Matthew Shepard
Matthew Shepard was the victim of a violent hate crime committed in Laramie, Wyoming. After accompanying two young men in their car, he was robbed, brutally beaten, tied to a fence and left for dead. He was discovered many hours later, alive and unconscious. It was presumed that he had been left in a conscious state of suffering, physical pain and emotional horror. The 21-year-old student died in hospital on October 12, 1998, six days after having been found.
After much press coverage and eye-witness interview it was determined that Shepard left a Laramie bar (heterosexually oriented) with two young men, Aaron J. McKinney and Russell Henderson. The details of the crime are now known as thus: McKinney and Henderson posed as homosexuals only to lure Shepard to his violent death.
During court cases both of the defendants used varying stories to defend their actions. Most notably they used the "Gay Panic Defense," a recently developed court room tactic to justify violent attacks against gays by saying that the perpetrator was temporarily insane due to a homosexual's come-on. They also at one point stated that they only wanted to rob Shepard, and had never intended to kill him.
Both young men were sentenced to life in prison with no possibility for parole after Shepard's parents expressed that they were "giving (them) life in the memory of one who no longers lives." Since being imprisoned they have both attempted to justify that their actions were dictated by the Bible, an explanation that various Christian groups have vehemently denounced as spurious.
After the heavy media coverage of his death, Shepard was turned into something of a martyr for the gay community, bringing issues of homophobia and gay-bashing to the forefront of public debate.
People in the entertainment industry expressed their own outrage as various creative expressions were brought forth in retaliation to the hate represented by the attacks. Actress Ellen DeGeneres hosted Shepard's memorial services in Washington, D.C. where she said that her coming out of the closet just briefly before the attacks was "to keep this type of thing from happening." Lesbian singer Melissa Etheridge penned the song "Scarecrow," and gay singer Easter Bradford penned "Scarecrow Song (Demise of the Stuffing,)" both tributes to Shepard. The fence upon which Shepard was tied and left for dead has been declared a nationally protected monument. Two films were made about the story of Shepard: "The Laramie Project" (based on the play of the same name) and "The Matthew Shepard Story." Both won numerous awards.
At Shepard's funeral, as well as the trial of his assailants, Rev. Fred Phelps and his supporters picketed. They presented signs typical of their protests with slogans like "Matt Shepard rots in Hell," and "God Hates Fags." A friend of Shepard's created "The Angel Line." Now, when Phelps protests in various towns at funerals of AIDS victims or slaughtered homosexuals, individuals assemble a circle around them wearing white robes and gigantic wings that literally block the protesters from the view of passers-by.
Matthew's parents Judy and Dennis are now active supporters of gay rights and tolerance educators.
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