Image Credit: Laura Coyne, Marketing and Social Media Coordinator
Tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of Matthew Shepard’s death. Matthew was brutally murdered in a homophobic attack that shocked the United States and the world. His story, the grisly manner of his death, and his parent’s tireless activism galvanized a movement against hate crimes in the United States.
This chain of events started when two men, who I refuse to name because this shouldn’t be about them, approach Matthew in a bar in Matt’s hometown of Laramie, Wyoming and tricked him in to leaving with them and then abducted, robbed and brutally beat him. They pistol-whipped him among other deplorable things and left him to die bound to a fence. He was found 18 hours later by a passerby barely clinging to life. He was taken to the hospital but died many days later with his loving parents by his side.
This led to national outrage with vigils and protests dotting the country. This included a mass protest in New York where nearly 100 people were arrested. Celebrities and politicians alike voiced their sympathies. Matthew’s tragic death and its particular brutality struck a national chord and galvanized people against the unique danger gay people face in their everyday lives.
Homophobic hate crimes did not start with Matthew Shepard and certainly did not end with him, but his tragedy put a face and a name to this kind of inhumanity. It allowed people to emphasized with gay people in a way that was not possible before. Matthew in his death served as a symbol and rallying cry to end violence against gay people and eventually full equality for members of the LGBTQ+ Community.
His parents started the Matthew Shepard Foundation, and his mother, Judy, was present when Barack Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law in 2009. This legislation added crimes motivated by the victim's gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability to the federal hate crime law.
Besides this tragedy’s historical significance, it serves to show us lessons about history and the human condition. History proves that out of brutality and hate can come love, compassion and light and that even in the darkest of circumstances people can be called into action to serve the better inclinations of our species.