VHS-On February 19, 1999, in Sylacauga, Alabama, 39-year-old computer programmer Billy Jack Gaither was brutally beaten with an axe handle. His throat was cut, and his body was set on fire. One of his convicted killers, Steven Mullins, testified he killed Gaither because he was "queer."
Why have gays like Gaither and Matthew Shepard become the target of such brutality? What is the source of this kind of hatred? "Assault on Gay America" explores whether there are possible links between the forces that drove Billy Jack's killers and the forces that fuel homophobia in the general law-abiding public.