Alan R. Warren - Bruce McArthur: The Toronto Gay Village Murders

KILLER QUEENS

BOOK FOUR

Killer Queens is a new series of historical fiction books based on true stories. Sources, such as police reports and newspaper articles, are examined to gather as many facts surrounding each case. As with any work of fiction, some creative additions were made when recounting these stories, usually in the conversations between the personalities involved. The various sources are the basis of these conversations and, hopefully, make them come alive for the readers to help understand what was meant by those words.

One of the most common questions in gay-related murders is: how are they different from heterosexual murders? This question is important, as homosexuality was considered a criminal act for so many years. The Killer Queens series of books explores the world of murder in the gay community, whether the victims or the killers themselves, and sometimes both, are homosexual.

If you were caught performing a homosexual act in the Victorian Era, they would say you were sexually insane and commit you to an insane asylum. By the early 1900s, most countries decided it was more of a deviant act, something you shouldnt do. They would put you in a regular prison instead of an insane asylum if caught. By doing so, homosexuality became a crime, not as severe as murder, but more on the level of crimes such as theft, burglary, or arson.

A stunning example of the treatment of homosexuals in society is that of Alan Turing. Turing was a British mathematician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist during World War II. In 1939, he joined the Hut 8 team. There, he solved the German Enigma code, which was considered the turning point for the Allied Forces winning the war against the Nazis.

So, what did society decide to do with one of its heroes?

Alan Turing was a homosexual. In 1952, when he was 39 years old, he started a relationship with Arnold Murray, who was 19. Shortly after the couple began seeing each other, Turings house was robbed. After the police investigated the crime, they discovered that the thief was Murray and that Turing and Murray had been acquainted. It was also found that the two men had been involved in a sexual relationship. Both men were charged with gross indecency. Turing later pleaded guilty to the charges and was convicted. He was given a choice between imprisonment or conditional probation. What were the conditions he had to meet?

Turing had to undergo physical and hormonal changes designed to reduce his libido. He received several injections over one year, which feminized his body. During that year, he became impotent and grew breast tissue. Along with his body changes, he had his security clearance removed and lost his job with the British Intelligence Agency. He tried to move to America, but they denied him as he was then a convicted felon.

On June 7, 1954, Turing committed suicide in his home by ingesting cyanide. His housekeeper found him with a half-eaten apple lying beside him in his bed the following day. It was hypothesized that he had doused the apple with the cyanide. An inquest later determined that he had committed suicide.

When society forces one of its citizens to be sterilized for being homosexual, one considered to be among the best and a war hero, why would they care about other homosexuals being murdered or hurt?

It didnt end there.

Even after homosexuality was legalized in 1967, it was still considered a sickness or illness in the medical community that needed curing. Almost like alcoholism, only the general public looked at alcoholics with sympathy. After all, they were still pleasing people, and it was just the alcohol that made them do bad things. It was the Christian thing to do to help them. Most alcoholics werent even arrested for driving while drunk or starting a fight in a public place. They were merely told to go home and sleep it off; if they kept on fighting, they were put in the drunk tank by the police for a night.

Whereas, if you were having or attempting to have sex with someone of the same sex as yourself, you were a pervert. It was considered wrong, disgusting, dirty, and perverted behavior. It was also judged as something you didnt need to do.

Why would someone want to have sex with another of their same-sex?

The public didnt know what to do with homosexuals after they were no longer considered criminals or insane. At least with alcoholics and drug addicts, there were treatments for their problems; after all, they just needed not to do it!

So, what would they do when they couldnt arrest these homosexuals or put them into the local mental institute? History repeated itself, and they turned it over to the religion of the day to handle.

In the past, when dealing with the Indigenous people of North America, the church and state decided that to civilize the savage, they had their children forcibly extracted from the reserves they were imprisoned on and taken to Catholic schools to learn how to be good Christians. Only now, many years later, an astounding number of unmarked graves are being discovered all over Canada, where Indigenous children were buried after their deaths at these residential schools. We do not even know the names of these children or why or how they died. Despite this atrocity, they believed they were successful in those cases with people they didnt understand, and they figured they would be successful in handling the gay population with the same iron fist.

So, keeping up with societal tradition, Evangelicals developed a new program to cure homosexuals. It was called Exodus. In other words, they intended to Pray away the Gay. They convinced several young gay men and women that the devils influence made them believe they were gay and could fix their problem if they turned their lives over to the Lord and worked through the Exodus program. If they did, they would be cured, but they would be able to live healthy, productive, straight lives. As with so many other religious plans to remedy what didnt need healing, it left many young gays confused, in despair, and committing suicide.