{{Short description|1984 killing of a gay man in Bangor, Maine}} {{cleanup rewrite|date=February 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Charlie Howard | image = | alt = | caption = Charlie Howard's picture | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1961|1|31}} | birth_place = Portsmouth, New Hampshire, U.S. | disappeared_status = | death_date = {{death date and age|1984|7|7|1961|1|31}} | death_place = Bangor, Maine, U.S. | death_cause = Drowning | body_discovered = | other_names = | known_for = Victim of gay-bashing | height = }}
'''Charles O. Howard''' (January 31, 1961 – July 7, 1984) was an American murder victim in Bangor, Maine in 1984. As Howard and his life partner, Roy Ogden, were walking down the street, three teenagers, Shawn I. Mabry, age 16, James (Jim) Francis Baines, age 15, and Daniel Ness, age 17, harassed, assaulted, and murdered Howard for being gay. The youths chased the couple, yelling homophobic epithets, until they caught Howard and threw him over the State Street Bridge into the Kenduskeag Stream, despite his pleas that he could not swim. He drowned, but his partner escaped and pulled a fire alarm. Howard's body was found by rescue workers several hours later.
This event galvanized the Bangor community in ways similar to the killing of Matthew Shepard, although the case never attained the same level of national notoriety. As an adult, Jim Baines later spoke to various groups in Maine about his involvement in the murder and the damage that intolerance can do to people and their community. His story was published as ''Penitence: A True Story'' with Edward Armstrong, although Baines received no royalties from the book. The Maine Lesbian/Gay Political Alliance, which later became EqualityMaine, was formed in part as a reaction to Howard's death.<ref name="Love2006">{{cite book|last=Love|first=Barbara J.|title=Feminists who changed America, 1963-1975|url=https://archive.org/details/feministswhochan00love|url-access=registration|accessdate=10 April 2011|year=2006|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0-252-03189-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/feministswhochan00love/page/109 109]}}</ref>
The Bangor City Council and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community have erected a monument along the Kenduskeag Stream honoring the memory of Charlie Howard as the victim of a hate crime. The Maine Speakout Project maintains the Charlie Howard Memorial Library in Portland, Maine. The library is open to the public.
==Background== Charlie Howard was from Portsmouth, New Hampshire.<ref name="geocities.com">[https://web.archive.org/web/20071019031202/http://www.geocities.com/katsuyo_chan04/roseforcharlie.html WebCite query result<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> A young, fair-haired man, Charlie was small boned and suffered from asthma.<ref name="geocities.com"/> He was often made fun of as a small 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. With his poor grades, he knew college was not for him.<ref name="geocities.com"/>
Charlie left Portsmouth, New Hampshire and eventually landed in Ellsworth, Maine.<ref name="geocities.com"/> When the relationship that he was in ended in January 1984, Charlie left Ellsworth for Bangor, Maine.<ref name="geocities.com"/>
In Bangor, Paul Noddin and Scott Hamilton befriended Charlie. Charlie was homeless with no prospects and Scott and Paul welcomed Charlie into their home. After a month, Charlie's opportunities were nil and Scott and Paul convinced him to return home to Portsmouth to live with his mother and stepfather.<ref name="geocities.com"/>
Charlie was not home a week when he knew he could not stay. He had a brief relationship that ended quickly. When he called his two friends in Bangor, they realized Charlie was hurting and invited him to come back to Bangor.<ref name="geocities.com"/>
Charlie returned - in high spirits and determined. He joined the local supportive Unitarian Church on Union Street as well as the Bangor support 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.<ref name="geocities.com"/>
Charlie lived at a time when most homosexuals were still closeted, but Charlie was "out" and even flamboyant; he wore jewelry and feminine accessories. He was known for singing the song "I Am What I Am" from the musical ''La Cage aux Folles''.<ref name="geocities.com"/>
In 1984, many were not tolerant of homosexuals, and victims of gay bashing often did not report incidents.<ref name="geocities.com"/> Charlie was often tormented by local high school boys and was asked to leave a local night club when he danced with a man.<ref name="geocities.com"/> Charlie was accosted by a woman in a local market one day, who shouted epithets at him such as "''You pervert''" and "''You queer!''" Frightened, Charlie quickly left, but as he was leaving, he stopped, turned around, and blew a kiss.<ref name="geocities.com"/> 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.<ref name="geocities.com"/>
== July 7, 1984 == On Saturday, July 7, 1984, Charlie attended a potluck supper at Interweave. Leaving the party about 10 pm with his partner Roy Ogden, Charlie decided to walk to the post office to retrieve his mail. As Charlie and Roy walked up State Street and began to cross the Kenduskeag River Bridge, a car full of high school teenagers began to slow down.<ref name="geocities.com"/>
In the car were Shawn Mabry, Jim Baines, Daniel Ness, and two girls. They had been at a party and had left to purchase alcohol with a fake ID that one of the girls had in her possession.<ref name="geocities.com"/> Seeing Charlie, the boys got out of the car and decided to give chase. The two girls remained in the car.<ref name="geocities.com"/>
Charlie began to run when he recognized the vehicle from an earlier incident. Shouting epithets, the boys gave chase. Charlie fell because of his asthma, and could not catch his breath. Roy ran further down State Street, stopped and observed.<ref name="geocities.com"/>
Pouncing on Charlie, the boys began beating and kicking him. Baines shouted to throw Charlie over the bridge and grabbed him by the legs. Baines and Ness grabbed Charlie and they began lifting him. Pleading for his life, Charlie grabbed the rail and begged them not to throw him in the river as he could not swim. Prying his hand loose, they began to pitch him over the rail, with Mabry giving the final push. The boys then returned to the car, which the girls were trying to start. Spying Roy, they threatened him not to tell anyone. Roy then ran for help and pulled the first fire alarm he came to on State Street.<ref name="geocities.com"/>
Soon, the sirens could be heard. An immediate search for Charlie began among the concrete retaining walls along the Kenduskeag. At 1 am Charlie's body was found. An autopsy would show he had suffered from a severe asthma attack and drowned.<ref name="geocities.com"/>
Returning to the party, the boys bragged about their encounter, calling the bridge the "Chuckahomo Bridge". The next day one of the boys turned himself in after he learned that Charlie had died. The other two boys decided to leave town on a freight train and then thought better of it. Returning home, they were arrested.
==The aftermath== The boys were sent to the Hancock County Jail and later released into their parents' custody. They were tried as juveniles. After pleading guilty to manslaughter, they were sentenced on October 1, 1984, to the Maine Youth Center, for a period not to exceed their 21st birthdays.<ref name="geocities.com"/> According to the ''Bangor Daily News'', "Baines was released after serving two years, and Mabry was released after 22 months."<ref name="bangordailynews.com">{{cite news |last1=Harrison |first1=Judy |title=Where are Charlie Howard's killers? |url=https://bangordailynews.com/2009/07/12/news/bangor/where-are-charlie-howardrsquos-killers/ |accessdate=27 August 2019 |work=Bangor Daily News |date=12 July 2009}}</ref> Charlie Howard was buried in Orchard Grove Cemetery, Kittery, Maine. His grave, previously unmarked, now has a stone.
==Memorials== On July 7, 2004, a twentieth anniversary walk was held in memory of Howard.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}
Twenty-five years later, the ''Bangor Daily News'' tried to locate Shawn Mabry, Jim Baines, and Daniel Ness, now middle-aged men, for their views on the murder. They were unable to locate Mabry and Ness at that time, but did find Baines, who was living and working in Bangor. Following his release from the detention center, he spoke regularly about tolerance to local students and even addressed the Maine State Legislature in "support of a bill to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation".<ref name="bangordailynews.com" /> In addition, he co-authored the book ''Penitence'' with Ed Armstrong in 1994. Baines did not receive any of the profits of the book. That same year, Mabry publicly expressed his regrets about his participation. He stated that he thinks about Charlie Howard every day.<ref name="bangordailynews.com" />
A short distance from the site of Howard's death, a memorial has been erected; engraved on the stone are the words: “May we, the citizens of Bangor, continue to change the world around us until hatred becomes peacemaking and ignorance becomes understanding.”<ref name="365gay.com">{{Cite web |url=http://www.365gay.com/news/community-rededicates-vandalized-gay-memorial-in-maine/ |title=365gay.com<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2011-05-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527095926/http://www.365gay.com/news/community-rededicates-vandalized-gay-memorial-in-maine/ |archive-date=2011-05-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In May 2011, vandals spray-painted graffiti and an anti-gay slur on Charlie Howard's memorial. Family and friends cleaned it up and rededicated it.<ref name="365gay.com" />
July 7, Howard's death date, is dedicated as Diversity Day in Bangor. Each year, a floral wreath is placed into the Kenduskeag as a memorial to Howard, which is a "service [that] re-created the one held after Howard was killed four decades ago, where attendees walked to the site of his death and dropped flowers into the stream below."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Weidmayer |first=Marie |date=2024-07-04 |title=Bangor community to mark 40th anniversary of Charlie Howard's murder |url=http://www.bangordailynews.com/2024/07/04/bangor/40th-anniversary-charlie-howard-murder-bangor-maine-joam40zk0w/ |access-date=2024-07-04 |website=Bangor Daily News |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2024-07-08 |title=Maine community gathers to remember gay man killed 40 years ago |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/maine-community-gathers-remember-gay-man-killed-40-years-ago-rcna160690 |access-date=2024-07-11 |website=NBC News |language=en}}</ref>
In 2021, a stone bench was installed in Portsmouth's Commercial Allery with an inscription of Howard's favorite song “I Am What I Am,” from the musical “La Cage aux Folles…”<ref>{{Cite web |date=19 November 2021 |title=Charlie Howard receives memorial bench in his NH hometown |url=https://bangordailynews.com/2021/11/19/news/new-england/charlie-howard-receives-memorial-bench-in-his-nh-hometown/?fbclid=IwAR136KKMgPDGT-t8XFWFhFzFABYsytBSrpTFPlRuzC-EbqlHJU9R_dzPl6I}}</ref>
July 7, 2024 was the fortieth anniversary of Charlie Howard's death, which was marked by a large memorial gathering involving residents as well as community groups, including the current Unitarian Universalist community in Bangor.<ref name=":1" />
== Legacy in pop culture == Charlie Howard's murder inspired a similar scene in Bangor-native Stephen King's 1986 novel ''It'', in which three homophobic teenagers throw a young gay man, Adrian Mellon, over a bridge and into the Kenduskeag, where he was set upon and murdered by the novel's antagonist Pennywise. In the 2019 film adaption ''It Chapter Two'', Canadian actor Xavier Dolan portrayed the character of Adrian Mellon in the opening scene.<ref name="Sprinkle">{{cite book |last=Sprinkle |first=Stephen V. |title=Unfinished Lives |publisher=Resource Publications |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-4982-5786-2}}</ref>
The gay poet Mark Doty wrote a poem about the murder called "Charlie Howard's Descent".<ref>{{cite book|last=Doty|first=Mark|title=Turtle, Swan|year=1987|publisher=David R. Godine|location=Boston|isbn=0-87923-698-1|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/turtleswanpoems0000doty}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Doty|first=Mark|date=2012|title=Charlie Howard's Descent|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/55501/charlie-howards-descent|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-10-20|website=}}</ref>
The murder is also the inspiration for a novel by Bette Greene titled ''The Drowning of Stephan Jones''.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}
The line "faggot kicked into the icy river" in lesbian-feminist poet Adrienne Rich's poem "Yom Kippur 1984" is a reference to Charlie Howard.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kerbel |first=Sorrel |author-link= |date=2010 |title=The Routledge Encyclopedia of Jewish Writers of the Twentieth Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wywsBgAAQBAJ&dq=%22Yom+Kippur+1984%22+%22Edmund+Perry%22&pg=PT1196 |location=New York |publisher=Routledge |page= |isbn=978-0415876414}}</ref>
==See also== * History of violence against LGBTQ people in the United States * Violence against LGBTQ people
==References== {{Reflist}} *Armstrong, Edward J. (1994). ''Penitence: A True Story''. Bangor: Lucie Madden Associates. {{ISBN|0-9642473-0-5}} *Preston, John. (1995). ''Winter's Light: Reflections of a Yankee Queer''. Hanover NH: University Press of New England. {{ISBN|0-87451-674-9}} *Carnes, Jim. (1996). ''Us and Them: A History of Intolerance in America''. New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-513125-8}} *Gagnon, Dawn ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927213924/http://www.bangornews.com/news/t/city.aspx?articleid=139364&zoneid=176 "Hate crime memorial plan debated"]'' Bangor Daily News August 26, 2006 (accessed September 8, 2006) A Rose for Charlie.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Charlie}} Category:1961 births Category:1984 deaths Category:1984 murders in the United States Category:20th-century American LGBTQ people Category:American victims of anti-LGBTQ hate crimes Category:Deaths by person in Maine Category:Deaths by drowning in Maine Category:July 1984 in the United States Category:LGBTQ people from Maine Category:LGBTQ people from New Hampshire Category:LGBTQ rights in Maine Category:People from Bangor, Maine Category:Murder committed by minors Category:People from Portsmouth, New Hampshire Category:People murdered in Maine Category:Violence against gay men in the United States