By Matt Simonette

Staff writer

Activists in the black GLBT community last week voiced concern about two recent slayings of African American gay men.

At a Dec. 27 conference at City Hall, activist Marc Loveless said, “We’re calling on the police department to let the community know what’s going on.” He added, “Are we under attack? Is this a serial killer?”

Loveless was referring to the slayings of two men found dead in their homes over the past six weeks. Larry Bland, 24, a security guard at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, was shot Nov. 17 after struggling with a man who had entered his house in the 6300 block of South Wood through an unlocked basement door, according to CBS-2.

Two weeks after the crime, Bland’s mother told FOX-32 that her son regularly visited the website adam4adam.com and met men through there. She said she suspected Bland would have met his killer through there. The three men convicted of killing Brooklyn, N.Y., interior decorator Michael Sandy last year allegedly used that same website to target victims.

The second slaying was that of Donald Young, 47, who was found shot multiple times in his South Side apartment Dec. 23. Young worked as choir director at Trinity United Church of Christ, where presidential candidate Barack Obama is a member. Young was also a fourth grade teacher at Guggenheim Elementary School.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Young often used his own money to buy supplies for his students, and would each year sponsor a disadvantaged eighth grade student to help alleviate their graduation expenses. He had been planning on attending graduate school to become a principal.

Police had not returned calls at press time for comment on either investigation, nor had they elaborated on any connection between the two cases. Chicago Police Department Acting Supt. Dana Starks told CBS-2, “I understand the concerns of any group, any community when it comes to homicide. As of right now, I cannot say whether there is a connection.”