political group. ``But they certainly agree that there's no place for violence against anyone.'' ILLUSTRATION: THE TOLL IN VIRGINIA

THE DEADLY TOLL

GRAPHIC

SOURCE: National Coalition of Anti-Violence Projects

[For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm for this date.] KEYWORDS: HATE CRIME SERIAL KILLING HOMOSEXUAL GAY

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