\u201cBowers, 46, pleaded not guilty to 19 fresh charges, which bring the total number of criminal counts he is facing to 63, including use of a firearm to commit murder and obstruction of religious exercise resulting in death\u201d said Reuters.<\/p>\n
The massacre was the deadliest attackon a U.S. Jewish institution in history.<\/p>\n
Among the eleven Jewish congregants was a\u00a0family doctor <\/a>who served as an erstwhile HIV specialist and treated his patients with respect.\u00a0<\/p>\n His name was Jerry Rabinowitz.<\/p>\n Shortly after the massacre Act Up member Michael Kerr posted this moving remembrance on Facebook:<\/p>\n \u201cMy doctor Jerry Rabinowitz was among those killed in the Pittsburgh Synagogue shooting. He took care of me up until I left Pittsburgh for NYC in 2004.<\/p>\n In the old days for HIV patients in Pittsburgh he was to one to go to. Basically before there was effective treatment for fighting HIV itself, he was known in the community for keeping us alive the longest. He often held our hands (without rubber gloves) and always always hugged us as we left his office.<\/p>\n We made a deal about my T-cells in that I didn\u2019t want to know the numbers visit to visit because I knew I would fret with every little fluctuation and I also knew that AZT was not working for my friends. The deal was that he would just let me know at some point when the T-cell numbers meant I needed to start on medications. The numbers were his job and my job was to finish my masters thesis and get a job with insurance and try to not go crazy.<\/p>\n I got lucky beyond words \u2014 because when he gently told me around November 1995 that it was time to begin taking medications \u2014 there was an\u00a0ACTG<\/a>\u00a0trial for two HIV medications that saved my life. One of which I still take today.<\/p>\n Thank you ACT UP for getting these drugs into a safe but effect expedited research protocol. You saved my life.<\/p>\n And thank you Dr. Rabinowitiz for having always been there during the most terrifying and frightening time of my life. You will be remembered by me always. You are one of my heroes just like the early ACT UP warriors\u00a0\u2014\u00a0some of which I now call<\/a> friend.\u201d<\/p>\n Among\u00a0the\u00a0victims\u00a0\u00a0were\u00a0two middle-aged brothers, an elderly husband and wife and a\u00a0grandmother nearing 100. All were cherished members of a tight-knit Jewish community with deep roots in Pittsburgh history.<\/p>\n The post Suspect In Pittsburgh Synagogue Massacre Pleads Not Guilty<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad Gay News<\/a>.<\/p>\n