On March 22, 2020, John Russell Howald strode through Basin armed with four guns and 200 rounds of ammunition. He was drunk and deeply troubled. By his own account, he was out to kill women in the town’s lesbian community.
I hope you’ll read “The Reckoning,” Charlie Denison’s gripping account of what happened that day; the events over half a century that led to it; and what transpired after. It’s a defining narrative not just for Basin, I believe, but for all of us — a complex and essentially human story that’s hopeful without claiming easy redemption.
When you do read it, you may wonder: Why did The Monitor publish this story? And why now?
To the first: I get it. This is a sensitive issue. It’s not just about one man’s demons, but about the specter of bigotry in a small town.
It could be tempting to think, let well enough alone. Despite some ugliness over the years, Basin’s lesbians and those who deeply disapprove of that lifestyle have basically gotten along. The Monitor’s surfacing and naming their tension may be seen by some as needless finger-pointing, or even grandstanding.
I’d say, no: A hate crime demands that we explore the hate. In Basin, resentment and fear have been percolating beneath the surface for nearly 50 years. Howald’s trial, and a stunning voice recording that documented his desire to “get rid of lesbians (and) gays,” shattered the veneer of normalcy; he “verbalized the tension,” as Basin resident Bryher Herak put it. It’s on us, now, to reckon with what was there all along — and with the possibility of change.
Why didn’t The Monitor take this on sooner? We’ve certainly known about the problems in Basin before now. But some among the lesbian community were wary of inviting in journalism that could reduce Basin’s reality to a black-and-white, us-versus-them narrative — potentially intensifying, rather than constructively addressing, the tension already there. I understand their caution: The news all too often tilts toward the superficial and sensational; we don’t do nuance well.
What’s more, it wasn’t clear for quite a while what really had happened in Basin. At the time of the crime, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office reported only that a shot had been fired, and that Howald had been charged with criminal endangerment, assault on a peace officer, and resisting arrest. It wasn’t until more than a year later that a federal indictment revealed Howald had allegedly fired multiple shots into a home, and that he had targeted the victim because of their sexual orientation.
That indictment, and this year’s trial and sentencing, revealed more of the story — and created urgency for Charlie to investigate and explain the bigger picture.
We’re grateful to the many people in Basin who, over the last few months, have spoken openly and candidly about what happened in their community. For some of them, reliving the events of the past three years, and longer, has been painful; so too has been confronting their own humanity, and that of their neighbors.
Doing so takes courage. It also takes a desire to acknowledge that things could be better, and to point themselves that way. Charlie’s reporting indicates that Basin is, in fact, on the path to a better place. Some folks who didn’t talk to each other before are talking now. Some among the lesbian community say they have felt more supported in the wake of Howald’s trial. Some ancient wounds have healed a bit.
There is no easy fix here; people and communities tend not to turn on a dime. Ugliness will persist, in small ways and large. But we should welcome what appears to be broad recognition that Basin will not tolerate hate-based violence. Our future as a society depends not on agreeing about everything, but on recognizing and respecting our shared humanity — and our shared right to enjoy safety, justice and the freedom to be who we are.
That does, I hope, go without saying. But let’s say it, anyway.
