‘Last Call’ Is About a Murrer—and, More Importantly, His Gay Victims | Vany Fair

serial gay

HBO's new serial killer doceri "Last Call" re-exam New York Cy’s yearslong search for a murrer who targeted gay men the early 1990s.

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KGOV'S LIST OF GAY MASS MURRERS

Out Magaze fds you the bt gay TV shows, ma for and about LGBT people, LGBT fai, and LGBT culture. Read reviews of new seri, tch up wh episo reps, watch clips of all your favore scen, and get to know wh the actors via terviews. * serial gay *

It may appear quat now, when we have TV seri like Hulu’s Love, Victor (about a Latx teen explorg sexual fluidy) or Netflix’s Bondg (about sex work and alternative sexualy), but the great gay panic set off by Ellen DeGener g out on her s 1997 was a bombshell that didn’t necsarily nvce the works that they’d open the gat to LGBTQ experienc.

Luckily Will & Grace buted 1998 and the groundbreakg NBC seri nvced many that gay people might not be so toxic (and wouldn’t sre off advertisers) — so much so that Vice Print Joe Bin later creded wh changg his md about same-sex marriage. Dpe the fact that lns of Amerins wnsed two men raise a happy and healthy dghter om the fort of their livg room sofas, took a fan mpaign to lobby Disney-owned ABC to fally allow Mchell (gay actor Jse Tyler Fergon) and Cameron (straight actor Eric Stontreet) to kiss ( fally happened 2010). From the Roy Cohn-flected Army-McCarthy heargs — which was the first time many people heard the word “homosexual” uttered on TV — through the “don’t ask, don’t tell” Neti, that clud The Goln Girls and Digng Women, to our current glter-and-glam era of RuPl’s Drag Race and almost-anythg-go pansexualy.

In that way, ’s breakg siar ground to the Sundance Now seri This Close, om af actors Shoshannah Stern and Josh Feldman, about a straight woman and gay man who are bti lookg for love and unrstandg. It was Cher-lovg Jack (Sean Hay) and alholic, right-wg sociale Karen (Megan Mullally) as much as Will (Eric McCormack) and Grace (Debra Msg) that enared Amerins to the sassy s, wh l like: “Commandment number one the gay bible: Thou shalt not vet my ex’s ass. Adapted om gay director Jt Simien’s breakout film of the same name, about black llege stunts g to terms wh a “post-racial Ameri, ” the seri explor them of race, genr, and sexualy by skewerg jt about everyone for hypocrisy and double standards.

LAST CALL IS ABOUT A MURRER—AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY, HIS GAY VICTIMS“IT WAS IMPORTANT TO LET QUEER PEOPLE TELL THIS STORY,” SAYS THE DIRECTOR OF HBO’S LAST CALL: WHEN A SERIAL KILLER STALKED QUEER NEW YORK.BY EVE BATEYJULY 6, 2023COURTY OF HBO.SAVE THIS STORYSAVESAVE THIS STORYSAVE“I WASN'T TERTED DOG TE CRIME,” SAYS ANTHONY CARONNA, DIRECTOR OF THE HBO DOCERI LAST CALL: WHEN A SERIAL KILLER STALKED QUEER NEW YORK. “I WAS VERY, VERY AAID OF REVICTIMIZG THE MUNY. SO I PASSED ON .”ABOUT A YEAR LATER, CARONNA WARMED UP TO THE IA OF ADAPTG ELON GREEN’S 2021 BOOK—THE SIARLY TLED LAST CALL: A TE STORY OF LOVE, LT, AND MURR QUEER NEW YORK. HE CREDS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER HOWARD GERTLER FOR CHANGG HIS MD.“HOWARD SAID THAT WHEN HE READ , HE FELT LIKE THERE WAS A REAL OPPORTUNY TO TELL A SOCIAL JTICE STORY AND E TE CRIME AS THIS TROJAN HORSE TO BRG PEOPLE —PEOPLE LOVE TE CRIME—AND THEN TELL A MUCH BIGGER STORY ABOUT THE ANTI-QUEER VLENCE MOVEMENT.”ACRDG TO GREEN, WHO IS ALSO AN EXECUTIVE PRODUCER ON THE SHOW, THE RULT IS A FOUR-PART SERI (THE FIRST EPISO AIRS AND STREAMS ON SUNDAY, JULY 9) THAT BUILDS SIGNIFINTLY ON HIS BOOK ABOUT THE CRIM OF RICHARD ROGERS, WHO WAS NVICTED 2005 OF KILLG AND DISMEMBERG TWO MEN BETWEEN 1992 AND 1993, AND SPECTED OF KILLG AT LEAST FIVE OTHERS. GREEN SAYS THAT THE SHOW TOOK WHAT WAS SENTIALLY A HISTORY OF NEW YORK’S GAY SCENE THE EARLY 1990S AND MA RELEVANT TO TODAY. “IT'S NOT JT A VIEW OF THE PAST,” GREEN SAYS, “BUT 'S ALSO SO OF THE MOMENT.”IT’S ALSO THE STORY OF A SE THAT, OTHER THAN A NEWSPAPER ARTICLE HERE OR THERE, WAS LARGELY IGNORED UNTIL GREEN WROTE HIS BOOK. “IT'S THE KD OF THG WHERE IF YOU SQUT, YOU N SEE EXACTLY WHY THIS DIDN'T GENERATE ANY PRS,” GREEN SAYS, CG THE AIDS EPIMIC AND NEW YORK’S HIGH CRIME RATE AT THE TIME. “AND OF URSE, DIDN'T HELP [THAT] THE VICTIMS WERE PRUMED TO BE GAY. IF YOU WERE GOG TO HAVE YOUR MURR WRTEN ABOUT THOSE YEARS, YOU HAD TO BE STRAIGHT AND WHE, AND YOU'D HAVE TO BE KILLED CENTRAL PARK.”COURTY OF HBO.ANOTHER THG THAT SETS LAST CALL APART IS WHO SPEAKS MOST LOUDLY ACROSS THE SERI. TE CRIME MEDIA OFTEN CENTERS ON THE VOICE OF THE KILLER—PARTICULARLY WHEN THAT KILLER’S TARGETS ARE MEMBERS OF A STIGMATIZED OR MARGALIZED MUNY. THIS MAK SENSE AS A PRACTIL MATTER; THE VICTIMS, AFTER ALL, N’T SPEAK FOR THEMSELV. BUT ’S ALSO WHY THE TE CRIME GENRE HAS A REPUTATN FOR BEG EXPLOATIVE, OR GLORIFYG SOCIETY’S WORST ACTORS.IN LAST CALL, THOUGH, THE MAJORY OF OUR TIME IS SPENT WH THE IENDS AND FAY OF THE SLA, AS WELL AS MEMBERS OF THE CY’S GAY MUNY THE EARLY 1990S, WHEN THE AIDS CRISIS FLAMED HOMOPHOBIC FEARS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT WAS NFOUND BY—OR OPENLY HOSTILE TO—LGBTQ+ PEOPLE.MOST POPULARVANY FAIR’S “IT’S RAG TEENS” COVER AT 20: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?BY SAVANNAH WALSHRED, WHE & ROYAL BLUE MAY BE “THE MOST EXPENSIVE B OF FAN FICTN EVER”BY SAVANNAH WALSHHOLLYWOOD ELE RH TO GET PLASTIC SURGERY BEFORE THE STRIKE ENDSBY MARIE LODI“OFTENTIM, TE CRIME, WE LET THE POLICE AND THE PERPETRATORS N THE SHOW,” CARONNA SAYS. “IT WAS IMPORTANT TO HOWARD AND ME TO LET QUEER PEOPLE TELL THIS STORY,” PECIALLY SCE SYSTEMIC HOMOPHOBIA AND THE ANTIPATHY BETWEEN THE LGBTQ+ MUNY AND THE POLICE APPARENTLY HELPED ROGERS M HIS CRIM WHOUT FEAR OF NSEQUENCE.THAT SAID, POLICE OFFICERS AND SE VTIGATORS ALSO APPEAR PROMENTLY LAST CALL, THOUGH THE SERI PULLS FEW PUNCH WHEN TO PICTG WHAT GERTLER LITELY REFERS TO AS “AWARENS GAPS THE CULTURAL PETENCY OF LAW ENFORCEMENT.”ONE SUCH MOMENT LATER THE SERI, WHEN AN VTIGATG OFFICER VERBALLY STUMBL AND FALLS SILENT WHEN SCRIBG WHAT A LLECTN OF GOLN GIRLS VIO TAP MIGHT SAY ABOUT S OWNER. “I FEEL LIKE EVERY TIME WE SAT DOWN WH AN VTIGATOR, I DIDN'T HAVE THE TENT TO MAKE THEM LOOK BAD, OR HAVE A GOTCHA MOMENT,” CARONNA SAYS. “BUT I AM LOOKG TO JT UNRSTAND, EVEN JT FOR MYSELF, WHERE THE CULTURAL BLD SPOTS LIE THIS VTIGATN.”FROM SLAVEN VLASIC/GETTY IMAG FOR HBO.USG A VAST AMOUNT OF ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE—CLUDG 1950S-ERA STRANGER-DANGER FILMS OM LOL POLICE PARTMENTS, 1990S TALK SHOW TERVIEWS WH ANTI-GAY FIGUR, AND POLIL SPEECH OM THE TIM—LAST CALL ILLTRAT HOW HOMOPHOBIA WASN’T ONLY RPONSIBLE FOR THE VTIGATN’S FAILGS. ACRDG TO CARONNA, ROGERS HIMSELF WAS MOTIVATED BY ANTI-GAY SENTIMENTS, EVEN THOUGH 'S WILY BELIEVED THAT ROGERS WAS GAY.“THERE'S NO QUTN THAT THIS WAS THAT THIS IS ABSOLUTELY ANTI-GAY VLENCE,” CARONNA SAYS. “RICHARD GREW UP HEARG ALL OF THOSE THGS THAT THE GAY BASHER EPISO ONE HEARD, THAT ANA BRYANT HEARD, THAT WE'VE ALL HEARD GROWG UP AMERI.”IT’S A TRICKY THG, 2023, TO TELL A STORY ABOUT A REPORTEDLY GAY SERIAL KILLER WHOUT ADVERTENTLY VALIDATG THE CREASGLY HOMOPHOBIC FAR RIGHT. THAT CHALLENGE ISN’T LOST ON CARONNA, WHO SAYS THE PORTN OF THE SERI THAT DISCS ROGERS’S SEXUAL ORIENTATN “WENT THROUGH PROBABLY MORE ERATNS AND ANY OTHER SECTN THE SHOW,” AS THEY KNEW HOW MIGHT BE RECEIVED BY THOSE LOOKG FOR EVEN MORE REASONS TO MARGALIZE THE LGBTQ+ MUNY. “I KNEW THIS WAS A VERY DIFFICULT STORY TO TELL, WHICH IS WHY I WAS AAID TO TELL THE FIRST PLACE,” HE SAYS.THOSE FEARS WENT AWAY, CARONNA SAYS, AS HE STARTED REARCHG THE SE, AND VISUALIZG HOW A SERI MIGHT LOOK. “YEAH, IS MSY. BUT STILL, I THK 'S WAY MORE IMPORTANT TO TELL THIS STORY THAN TO BE AAID THAT WE'RE GONNA FFLE SOME FEATHERS.”MORE GREAT STORI FROM VANY FAIR“IT’S RAG TEENS” AT 20: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?THE BT TV SHOWS OF 2023, SO FARSEX TOYS, FANCIAL CRIM, AND THE ORIG OF BARBIETHAT SOUND YOU HEAR IS DONALD TMP SCREAMG, CRYG, AND THROWG UP A MAR-A-LAGO BATHROOMIVANKA TMP IS NOT LETTG HER DAD’S MOUNTG LEGAL WO RU HER SUMMERINSI THE ACTORS STRIKE PRS APOLYPSE: “THE CELEBRY FACTORY HAS SHUT DOWN”IS ALL THIS AMATR THERAPY-SPEAK JT MAKG US LONELIER?FROM THE ARCHIVE: TOO HEPBURN FOR HOLLYWOOD (2006)EVE BATEY

“Last Call,” by Elon Green, retrac the murrs of four men by a serial killer the 1990s, at a time when gay men felt prsured to hi their sexualy and were often the victims of homophobia. * serial gay *

In the send season, he manag to evolve beyond simple trop and is given space to explore his queer inty, cludg havg his heart broken by Silv (a self-scribed “Mexin Italian gay vers top otter pup”), fdg a boyiend (of sorts), and even beg rejected by another black man bee of his sk lor — provg that, spe all the talk of “muny, ” ’s never easy to fe lastg bonds. When her straight male roommate’s twentysomethg girliend, Francis, qutns why Leila is so terrified to tell anyone that she has sex wh both men and women, Leila tells her ’s plited bee ’s “a gay thg.

FOUND MURRED AND DISMEMBERED, THE BODI OF 4 GAY MEN PUT POLICE ON THE TRAIL OF A SERIAL KILLER''

From Dog Day Afternoon to The Handmain, the are 10 of the bt thrillers wh lbian, gay or transgenr them. * serial gay *

Matilda has high-functng tism, and some of the bt scen revolve around her explorg her fluid sexualy, while both girls embrace their gay half-brother’s relatnship failur as send nature. Pl, managed to change many nservative viewpots the black muny — cludg Timbaland, who crafted the seri’ tchy origal tracks — and was a rare moment which a gay character of lor had so much visibily.

The bt of the volv Otis’ gay bt iend Eric (Ncuti Gatwa), which is ls a tradnal g-out story (everyone already seems to know when the show begs) than about Eric beg more fortable how he feels about himself and how he prents himself to the world.

THE GAY MEN FREQUENTED MANHATTAN PIANO BARS. SO DID THEIR KILLER.

In a new book, journalist Elon Green explor the unr-reported stori of gay men btally murred by a killer who evad jtice for a * serial gay *

But there are a lot of other smart stori on LGBTQ subjects, om the technil (a gay virg learns the logistics of anal douchg) to the emotnal (former bt iends don’t work as a uple after both e out) — so many, fact, that ’s a b easier to five when one of the seri’ queer storyl (volvg a homophobic bully) don’t really work.

K., who was technilly still an executive producer at the time — but one of the most important them is Tig tryg to fd a gay muny this part of the world where she feels fortable, and the growg csh she’s velopg on her apparently straight rad producer Kate (played by Notaro’s wife, Stephanie Allynne). Holm), hers some of origal-recipe Rob’s most memorable obssns and quirks — among other thgs, Simon is the one who giv the speech about patibily pendg on what you like, not what you are like — even as his story is very different, startg wh the fact that he and the new Rob break up bee he’s gay. The entire n of this lightful throwback s has queer-iendly ntent, but particularly s first season (still streamg on Netflix, even though the latt season was ma for Pop), which slowly but refully charted the journey of Elena (Isabella Gomez), a Latx teen g to the realizatn that she’s gay, and gradually disverg how to tell her very Catholic fay about .

While parts of may not have aged so well, the seri ntaed lots of TV firsts — cludg the first legally wed gay uple, first gay adoptn, and HIV-posive/negative uple — wh -stars Hal Sparks, Peter Paige, and Stt Lowell explorg what meant to have relatnships and stggle for acceptance.

LAST CALL: BEHD THE TERRIFYG UNTOLD STORY OF NEW YORK'S GAY BAR KILLER

HBO doceri 'Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York' follows a strg of murrs targetg gay men the 1990s. * serial gay *

Sadly, a far longer list, of more than 34, 400 terrorist killgs sce 9/11 mted by adherents to the relign of peace the name of Allah, is available over at and a shockg number of the high-profile crim that helped to tear Ameri apart were mted by potheads as documented at But here we prent KGOV's list of homosexual mass murrers. Gay Jefey Dahmer: raped, murred, and ate 17 young men and Adam Lanza: murred 28 cludg 20 Sandy Hook Elementary School Luis Garavo: rapist, torturer, and murrer of more than 147 of Columbia's young Omar Mateen: murred 49 Orlando wh terrible llateral John Wayne Gacy: Chigo, killed 33 boys and buried them his hoe and yard. He was charged wh six aths but is believed to have murred 60 Charl Manson: a prostute's illegimate son, spent most of his early life stutns for offenc cludg theft, pimpg, multiple homosexual offens while rcerated, and homosexual rape.

Serial Killers, who molted and murred 27 young men and boys Nathaniel Bar-Jonah: homosexual nnibal Bar-Jonah sexually molted boys Massachetts and Montana and butchered at least one, a ten year old Great Falls named Zachary Corll, Henley & Brooks: Dean Arnold Corll's sex rg wh Elmer Wayne Henley and David Owen Brooks murred and tortured 29 men and boys Juan Corona: murred 25 migrant workers and even molted their Richard Speck: murred 8 nursg stunts, bragged about on viotape showg him havg sex wh an mate and braggg about the many mat he had sodomized. Acrdg to transvte Ottis Toole, they were homosexual partners, as reported by Amerin Jtice, "Myth of a Serial killer: The Henry Lee Lus Story", episo Ottis Toole: a transvte acrdg to Amerin Jtice (episo 150) and he was a partner of Henry Lee Lus, and bragged about murrs terviews. " Of urse, homosexual men reproduce by moltg Stephen Port killed at least four young men rapg them as they were dyg and sexually asslted at least seven other Jürgen Bartsch: this German homosexual murred four boys between ag 8 and 13 and tried to kill Gary Ray Bowl: preyed on olr men and murred six, homosexuals like himself, and was executed Florida Robert Berlla: kidnapped, raped, tortured, and murred at least six men Kansas Cy, Randy Kraft: raped, tortured, mutilated and murred at least 16 young men, mostly Dennis Nilsen: Sttish serial killer and necrophiliac who murred at least 12 young men London, Stephen Port: Grdr homosexual app serial killer dgged and murred four young men Ronald Domique: raped and murred at least 23 men, many of whom he found Louisiana's "gay" Larry Eyler: murred 22 young men and boys cludg a 15-year-old whom he then Arthur Bishop: this child molter and nsumer of child pornography (the distributn of which the ACLU has supported) murred five young Daniel Conahan: this serial killer was nvicted of one and lked to more than a dozen murrs of homosexual Herb Bmeister: murred at least 20 men wh 11 of their rps found buried on his Indiana Joseph Dunn: nvicted of murrg five, nfsed to two others and to rapg many young Vghn Greenwood: this homosexual serial killer, known as the Skid Row Slasher, murred 11 William MacDonald: As Atralia's first serial killer and yet only one of the lns of homosexual Stockholm Syndrome sufferers who were kidnapped and raped to the liftyle, MacDonald murred five Michael Lupo: the sadistic Italian homosexual murred four men London and mutilated their David Villarreal: btally murred five men Texas om ag 18 to Carl Panzram: serial rapist executed at Leavenworth nfsed to sodomizg and murrg many boys and Aileen Wuornos: the prostute who murred seven Black Doodler: murred five and possibly 11 more, homosexuals he picked up San Francis John Joubert: former Boy Sut lear said he enjoyed the "power and domatn" of killg.

That rearch-driven book provis extensive, refully documented evince om many primary sourc and mastream sendary historil sourc that many of those nng Nazi Germany, cludg Hler, were homosexuals. Instead, even though the German Natnal Socialists tried to take Christ out of Christmas, unbelievers who reject the Darwist and homosexual fluence on the NAZIs stead sist that they were Christians.

THE SERIAL KILLER WHO PREYED UPON GAY NEW YORKERSMONSTROUSHBO’S DOCERI “LAST CALL” TELLS THE CHILLG STORY OF A STRG OF ANTI-LGBT MURRS ’90S NYC—AND MANAG TO HONOR THE VICTIMS THE PROCS.NICK SCHAGERENTERTAMENT CRICUPDATED JUL. 08, 2023 3:16AM EDT / PUBLISHED JUL. 07, 2023 8:30PM EDT COURTY OF HBOLAST CALL: WHEN A SERIAL KILLER STALKED QUEER NEW YORK IS YET ANOTHER DISTURBG TE-CRIME DOCUMENTARY ABOUT A FIEND PREYG UPON A MARGALIZED MUNY. HOWEVER, THE PELLG HOOK OF ANTHONY CARONNA AND HOWARD GERTLER’S FOUR-PART HBO VTIGATN (JULY 9) IS THAT ’S BOTH A WHODUN AND A SOCLOGIL CRIQUE OF THE ERA AND ENVIRONMENT WHICH S TALE TOOK PLACE: EARLY 1990S NEW YORK CY, WHOSE CLIMATE OF HOMOPHOBIA FACILATED S VILLA’S HOMICIS. WH ANTI-GAY AND TRANS LEGISLATN CURRENTLY SWEEPG THE NATN, ’S AN ALL-TOO-RELEVANT STORY ABOUT PERSECUTN AND VLENCE, AND THE WAY WHICH PUBLIC RHETORIC—AND ACTN—FOSTERS FURTHER HATE.DIRECTOR CARONNA’S SERI BEGS WH THE 1992 DISVERY BY MATENANCE WORKERS OF A DISMEMBERED BODY BURLGTON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY. CUT TO SEVEN PIEC, EACH OF THEM WRAPPED NEWSPAPER (AND A SHOWER CURTA) AND PACKED TO DIFFERENT TRASH BAGS, THIS DIVIDUAL WAS—VIA HIS BRIEFSE AND PERSONAL BELONGGS—SWIFTLY INTIFIED AS THOMAS MULHY, A 57-YEAR-OLD HBAND AND FATHER WHO WAS THE AREA FOR A BS MEETG. DETECTIV ALSO FOUND LATEX GLOV, A PASS SAW, AND A LEN SHEET THE PLASTIC BAGS, ONE OF WHICH WAS EVENTUALLY TRACED BACK TO STATEN ISLAND’S LONE CVS. OTHERWISE, HOWEVER, THERE WAS LTLE EFUL PHYSIL EVINCE PROCURED OM THE EMS, SO PS SHIFTED THEIR ATTENTN TO MULHY’S MOVEMENTS THE DAYS AND HOURS LEADG UP TO HIS MURR. AS THEY SOON LEARNED, MULHY HAD LAST BEEN SEEN ON JULY 8, 1992, AT MIDTOWN MANHATTAN’S TOWNHOE BAR, AN UPSLE GAY WATERG HOLE WHERE OLR WELL-TO-DO GENTLEMEN OFTEN MET YOUNGER SUORS. DOUGLAS GIBSON REMEMBERS TALKG TO MULHY THAT EVENG AND SPYG AN UNKNOWN MAN HIS VICY, BUT HE DIDN’T GET A GOOD ENOUGH LOOK AT THIS STRANGER TO PROVI AN ACTUAL SCRIPTN. COPS, MEANWHILE, FOUND DIFFICULT TO NVCE PEOPLE AND AROUND THIS TABLISHMENT TO TALK TO THEM, SCE 1992, THE RELATNSHIP BETWEEN THE POLICE AND THE GAY MUNY WAS FED BY DISTST, IF NOT OUTRIGHT ANTIPATHY, MUCH OF BORN OM THE FORMER’S HISTORY OF PREJUDICED HARASSMENT AND HOSTILY. IF THAT PROVED A SIGNIFINT HURDLE THE SE, SO TOO WAS LAW ENFORCEMENT’S STILL-LACKG TERPARTMENTAL MUNITNS, AND WAS THIS FAILURE THAT LAYED THEIR REALIZATN THAT MULHY’S MURR WAS PART OF A GHASTLY PATTERN.A YEAR EARLIER LANSTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, THE SIARLY DISMEMBERED BODY OF PETER ANRSON HAD BEEN FOUND. LIKE MULHY, ANRSON WAS A CLOSETED GAY MAN, AND ON THE NIGHT OF HIS DISAPPEARANCE ON MAY 5, 1991, HE TOO HAD VISED THE TOWNHOE. WHEN VTIGATORS TO MULHY’S SLAYG HEARD ABOUT THIS, THEY KNEW THE TWO MURRS WERE LKED. WORSE, THEY WERE FOLLOWED BY THE NEARLY INTIL MURRS OF 44-YEAR-OLD PROSTUTE ANTHONY MARRERO ( MAY 1993) AND OF 55-YEAR-OLD GREENWICH VILLAGE RINT MICHAEL SAKARA ( JULY 1993), THE LATTER OF WHOM WAS A REGULAR AND WELL-KNOWN STAPLE AT THE FIVE OAKS BAR. CLEARLY, SOMEONE WAS KILLG GAY MEN AFTER MEETG THEM AT CLUBS, AND BEE OF HIS MOD OPERANDI, THE ASSAILANT WAS DUBBED BY THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS AS THE “LAST CALL KILLER.” STILL OM LAST CALL: WHEN A SERIAL KILLER STALKED QUEER NEW YORKHBO LAST CALL IS, ON THE ONE HAND, A TRADNAL SPENSEFUL MYSTERY, WH VAR POLICE OFFICERS DISCSG THEIR EFFORTS TO PIECE TOGETHER CLU AND UNRSTAND THEIR VICTIMS’ BACKSTORI ORR TO LOTE A SPECT. JT AS PTIVATG, THOUGH, ’S A VIVID SNAPSHOT OF S PARTICULAR MOMENT, NARRATED LARGE PART BY TWO DIVIDUALS WHO WERE ON THE ONTL OF THE FIGHT FOR EQUAL LGTBQ+ RIGHTS: THE NEW YORK GAY & LBIAN ANTI-VLENCE PROJECT’S BEA HANSON AND MATT FOREMAN. RELLG A TIME WHEN GAY AMERINS WERE BOTH EMERGG OM THE SHADOWS FORCE (PECIALLY NYC) AND FACG CREASED ANTAGONISM AND THREATS (CLUDG OM THE RAGG AIDS EPIMIC), HANSON AND FOREMAN OFFER TIMATE AND PASSNATE FIRST-HAND ACUNTS OF THE CULTURAL AND POLIL ATMOSPHERE OF THE EARLY ’90S. IN DOG SO, THEY HELP NTEXTUALIZE THE MURRS AS AN OUTGROWTH OF THE LONG-STANDG BTALY THAT GAY (AND TRANS) MEN AND WOMEN FACED ON A DAILY BASIS. EMPLOYG PLENTIFUL ARCHIVAL MATERIAL, LAST CALL IS A SIMULTANEOLY VIBRANT AND SORROWFUL LOOK BACKWARDS, S NOSTALGIA FOR THE BURGEONG GAY MOVEMENT LORED BY THE FEAR THAT SO MANY FELT BEE OF HOMOPHOBIA AND THE MORTAL DANGER POSED—AS WELL AS THE ANGER THAT WAS A DIRECT BYPRODUCT OF BEG IGNORED, SLANRED, AND OPPRSED. DIRECTOR CARONNA’S SERI HONTLY AND PASSNATELY REVISS THE PAST, PUTTG A NUANCED FACE ON PEOPLE WHO WERE SO OFTEN DISMISSED, DISRD, AND RCED TO UNFLATTERG STEREOTYP, CLUDG MULHY, ANRSON, MARRERO, AND SAKARA. FEATURG TERVIEWS WH IENDS, LOVERS, AND RELATIV OF THE FOUR MEN WHOSE LIV WERE HORRIFILLY CUT SHORT BY A MADMAN, REMEMBERS—AND CELEBRAT—THEM NOT AS STATISTICS, BUT AS FLH-AND-BLOOD DIVIDUALS. STILL OM LAST CALL: WHEN A SERIAL KILLER STALKED QUEER NEW YORKHBO IN SEPARATE TERVIEWS WH DIFFERENT TECTIV, LAST CALL HIGHLIGHTS POLICE OFFICERS’ IGNORANCE ABOUT THE GAY MUNY AND THEIR RETICENCE TO RELATE TO THE MURRS. SUCH BLDNS, WHETHER WILLFUL OR NOT, FEELS AT LEAST SOMEWHAT NNECTED TO THE SERI’ OWN LIBERATE DISMISSAL OF THE FACT THAT THE KILLER—WHO, THROUGH MORN FGERPRT ANALYSIS, WAS INTIFIED AS MOUNT SAI NURSE RICHARD ROGERS JR.—WAS ALSO A GAY MAN. THERE’S A PERSISTENT SENSE, OM ALL ANGL, THAT TOLERANCE (AND FEAR OF VILIFITN) HAS REPEATEDLY TRATED ATTEMPTS TO SOLVE, AND PREHEND, THIS TRAGEDY, AND THE FACT THAT ROGERS NEVER OPENED UP ABOUT HIS MOTIVATNS ONLY FURTHER LEAV THGS FEELG PRSGLY MURKY.WHAT REMAS CLEAR, THOUGH, IS ROGERS’ GUILT. HAVG BEEN PREVLY ACQUTED OF KILLG HIS LLEGE ROOMMATE AND, YEARS LATER, OF ASSLTG ANOTHER MAN, THE QUIET AND SOFT-SPOKEN MEDIL PROFSNAL WAS UNDOUBTEDLY THE SERIAL CULPR THORI HAD SOUGHT. NO MATTER THE QUTNS ABOUT JURISDICTN THAT AROSE AT TRIAL, HE WAS JTLY SENTENCED TO TWO NSECUTIVE LIFE SENTENC, ENDG A REIGN OF TERROR THAT—DUE TO HIS HAB OF TAKG ROUTE TRIPS AROUND THE UNTRY—MAY HAVE CLUD MANY MORE UNKNOWN VICTIMS. HE WAS, BY ALL ACUNTS, A MONSTER SEEMGLY WHOUT REMORSE, AND LAST CALL IS SHARPT WHEN POSS HIM AS THE RULT OF A SOCIETY THAT MONIZ WH MALIC TENT (BE ANA BRYANT THE ’70S OR RON DESANTIS TODAY) AND, THE PROCS, SPIR EVABLE CELTY. NICK SCHAGER

- Gay Aaron McKney was beg pimped alongsi Matthew Shephard, wh whom he ocsnally had unnatural physil relatns, before he and Rsell Henrson murred Shepherd over dgs, a crime that was not the homophobic attack that McKney played as and was then recklsly promoted worldwi by the media.

" As naturally as uld be, this verse om the time of the begng of creatn very naturally affirms the two sex (male and female, father and mother) ditg that a man has both a mother and father, not two fathers or two mothers, providg the natural, healthy ntext for the Scripture's future disgt wh and nmnatn of homosexualy.

But ’s also why the te crime genre has a reputatn for beg exploative, or glorifyg society’s worst Last Call, though, the majory of our time is spent wh the iends and fay of the sla, as well as members of the cy’s gay muny the early 1990s, when the AIDS crisis flamed homophobic fears and law enforcement was nfound by—or openly hostile to—LGBTQ+ people. “It was important to Howard and me to let queer people tell this story, ” pecially sce systemic homophobia and the antipathy between the LGBTQ+ muny and the police apparently helped Rogers m his crim whout fear of said, police officers and se vtigators also appear promently Last Call, though the seri pulls few punch when to pictg what Gertler litely refers to as “awarens gaps the cultural petency of law enforcement. ”From Slaven Vlasic/Getty Imag for a vast amount of archival footage—cludg 1950s-era stranger-danger films om lol police partments, 1990s talk show terviews wh anti-gay figur, and polil speech om the tim—Last Call illtrat how homophobia wasn’t only rponsible for the vtigatn’s failgs.

SERIAL KILLER DOCERI 'LAST CALL' RECKONS WH NYC'S HISTORY OF ANTI-GAY VLENCE

But there is another monaly among the bodi found between 1991 and 1993 New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania: All four victims were all olr gay men durg a time of homophobia supercharged by the AIDS epimic.

Along the way Green chronicl the rise of the New York Cy Anti-Vlence Project — "at heart, a reactn to systemic apathy to queer life" — and the perceived difference of law enforcement to threats agast the gay muny. While discsg Manhattan's gay gatherg spots, for example, he div ep to the erant past of a specific piano bar mician (the chapter is named after him) who barely registers elsewhere the book.

Both victims — olr, whe-llar profsnal men, wh the heterosexual vtments of marriag and children — had last been seen at an upsle Midtown Manhattan gay piano bar lled the begs Elon Green’s terrific, harrowg, te-crime acunt of an elive serial killer who preyed upon gay men the 1990s, perfidly turng the safe havens of gay bars to huntg grounds, and semi-anonymo late-night hookups to an opportuny to kill wh impuny.

*EN.BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* SERIAL GAY

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