Remembering Charlie Howard

by: Louise

Tue Jul 07, 2009 at 07:10:39 AM EDT

I've written in the past about Charlie Howard, who was murdered in Bangor.

This is the 25th anniversary of his death and this morning's 'Bangor Daily News' ran a long front page story, including these comments from Governor John Baldacci.

BANGOR, Maine - Twenty-five years ago today Charles O. Howard, 23, was attacked by three teenage boys, tossed into the Kenduskeag Stream off the State Street bridge and, despite his cries that he could not swim, left to drown.

Since then, the name Charlie Howard has stirred emotions and spurred political change in Bangor and beyond. The New Hampshire native, who was killed because he was openly gay, will be remembered this week in a series of events that include religious services, concerts, workshops and the dedication of a memorial near the dark water where he drowned.

More below the fold.

Gov. John Baldacci was serving his second term in the state Senate and working in the family restaurant in Bangor when Howard was killed.

"If you were living in Bangor in 1984, you could never forget Charlie Howard's death," he said in a recent e-mail. "I didn't know Charlie Howard, but his death had a profound impact on the entire community."

It also focused national attention on Bangor and Maine. A few weeks after Howard died, members of the state delegation to the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco were asked by reporters about Howard rather than the presidential race. The New York Times, Boston Globe and other U.S. newspapers published articles about the case.

"We were outraged and saddened," Baldacci recalled.

"And the idea that three kids - teenagers - would attack a person, throw him off a bridge and let him die was unbelievable. The brutality of the attack forced Bangor to take a hard look at itself and to begin an honest discussion about gay rights, bigotry and tolerance."

The Bangor School Committee created a tolerance subcommittee and adopted recommendations by the end of August 1984 that aimed to prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation in hiring, to support teachers and staff in their rejection of intolerance, and to develop employee workshops about dealing with homophobia.

"Charlie's death really affected people," Baldacci said in his e-mail. "I think we came to a conclusion as a city and as a state that what happened to him should never, ever happen to anyone. Not in Bangor, Maine, or anywhere else."

And yet it does happen, time and again.

Charlie's death served as a catalyst towards people in Maine coming together. Please watch this 25 year retrospective recently released by EQME, as it describes those early years and all of the efforts in the years since to gain protections, inclusion and equality.

Deborah H. Carney had this to say in a BDN guest column this weekend.

"We are a gentle, angry people and we are fighting for our lives ..." These are the words to one of the songs we sang almost 25 years ago as we marched to the State Street Bridge the night after Charlie Howard was thrown to his death into the Kenduskeag Stream.

The days following Charlie's death were filled with outrage, not just from the gay and lesbian community, but from many of Bangor's citizens. As the news of this hate crime spread throughout Maine and New England, and then became national news, Bangor hung its head in shame.

And the churches stood silent, with one exception. A small church with deep historical roots in Bangor stood tall and cried "Never again."

This was Charlie's church. This is where he worshiped on Sunday mornings, and this is where the dignity of all people was held up as part of the moral code. This was the Unitarian Church of Bangor.

This is where a new beginning arose out of what was a senseless act of cruelty. Here is where Bangor area gays, lesbians and straight people formed a coalition, BAGLSC, sat down and talked, making honest attempts to understand one another, beginning a journey that one might consider the first steps in the Maine equal rights movement.

Charlie Howard's death forced the city to look at itself and explore what part the good citizens had taken in this death, how complacent people had become about name calling, bullying and acts of bigotry.

Some people were hearing this from the pulpits in our fair city, and it was said loudly at school committee meetings that summer.

Bangor responded with one of the first equal rights ordinances in the state. The local government ensured that Bangor's reputation as a city full of hate and bigotry would rise out of the proverbial ashes so we could start the process of healing by becoming open and welcoming.

Recently, the city council gave overwhelming approval for a memorial to be placed near the place where Howard was tossed into the stream, screaming for his life because he could not swim and because he had chronic asthma.

One can sit and enjoy the sounds of the city, the plantings and the inscription which reads: "May we the citizens of Bangor continue to change the world around us until hatred becomes compassion and fear becomes understanding. Charlie Howard, an openly gay man, died here on July 7, 1984, at the hands of hatred and fear."

RIP, Charlie.