Gayle Ruzicka of the ultra-conservative Eagle Forum campaigns for the firing of a lesbian teacher in Utah County. Many churches condemn same-gender sex as a sin. And dozens of other conservative groups across the nation send the message that "gay" equals "sick."

But none of these groups advocate murdering homosexuals. So what role, if any, does anti-gay rhetoric play in opening the door to violence against gays?

For many gays and lesbians, the killing of college student Matthew Shepard is connected to a national "atmosphere of hate" that encourages the idea that hurting homosexuals is OK.

Shepard, 21, died four days after he was found pistol-whipped and lashed to a fence post in near-freezing temperatures outside Laramie, Wyo.

Police say robbery was the primary motive, but that Shepard's attackers singled him out because he was gay. Russell Arthur Henderson and Aaron James McKinney, both 21, have been charged with first-degree murder.

Shepard's death has prompted a debate about the effect of "hate speech" on the minds of people who may be looking for a target.

"Words have consequences — whether they are spoken from the Tabernacle at General Conference [of the LDS Church] or they come from Gayle Ruzicka and the Eagle Forum," says Stephen Clark, attorney for the Utah Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). "You cannot say with a smile that gays and lesbians are an abomination and not expect some people to take that to heart and eradicate the abomination.

"People cannot deny any longer their complicity in horrible crimes like this. It's naive at best and hypocritical at worst."

Or absurd, counters Ruzicka.

"Come on, people hurt homosexuals because I say homosexuality is immoral?" Ruzicka asks rhetorically. "That's crazy."

In fact, both Ruzicka and officials of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints insist they love homosexuals as people, but denounce their sexual practices.

In a speech at a recent LDS Church general conference, President Gordon B. Hinckley, said, "We cannot stand idle if [gays and lesbians] indulge in immoral activity, if they try to uphold and defend and live in a so-called same-sex marriage situation."

And a 1996 editorial in the LDS Church-owned Deseret News identified "homosexual practices" as an "abomination," but then warned against "vile language and physical violence often directed at homosexuals."

Yet if Mormon leaders really love all the church's sons and daughters, ask some of the faith's homosexual members, why not issue a strong statement against anti-gay violence?

"So long as the church teaches its followers to 'hate the sin,' it bears a special responsibility to ensure that its followers do not end up hating the sinner along with the presumed sin," wrote Scott MacKay, director of Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons, in a letter to Hinckley. "Is not [Shepard's murder] at least as immoral as homosexual activity . . . Does not this behavior make light of the sacred truth, that all humans are created in God's image and of equal value and worth, regardless of beliefs or actions?"

Church spokesman Don Rascon said that is what Mormon leaders already have done. The First Presidency issued a statement this week condemning the attack on Shepard, and leaders abhor violence against anyone — gay or straight.

[Editorial note: In fact the First Presidency did not and has not made any public statements about the attack on Matthew Shepard. One Affirmation member spoke with Dan Rascon of LDS Public Affairs and reported that he said the death was "horrible and atrocious" but that there would be no statement because it "really doesn't involve us." In a call to the Office of the First Presidency, the telephone answerer said that she did not know if a statement might be forthcoming.]

"President Hinckley has made it clear that we are to love homosexuals as sons and daughters of God," Rascon said. "Our teachings in no way create an atmosphere of hate. In no way do we promote violence or hate."

Gay and lesbian activists, and others, say many of society's institutions — churches, schools and the entertainment and news media — implicitly sanction violence against homosexuals through stereotyped portrayals.

And the effect is chilling.

Nearly a quarter of community-college students who took part in a recent survey admitted to harassing people they thought were gay. The study was presented at the American Psychological Association's national convention in August in San Francisco.

"Assaults on gay men and lesbians were so socially acceptable that respondents often advocated or defended such behavior out loud in the classrooms, while I was administering my survey," writes Karen Franklin, author of the study and a former fellow at the Washington Institute for Mental Illness Research and Training in Tacoma.

The study also found that almost half of the students said they would assault again and either lacked remorse or did not see anything wrong with their behavior.

They are learning those lessons — that targeting gays and lesbians is acceptable — from society, says Franklin.

"The causes are complex . . . the kids accused of [Shepard's] murder, these are not mainstream kids — they come from troubled backgrounds," says Franklin. "But socially alienated kids hear [mainstream society's] message that gays are less valuable or don't deserve social protection."

The Utah chapter of the ACLU hosted a news conference this week with gay and lesbian advocacy groups to denounce the violence in Laramie. There was a unanimous appeal to Utah's conservative institutions to tone down the language of their homosexuality-is-a-sin message.

Ruzicka responded that violence happens because it is promoted by an immoral and pornography-ridden entertainment industry. And she said she counts gays and lesbians among her friends.

"I'm not judging them personally," she said. "Our only concern is when they take their immoral sexual practices to the arena of public policy. If they would keep quiet, no one would bother them."

At the same time, ACLU officials say they don't advocate silencing any point of view.

Carol Gnade, ACLU Utah chapter director, insists that the solution is more free speech, not less.

"Our commitment is to freedom of speech," Gnade says. "Open dialogue — that's what is going to change people's minds and hearts."

© Copyright 1998, The Salt Lake Tribune