Calvin Glover and the Murder of Barry Winchell

Calvin Glover is the former U.S. Army private who murdered Private First Class Barry Winchell at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, on July 5, 1999, beating the sleeping 21-year-old soldier with a wooden baseball bat in an attack fueled by anti-gay hatred and hours of goading from Winchell’s roommate. Glover was 18 years old, from Sulphur, Oklahoma, and had lost a fistfight to Winchell at a keg party two days earlier. A military jury convicted him of premeditated murder on December 8, 1999, and sentenced him to life in prison with the possibility of parole.¹²

What Happened at Fort Campbell

Barry Loren Winchell served in Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. On July 3, 1999, Glover picked a fight with him at a keg party on base. Winchell won it.³

Afterward, Glover and Specialist Justin Fisher, Winchell’s roommate, drank beer in Glover’s barracks room. Fisher taunted Glover for losing a fight to “a faggot.” They moved to Fisher’s room, where Fisher played the soundtrack from the film Psycho. Glover began swinging a wooden baseball bat and announced he was going to attack Winchell. Fisher told him to “go for it.”³

In the early morning hours of July 5, Glover walked to a cot outside the barracks where Winchell was sleeping and struck him repeatedly in the head and neck with the bat.¹ Winchell was rushed to a hospital but never regained consciousness. He died the following day, July 6, 1999, after life support was withdrawn. He had been awarded two Army Commendation Medals and one Army Achievement Medal.⁴

The Harassment That Preceded the Attack

Winchell had been the target of relentless anti-gay harassment inside his unit for months. Fisher had spread rumors that Winchell was gay, in part because Winchell had begun an off-duty relationship with Calpernia Addams, a transgender performer in Nashville.⁵ Sergeant Michael Kleifgen testified that soldiers called Winchell “faggot” and other slurs daily.⁶

A survey of 71,570 soldiers, released March 24, 2000, found that 80 percent reported having witnessed derogatory remarks aimed at gay service members. One soldier at the base described the culture as an “anti-gay fever” and a “Lord of the Flies” environment.⁶ Winchell’s parents later said superiors at Fort Campbell witnessed the harassment and in some cases participated in it.⁴

Glover’s Court-Martial and Sentence

Glover was tried by general court-martial at Fort Campbell. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of unpremeditated murder, but prosecutors pursued premeditated murder, arguing the attack was motivated by hatred of homosexuals.¹ Taking the stand, Glover told the jury, “I wasn’t really mad at him, sir. It was just a mistake, sir. I was really drunk.”⁷

On December 8, 1999, the panel convicted him of premeditated murder. His sentence was life in prison with the possibility of parole, along with demotion and a dishonorable discharge.²

Glover had attended schools in Davis, Owasso, and Sterling, Oklahoma, before moving to Sulphur. A county commissioner who had employed Glover’s father described the family as “good people” and called Glover a “clean-cut, good-looking kid.”⁷

Justin Fisher’s Role

Prosecutors portrayed Fisher, then 25, as the instigator. He had a documented history of antagonizing Winchell, including an earlier incident in which Fisher struck him with a dustpan hard enough to require stitches.⁵ On the night of the killing, Fisher supplied alcohol to the underage Glover, taunted him for hours, and encouraged the attack. Afterward, he helped wash the blood off the bat and gave false sworn statements to Army criminal investigators.³

Fisher initially faced charges that included acting as a principal to premeditated murder and acting as an accessory after the fact. Under a plea agreement, the Army dropped those charges. In January 2000, he pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, providing alcohol to a minor, and false swearing.⁸ He was sentenced to 12 and a half years and a dishonorable discharge. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces affirmed the conviction and sentence in June 2003.³ Fisher was released in 2006 after serving about seven years. The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network called the sentence “shockingly lenient.”⁹

Aftermath and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

Winchell’s death became a focal point in the national argument over the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, in effect since 1993. President Bill Clinton called the killing evidence that the policy was a “clear failure.”⁶ In the year after the murder, 120 soldiers at Fort Campbell sought discharges based on their sexual orientation, reportedly out of safety concerns; fewer than 20 had done so the prior year.¹⁰

The Department of the Army Inspector General investigated and concluded there was “no pervasive antigay atmosphere” at Fort Campbell, attributing responsibility to Glover, Fisher, and a senior sergeant for “poor leadership.” No officers were found responsible.¹⁰ Human Rights Watch and the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network noted that during the first six years of the policy, no service member had been held officially accountable for anti-gay harassment.¹¹

Winchell’s parents, Pat and Wally Kutteles, became long-running advocates for repeal, arguing the policy had prevented their son from reporting the abuse he faced without risking his own discharge.⁴ Patricia Kutteles, a psychiatric nurse, continued that work until her death on November 14, 2016, at 67.¹² The policy was repealed in 2010, and the Winchell case is widely cited as having contributed to that outcome.¹³

Calpernia Addams became a prominent transgender rights advocate after Winchell’s death, working with PFLAG, GLAAD, and the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.¹⁴ The 2003 Showtime film Soldier’s Girl, directed by Frank Pierson and written by Ron Nyswaner, dramatized the relationship between Winchell and Addams and the events that led to the murder, with Troy Garity as Winchell and Lee Pace as Addams. It received a Peabody Award.¹⁵

1
CBS News. Army Private Guilty of Murder
2
Herald-Times Online. Soldier Gets Life in Prison for Murdering Barracks Mate
3
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. United States v. Fisher
4
CNN. Kutteles DADT Opinion
5
Vanity Fair. Kentucky Murder
6
The New York Times. Calpernia Addams Profile
7
The Oklahoman. Oklahoman Convicted: Army Says Sulphur Man Guilty in Other’s Murder
8
Los Angeles Times. Fisher Plea Agreement
9
The Advocate. Former Soldier Convicted in Winchell Murder Released
10
Windy City Times. Pentagon Tackles Don’t Ask Again
11
Human Rights Watch. Uniform Discrimination: The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy of the US Military
12
The New York Times. Patricia Kutteles, Driven by Tragedy to End Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Dies at 67
13
The Sydney Morning Herald. Transgender Activist Calpernia Addams Takes Aim at Portrayals of Transgender in the Media
14
HuffPost. Interview With Trans Activist and Icon Calpernia Addams
15
Peabody Awards. Soldier’s Girl