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Southern Fried True Crime

100: Small Town Hate: The Murder of Billy Jack Gaither

Southern Fried True Crime

Erica Kelley

True Crime, Society & Culture, History

4.610.5K Ratings

🗓️ 15 June 2020

⏱️ 48 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1999, a gay man named Billy Jack Gaither was brutally murdered in the small town of Sylacauga, Alabama. He wasn’t completely closeted, his siblings and friends knew, but his deeply religious parents did not. He was a friendly man who often gave rides to drunk patrons from his favorite local bar. He had made friends with a man who took advantage of his generosity. But he had no idea just how evil this man was.

Written, hosted and produced by Erica Kelley
Original Graphic Art by Coley Horner
Original Music by Rob Harrison of Gamma Radio
Researched by Haley Gray
Edited by Chaes Gray of Gray Multimedia

Sources: https://www.southernfriedtruecrime.com/100-small-town-hate-the-murder-of-billy-jack-gaither

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If you are suffering with abuse in quarantine, here are resources for different countries. Please ask for help:
US Crisis Text Line: 741741
US National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233
UK Domestic Abuse Hotline: 0808 2000 247
Australia Rape & Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-737-732
Canada: http://thelifelinecanada.ca./help/call/

If you are having suicidal thoughts during this unprecedented time, YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Please call the US National Suicide Hotline: 1-800-273-8255

For resources in other countries: http://www.suicide.org/international-suicide-hotlines.html

A great source to find a LGBTQ non-profit to support: https://greatnonprofits.org/categories/view/lgbtq
https://www.shondaland.com/act/a27789423/24-lgbtq-organizations-support-right-now/
https://pflag.org/hotlines
https://www.thetrevorproject.org/

How you can help be part of the solution to our national problem of systemic racism:
Minnesota Freedom Fund
George Floyd Memorial Fund
I Run With Maud
Black Visions Collective
Reclaim the Block
Campaign Zero
Communities United Against Police Brutality
Black Lives Matter
NAACP Legal Defense Fund
American Civil Liberties Union
National Bail Fund Network

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Skip ahead about 40 seconds if the resources I've been giving bother you.

0:06.2

And thank you all for your support and encouragement.

0:08.6

I won't stop.

0:10.1

Here they are again.

0:12.0

There is a crisis text line set up for those suffering from anxiety or depression.

0:16.6

Text 741-741 for help.

0:19.9

If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Hotline at

0:24.8

1-800-273-TALK or 8255.

0:29.4

If you are suffering from domestic violence, please call 1-800-799-SAFE or 7233 or

0:36.7

Dalnan-111.

0:38.5

The Trevor Project has a hotline for young LGBTQ people who are struggling.

0:44.0

Call 1-866-488-7386.

0:48.3

Remember, you are not alone.

0:50.3

I'll have international resources as well as these US numbers in today's show notes.

0:58.5

This Southern Fried true crime covers cases that are not suitable for young listeners,

1:02.8

and there may also be some explicit language used.

1:06.1

Today's episode will have upsetting homophobic language used only in quotes.

1:11.2

I apologize, but words matter, especially when discussing a hate crime.

1:17.1

Listener discretion is advised.

1:22.1

It's Pride Month friends.

1:24.7

Pride was chosen by the LGBTQ community to honor the Stonewall uprising, which was the

1:30.2

tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States.

...

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