A Mother Speaks Out Against Homophobia

Gender Week stepped outside its largely feminist themes Thursday night to address the issue of homophobia with a controversial film screening and panel discussion.

Petty Officer Allen Schindler, the subject of the film, "Gender-Based Terror in the U.S. Military: The Murder of Allen Schindler and the Making of Any Mother's Son," was murdered in 1992 by two of his Navy shipmates because he was gay.

Schindler's mother, Dorothy Hajdys, spoke after the film and told audience members both about the murder itself and her own fight to bring her son's attackers to justice.

According to Hajdys, the beating destroyed every organ in her 22-year-old son's body and his injuries were so severe that it looked like a horse trampled him. The medical examiner compared his wounds to those sustained by victims of a fatal airplane crash or a high-speed automobile accident, Hajdys said.

Throughout the process of confronting the Navy to prevent an attempted cover-up, Hajdys said she slowly came to terms with her own homophobia.

"I didn't understand what it was to be gay," she said. "Two years before he was killed, my son told me he was gay and I didn't believe him."

Hajdys said she is now more comfortable with homosexuality.

"I have more gay friends then straight friends," she said.

While confronting her own denial and acceptance, Hajdys worked tirelessly to bring Schindler's killers to justice.

One of the attackers, Charles Vins, was tried and convicted of murder by the military but was given a mild sentence in exchange for implicating fellow murderer Terry Helvey. For the murder of Schindler, Vins served 78 days in prison.

According to Hajdys, the Navy did not inform her of the trial and she had no input on the case.

The other killer, Terry Helvey, was sentenced to life imprisonment but became eligible for parole in 2002. Every year, Hadjys collects one million signatures to ensure her son's killer is never given parole.

"My biggest fear is that if he is released that he will kill someone else," she said.

Most students who attended the film screening signed the petition when it was passed around.

Hadjys said she wants people to realize how often gay discrimination occurs.

"More people are being discharged now because of their sexuality. One-thousand four-hundred were discharged last year," she said.

The film's director, Joe DiPasquale, was also on hand. DiPasquale talked about how the 1997 made-for-TV movie "Any Mother's Son" gave Mrs. Hadjys an outlet to tell the world her story.

"This movie was part of the gay revolution," he said.

Students who attended the event said homophobia is an important issue in this country, but is not given the attention it deserves.

"Our country needs to look at what's happening in our own borders," said Amanda Isbrandt, a junior nursing student. "You have to be comfortable with your own sexuality. Homophobic people aren't comfortable. They're ignorant. Dorothy Hadjys' son's voice will always be heard."

Hadjys noted that in her son's journal he had written, "If you can't be yourself then who are you?"

Maria Komartsova, a freshman undecided major, said Schindler's story should force people to reexamine their values.

"Homophobic violence nor any violence for that matter should not be tolerated and allowed to penetrate the youth through pop culture thus perpetrating unjustifiable aggression through future generations," she said. "Allen's story is tragic and society as a whole needs to reexamine its values since there is nothing that can justify murder and the suffering Allen had to endure in the Navy."

Sponsored by the English Department's Center for Americas, the panel discussion also included Kari J. Winter, associate professor for Center for the Americas; and Timothy J. Dean, associate professor of English.