Gays Win Concessions in Coverage of Gacy

A local gay rights group has mounted an attack on media coverage in the John Wayne Gacy Jr. case and seems to have won some concessions, a spokesman said Wednesday. The Illinois Gay Rights Task Force started writing letters to Chicago newspapers, radio and television stations and the wire services alerting them to prejudicial terms that appeared in news stories beginning the day Gacy was arrested Dec. 22. Gacy since has been charged with the murders of seven males and Wednesday pleaded innocent to the charges. The task force objected to stories that used the term “admitted homosexual” because the wording implied guilt about homosexuality, said William B. Kelley, a task force chairman.

The group also believes that since Gacy reportedly told authorities he had sexual relations with his alleged victims who were all men homosexuality is implied and does not have to be repeated. “Gacy and his seeming homosexuality was being mentioned every time,” Kelley said Wednesday. “This was not a meaningful identification any more than his race was. This tends to link homosexuality in the public’s mind with the crimes he’s accused of.” Gacy reportedly told authorities that he killed 32 young men and teen-agers after having sex with them. The skeletal remains of 26 persons were found under Gacy’s northwest suburban home and one was found under his garage. Two other bodies found in the Des Plaines River have been linked to Gacy. Since the initial days of the story’s coverage, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune have eliminated the phrase “admitted homosexual” in reference to Gacy’s reportedly acknowledged sex preferences.