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Murdered: Private First Class Barry Winchel

21-Years-Old --Another Gay Servicemember?

Tragic, Brutal Beating Rocks Fort Campbell

Compiled By GayToday

Ft. Campbell, Kentucky�The Service Members Legal Defense Network was on base here Saturday seeking information about the beating death of 21-year-old Pfc. Barry Winchell, bludgeoned last Monday morning at 3 a.m. in his barracks.

The Network says it has no specific evidence that Winchell was gay, or that his murder was a hate crime, although the organization has received a variety of communications from anonymous soldiers indicating that such seems to have been the case.

Pfc. Calvin N. Glover, 18, has been arrested and charged with premeditated murder

Army officials are remaining mum about Winchell's death, saying only�without explanation-- that a "physical altercation" had taken place. Nor have the officials mentioned any use of weapons, if such existed. They have pointedly instructed Army personnel to keep quiet about the killing.

Hailing from Kansas City, Missouri, the murdered soldier had been at Fort Campbell for over a year. He died at 9 a.m. Tuesday in Vanderbilt University Medical Center (Nashville, Tennessee).

Some gay groups such as the Broward County chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans, seem already convinced that Winchell's death will turn out to be, in fact, an anti-gay hate crime. Log Cabin members lay blame on the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" military policy instituted in 1993. A statement sent to GayToday by the Broward County organization reads:

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Related Sites:
Service Members Legal Defense Fund

Fort Campbell

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The codified Nunn-Frank Military Policy, "Don't Ask-Don't Tell- Don't Pursue," is anything but an honest compromise for it has turned into an agenda of military activism that apparently enables murder, harassment and discrimination against loyal, patriotic and concerned Americans simply because of their sexual orientation.

Now, with the tragic beating and brutal death of Pfc. Barry Winchell, a 21 year-old Ft. Campbell soldier by a fellow serviceman, another alleged crime against gays surfaces as it did in the initial murder cover up of Seaman Allan Schindler.

Seemingly the guilt goes beyond those who commit the deed. It touches those who hid the Rand Report from Congress and equally to the Legislators who did not punish the guilty for their deception and cover up. The treatment of non-heterosexuals mocks the simplicity found in the essence of Biblical "Golden Rule" and denies Americans their Constitutional equality guaranteed by our Founding Fathers.

Our heartfelt condolences to the family and loved ones of Pfc. Barry Winchell.

Now Americans will wonder about the type of redress that will be swiftly served by those blindly holding the scale of military justice.