by John Gallagher

About the author: John Gallagher is senior news editor for the Advocate, a national gay and lesbian newsmagazine.

On February 16, 1998, Charley Mitchell went for a jog in Falmouth, Maine. He almost didn’t come back. After Mitchell completed his five-mile run, he returned to his van, which is adorned with a rainbow flag, a pink triangle, and a bumper sticker for Maine Won’t Discriminate, a group that had just failed in its attempt to defeat a referendum that removed the state’s antidiscrimination protections from the books.

Anti-Gay Backlash

“I remember reaching for my keys to the van, and the next thing I know, I was in a CAT scanner at Maine Medical Center,” says Mitchell. While he wasn’t looking, someone sneaked up on him and...