After the horror became public in his hometown, Sylacauga, Alabama, city council president George Carlton told a reporter,"This is not the type of place that this happens. " A week ago, few 1people could have pointed out Sylacauga on a map. A tiny city of 13,000, halfway between Birmingham and Montgomery, Sylacaugawas known as for its white marble quarries, textile mills and ice- 2cream factories. And last week Sylacauga became a chapter in the 3recent history of hatred. According to police, Steven Eric Mullins, 25, and Charles Monroe Butler Jr. , 21, plotted for two weeks to murder Billy JackGaither, 39. In Feb. 19, they arranged to meet him at a Sylacauga 4bar and lured him to secluded area. There they beat him and 5dump him into the trunk of his car. They then drove about 15 miles 6to Peckerwood Creek. There, says Sheriffs Deputy Al Bradley, " they took him out of the trunk, took an ax handle and beat him todeath. " They set two old tires flame, says Bradley, "then they put 7the body on the fire. " They did it all, the deputy says, while 8Gaither was gay. Gaither's death has become a rallying point for gay-rightsorganizations and state legislators' pushing a bill that would extend 9Alabama's three-year-old hate-crimes law beyond race, color, religion and national origin to cover crimes related to sexualorientation as well. "It's fortunate that somebody had to lose his life 10in order for this legislation to pick up momentum here in the state of Alabama," says state Representative Alvin Holmes, who failed to get the original law amended when it was passed in 1996.