New york gay bar murders

Thoughtful, tender, enraging: this vivid documentary on the 90s murders of four gay men keeps the victims at its heart — and shows that dangerous homophobia is no thing of the past. Richard Rogers, a paediatric nurse from Staten Island, is serving life in prison for york of the killings and is probably responsible for the others.

Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York explains what Rogers did and how he was caught, but this four-part series is much more than mere true-crime documentary. As it widens its outlook to explore how such an atrocity could bar occurred, its political savviness and thoughtful tenderness make it a masterclass gay righteous, acutely relevant reporting.

Director Anthony Caronna includes an out-take of him wondering, after a pair of detectives have answered all his questions, whether they have anything to add. If the officer watches the series he has appeared in, he will get a comprehensive answer. The meat of Last Call is an enraging overview of hate crime in the 80s and 90s, mainly new by activists from the Anti-Violence Project AVPan LGBT organisation set up to counsel survivors of homophobic attacks.

The AVP was saddened when the investigation into the Last Call murders was slow, inept and distant, but not surprised. But Last Call, a series that takes delicate pains to cover every angle, emphasises that its vivid murder of a bygone era is not ancient history. Recently, a spate of aggravated, occasionally murderous robberies has hit the NYC gay community.

The Rogers case itself contains an example of old-fashioned injustice that, shockingly, persists.

Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer NY review – a masterclass in righteous, savvy TV

Without that, Rogers might not have been free to roam New York City 20 years later. The gay panic defence is still admissible in 34 US states. Laying all this out is one way in which a show such as Last Call can be useful and important rather than just an interesting documentary. The other is in providing tributes to the dead, giving us a sense of the unique, irreplaceable lives that were lost and allowing us a moment to celebrate them.

Then one night inRogers walked in and sat down next to him. Photograph: HBO. This article is more than 1 year old. Read more. Reuse this content. Most viewed.