The cause of equality and justice got another martyr in 2003 with the beating death of Barry Winchell, a young private from Kansas who was assaulted, with a baseball bat by another young private while Winchell was sleeping. in his company. The case galvanized a thorough review of the Armed Services 'Don't Ask Don't Tell' policy implemented by the same president who put in the policy in the first place, Bill Clinton. Right now recruiting needs for an unpopular war may have more to do with reversing that policy than young Barry Winchell, a kid who only wanted to serve his country.

It was only in the previous two century that human sexuality itself began to be researched and understood from a non-religious point of view. And it was only in the last half of the last century that those who deviated from the binary norm of male/female heterosexism began to demand their just due in society.

Barry Winchell is played beautifully here by Troy Gerity and probably in another part of the army could have served his time as quietly and well as his lover Calpurnia Adams, a pre-operative transgender entertainer who in fact was a veteran from the army medical corps. Gays and Lesbians have been doing military service since the Battle of Thermopylae and before that. But in the west had to do it on the Q.T. We were considered bad for morale.

In fact I've known gay veterans from every war this country has engaged in since World War II. Barry Winchell unfortunately chose to be part of the 101st Airbourne Division, a battle tested regiment, but with all the macho tradition that goes with it.

Some Pentagon brass would have been mortified had they seen people who wear the famous Screaming Eagle patch on their uniforms getting serviced by men in drag at a gay club in Nashville. Or in the army parlance, a place frequented by sexual deviants. When Shawn Hatosy brought Barry Winchell to that club and he met Calpurnia who would be the love of his short life, he was also having some serious sexual issues himself in a society that told him what he felt was the worst thing in the world.

Gerity, Hatosy who was the agent provocateur in Winchell's death and Lee Pace who played Calpurnia all deliver fine realistic performances. But the performance that touched me most was that of Phillip Eddolls who played the recruit who did the deed, responding to Hatosy's prodding. This poor individual is a product of some carefully taught fear that to be thought of as gay in society was the worst thing that could happen to you. In society in general, let alone the 101st Airborne Division. Even after he does the deed he can't comprehend what has happened. Eddolls will move you deeply.

The Winchell case reminded me very much of the famous racial bias case where a black kid named Yusuf Hawkins was stabbed to death in Bensonhurst in Brooklyn back in the Eighties. Yusuf lived in the area, a very Italian area that to this day is not friendly to other races, not even to other white ethnics for that matter. He was stabbed to death by a young kid named Joey Fama who was part of a gang of about fifteen young men who were yelling and screaming racial epithets. Like Eddolls character, Fama responded to the prodding and actually did the deed, but the others in the mob held their share of guilt.

This is a wonderful film about another GLBT martyr, a list that grows longer and sadder each year. It includes people like James Zappalorti, Julio Rivera, Henry Marquez people whose surviving families I got to know after their deaths from my former job with New York State Crime Victims Board.

But this review is dedicated to another man who served his country in the Army like Barry Winchell. Paul Pastorella was a clerk typist in the army posted to the Presidio in San Francisco. Paul met the love of his life, a dancer named Kim Sherwood while stationed there and they were a devoted couple. Paul was also a bias attack victim that I first met in Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn when he was stabbed after he left the army. Both Paul and Kim are dead now, but their lives on earth were totally spent in devotion to each other.

To Paul, To Kim, To Barry, RIP.

In 1999, the soldier Barry Winchell (Troy Garity) joins the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army in Kentucky and shares a room with Justin Fisher (Shawn Hatosy) in the barrack. Fisher brings Winchell to the Visions Club, in Nashville, considered club of deviants by his superiors, and Winchell befriends the travesty Calpernia Addams (Lee Pace) that performs in the club. Soon they start seeing each other and fall in love with each other.

When Sergeant Carlos Diaz (Andre Braugher) nominates Winchell as the Soldier of the Month, the jealous Fisher spreads rumors on the base telling that Winchell is a fag. Further, he manipulates the homophobic new comer Calvin Glover (Philip Eddolls) against Winchell. On July, Fourth, the coward Glover has a violent outburst against Winchell while he is sleeping with tragic consequences.

"Soldier's Girl" is a heartbreaking story of love, intolerance, cruelty, manipulation and cowardliness based on the true story of the soldier Barry Winchell. The movie is impressively well made for a television movie, with a perfect direction of Frank Pierson.

However the performances are the best in this movie, highlighting the acting of Lee Pace with an outstanding performance. My vote is seven.

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The absurd "Don't ask, don't tell" policy in our armed forces is a big hypocrisy. LIke in all walks of life, homosexuality exists and it's incredible the government has decided to continue with this line of thought to this date. Death doesn't differentiate between gay or straight. As patriotic is the soldier, male or female, that serves his country and dies for it, no matter what their sexual preferences are.

It's commendable that director Frank Pierson has decided to bring this story to the screen, based on actual events that occurred not too long ago. The film shows a lot of courage in the part of the people behind this project because of the material. Remembering vaguely this incident that had national media coverage, one is not prepared for the reality one is presented in it.

"Soldier Girl" is a document about hatred and ignorance. These macho soldiers have to make a stand belittling and ridiculing people that are different; they believe it's a deviant behavior to be gay. Their arrogance is such that they will resort to violence in order to make their point. They even go to the same places where gays gather peacefully to have fun, by themselves, and where one would think, no straight person has any business going to. The intrusion into other people's lives is what makes this story so heart wrenching.

This is a film to watch because of the magnificent portrayal of the evil Justin Fisher, by Shawn Hatosy. This young actor doesn't seem to stop amazing in whatever character he decides to play. Mr. Hatosy has the knack for transforming himself completely into the character one sees on the screen. Having recently seen him in "Borstal Boy", as Fisher, he even surpasses what he accomplished in that other movie. His Fisher is a character study into a man that is a closet case, himself, while presenting a tough and manly front to the world. Yet, one gets the impression he wants Winchell to be his sexual partner.

The talented Troy Garity is excellent as the slow, but tremendously kind, Barry Winchell. Mr. Garity appears to be a babe in the woods; he wins us over because his sincerity and honesty. When he falls for the transsexual Calpernia Addams at the Visons night spot, we wonder if he really is that naive, or that deep down Barry feels a love at first sight with her.

As Calpernia, Lee Pace is perfectly believable as the person who suddenly finds the right soul mate when Barry begins seeing her. This actor does a wonderful job in getting inside his character. Philip Eddolls makes a perfect Calvin, the young recruit that will act on the hatred that Fisher keeps daring him to do in a sly way. Andre Braugher is the kind Sgt. Diaz, who is totally brainwashed by the army policy of not getting involved, but ultimately helping the bullies under his command maim and kill for no reason at all.

"Soldier Girl" is a film that will stay with the viewer for a long, long time. It's hard to forget what bigotry and ignorance can do to people.