Gay Murder Suicide Stuns Town (Leominster, Massachusetts)

[Ian David]

Gay Murder Suicide Stuns Town
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: February 8, 2005 11:03 am. ET

(Leominster, Massachusetts) The murder suicide of a prominent Massachusetts gay attorney and his partner has stunned the town of Leominster, northwest of Boston.

Friends, concerned they had not been able to contact Ryan F. Curtis, called police. Inside the home Curtis shared with lawyer Stephen M. CampoBasso officers discovered Curtis's body. Police have not said how Curtis died, but friends of the couple said he had been shot. Curtis' car remained in the home's driveway all day, a neighbor said.

<snip>

CampoBasso was well known in the community. He had been involved in a number of LGBT civil rights cases and was an active member of the Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay Bar Association.

<snip>

His brother, Peter CampoBasso, had served as assistant city solicitor in Leominster and as a city councilor. Another brother, Vincent CampoBasso, also practices law in the city and one of his sisters hosts a cooking program on cable access television.

More:
http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/02/020805massShoot.htm

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. Murder/suicide seldom strike couples planning a wedding.

Maybe there's more to this than they're saying?

[paineinthearse]

2. Acton theater group to go on with show despite murder-suicide

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/02/11/acton_theater_group_to_go_on_with_show_despite_murder_suicide?mode=PF

Acton theater group to go on with show despite murder-suicide
February 11, 2005

ACTON, Mass. --The cast of a community theater production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" decided to go on with the show despite the deaths of the show's star and a supporting actor in an apparent homicide-suicide. The Open Door Theater's scheduled April 1 opening of the musical will proceed, cast members decided in a Wednesday meeting held two days after Stephen M. CampoBasso apparently fatally shot his partner, Ryan F. Curtis, then killed himself.

"The overwhelming sentiment of the cast, the production team, the board and the grief counselors that we consulted with was that the best thing to do was to continue the show, and that it is what Ryan and Stephen would've wanted," the theater's president, Glenn A. Herdeg, told the Telegram & Gazette of Worcester. Curtis, 29, was to have played the starring role of Joseph, while CampoBasso, 53, was supposed to play the part of a character called Simeon. Herdeg declined to say how the roles would be filled.

Investigators say Curtis was shot to death Monday morning in the Leominster home he shared with CampoBasso. The shooting triggered a manhunt for CampoBasso, a prominent Leominster lawyer. CampoBasso apparently turned the gun on himself, investigators said, and his body was found Monday night in the woods off Route 140 in Princeton.
Friends said the couple had been engaged to marry in the fall.

[paineinthearse]

3. Abuse a reality for gay couples

http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/ci_2566824

Abuse a reality for gay couples
By Hillary Chabot and J.J. Huggins

Sean Fitzgerald, 38, said domestic abuse happens in gay relationships just as much as it is does in heterosexual relationships. But many gay men don't feel comfortable reporting abuse. Fitzgerald was a close friend of Ryan Curtis, who was shot and killed by Leominster attorney Stephen CampoBasso on Feb. 7. CampoBasso, a lawyer from a prominent Leominster family, killed himself hours later, according to Worcester County District Attorney John Conte.

CampoBasso and Curtis were engaged to be married, according to friends. "It's just like the heterosexual world, but no one wants to talk about it," Fitzgerald said. "Until everything comes out in the open and people feel free to express themselves, I don't think they'll want to talk about it," Fitzgerald said. He said societal expectations about men and women also affect how officials, friends and family deal with same-sex abuse. "We teach our children it's OK to beat up on each other as long as they're the same sex," Fitzgerald said. "As a man you're taught to never hit a girl, but if a man confronts you, you kill him, man."

Curt Rogers, founder and director of Gay Men Domestic Violence in Boston, said many gay men don't report abuse to police because they are worried about possible homophobia. "It can be harder to go to the police for help, because of real or perceived homophobia. Our whole society is set up to view domestic violence as between a man and a woman," Rogers said. "Less than 2 percent of gay men view the police or district attorney's office as a resource to help if they are being abused." Curtis had been dating CampoBasso for almost a year before the murder-suicide, and they had gotten engaged in October. The couple had just come back from a two-week vacation in January.

Fitzgerald said he met CampoBasso several times and stayed in touch with Curtis when he moved in with CampoBasso. He said he wasn't aware of any abuse between Curtis, 29, and CampoBasso, 53. "Ryan wasn't the type of person to accept negativity or defeat in anything, though," Fitzgerald said. "Even if things weren't going well, he'd say everything was wonderful."

Hidden abuse more............

Rogers encouraged anyone who thinks they might need help to call an advisor at Gay Men Domestic Violence toll free at [phone].