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A Decade Later, Matthew Shepard Act Still Needed
On a cold night 11 years ago, a 21-year-old University of Wyoming student was lured into a pickup truck and driven to the outskirts of Laramie, where, as he begged for mercy, he was tied to a fence, kicked and pistol-whipped so brutally that he lapsed into a coma. He later died.
He was a victim of hatred. He was also his mother's treasure.
And Matthew Shepard's horrible death forced much of our nation to look at how anti-gay prejudice can explode into violence.
The meaning of Matthew Shepard's life and death is the subject of a moving book by his mother, Judy Shepard.
"Matt's murder wasn't horrific because it ended an angelic life but because it ended a very human life riddled with all the complexities and contradictions each of us face," she writes in "The Meaning of Matthew."
Details of that "very human life" will feel familiar to many gay readers:
We watch Matt come out to his mom, who'd early on figured out her sensitive oldest son was gay. We see him wrestle with depression and drinking too much, then begin to blossom into a self-respecting gay man as he joins his college's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Alliance, and pitches in for Gay Awareness Week.
But one night at Fireside, the closest thing Laramie had to a gay bar, he ran into Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson. A little tipsy and obviously gay, Matt was an easy target at 5 feet, 2 inches, 110 pounds.
Soon Matt found himself squeezed between McKinney and Henderson in a pickup. "Guess what?" McKinney reportedly announced. "We're not gay, and you're getting jacked."
That murderous night turned Judy Shepard's world upside down, ultimately making her name synonymous with the ongoing push to add sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and gender to the federal hate crimes law.
"I don't see myself as an advocate or activist," she told me. "I'm a mom who lost her child to hate. And I am mad it is still going on."
A quintessential mom until Matt's death, she'd never done public speaking and knew little about the civil rights movement trying to end anti-gay discrimination. But we watch her decide to take her place at the microphones, embracing the very public role that tragedy created for her. It became "her saving grace," helping her channel her grief and feel connected to Matt through other gay people and their parents.
Judy Shepard had been living in Saudi Arabia with her husband when the telephone call came that Matt had been savagely beaten. In the whirl of getting to his hospital bedside, she saw a newspaper headline at an airport: "Gay Man Beaten and Left for Dead; 2 Are Charged."
That moment signaled the coming transformation of her life: Her family tragedy carried huge meaning for others - from college students to everyday Wyoming residents, and to countless other Americans forced to think about anti-gay violence.
Lessons about the appalling ripple effects of anti-gay prejudice didn't end with Matt's murder. McKinney's attorney tried the so-called homosexual panic defense, claiming Matt made sexual advances. And Matt's memorial service was marred by protest signs: "Matthew in Hell" and "God Hates Fags."
It's fitting that Judy Shepard is telling her family's story at a hopeful moment, when legislation to expand the nation's hate crimes law might finally pass. President Barack Obama is eager to sign it.
Why is the Matthew Shepard Act needed? Judy Shepard states the reason quite simply: "Those two boys thought it was OK to hate and do that to Matt."
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Show AllExpanding legislation with a Matthew Shepard Act would be good.
However, the legislation we really need to see would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. When Obama pushes for that, instead of dancing around while pretending to care and talking out of both sides of his untrustworthy mouth, then we, as a nation, will be standing up for justice and equality.
Wyoming, the home of Dick Cheney, is a deadbeat hick state. I used to live there until my mother left with me and my siblings for MN. MN is a cowboy state whose idea is shoot and ask later. Domestic violence against women is common in that state so the violent event against the gay dude isn't too surprising but I still take this to be a bizarre pattern. In states where domestic violence against women is high, the anti-gay sentiment is also high. What's up with that?
It is not bizarre. It is typical. Gays are perceived as being "effeminate" (and degenerate because they are people who see beyond the insecure little roles which typical dicks need for validation) and thus they are subjected to this virulent misogyny which is promoted by most churches, businesses, and governments.
Look at the majority of women who are able to rise in our government - Hillary, Condi, Diane Feinstein, Madeleine Allbright(sp?), and many, many more - they tend to become (please pardon the pun) harder and more right wing as they rise.
And just what praytell would the legislation do that a charge and indictment, trial and conviction and sentence on murder in the first degree not do? Dead is still dead; hatred has been the main motive for murder since the dawn of time, irrespective of who or what the victim was or was not. Why do gays always think they are entitled to special treatment? Is the murder of a gay person more objectionable than that of a straight person?
Matthew Sheppards' death was uncalled for and tragic; but hate is hate and murder is murder. Lots of people get murdered every day in this country and I will bet, most people feel the same way about their relations getting murdered as Ms. Sheppard did about her son's murder. Did the men who did this to Matt, not get enough punishment? Overkill seems to be the name of the polticial game lately. We don't need more laws, just more enforcement. And, since criminal prosecution seems to be more politically oriented these days, getting a prosecuting lawyer to take notice doesn't seem to be the big issue it once was.
Excellent posting. Thanks for the truth.
"Why do gays always think they are entitled to special treatment?"
Special treatment such as being beaten to death because they are gay? Special treament such as not being able to get jobs?
Why does anyone with privilege, whether straight, or male, or wealthy, always think s/he is entitled to special treatment, to that privilege?
"Is the murder of a gay person more objectionable than that of a straight person?"
Where are the straight people who are getting murdered because they are straight?
"hatred has been the main motive for murder since the dawn of time, irrespective of who or what the victim was or was not."
Oh really? What about deaths in robberies, etc? Do straight people get shot to beaten and shot to death precisely because they are straight? If a black person got strung up and hung, 60 years ago, I assume your attitude is also the same? Oh yes, and before someone suggests that LGBTs rights is not a civil rights issue, go look up what Corretta Scott King, Bayard Rustin, Julian Bond, the NAACP all say on it. They all say that it is a civil rights isssue.
"relations getting murdered as Ms. Sheppard did about her son's murder. Did the men who did this to Matt, not get enough punishment? Overkill seems to be the name of the polticial game lately."
This isn't just about Matthew Sheppard. Judy Sheppard:
"I'm a mom who lost her child to hate. And I am mad it is still going on."
"And just what praytell would the legislation do that a charge and indictment, trial and conviction and sentence on murder in the first degree not do?"
I actually agree with you on this.
I may have the name spelled wrong, Look up the Jesse Dirk(something) murder. Sorry I forgot the name. I happened the same year. 2 gay men raped and killed a 12 year old boy. How come that crime was not on the front page of the US news-sites? MSM political agenda? A lot of serial killers are gay. Seems gays are a threat about the same rate as people who hurt gays due to hate.
Here is what I said:
Where are the straight people who are getting murdered because they are straight?
Do straight people get shot to beaten and shot to death precisely because they are straight?
Your response doesn't address that at all. Yes, gay people commit murders, commit crimes, too, just like people.
Show me where a LGBT person killed a straight person, BECAUSE the straight person was straight. Show me where a straight person was physically assaulted by a LGBT person BECAUSE the straight person was straight.
And a search for "jesse dirk" turns up nothing.
"A lot of serial killers are gay."
Show me your evidence that a lot of serial killers are gay. Define what "a lot" means.
"Seems gays are a threat about the same rate as people who hurt gays due to hate."
Oh really. LGBT people go around bullying straight people, because they are straight? Beating straight people, because they are straight? Killing straight people because they are straight? Since you claim that gays are a threat about the same rate as people who hurt gays due to hate, surely you should not have trouble showing some examples?
Murder is a crime regardless of the sexual orientation of the victim and the penalties for murder are commensurate with the crime.
The ADL is the primary sponsor of 'hate crime' legislation world wide, and they have enacted some really extraordinary legislation in Europe, Canada, and Australia. This is from the Irish ! Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act...
2.—(1) It shall be an offence for a person
( a ) to publish or distribute written material,
( b ) to use words, behave or display written material—
(i) in any place other than inside a private residence, or
(ii) inside a private residence so that the words, behaviour or material are heard or seen by persons outside the residence,
[GA]
( c ) to distribute, show or play a recording of visual images or sounds,
if the written material, words, behaviour, visual images or sounds, as the case may be, are threatening, abusive or insulting and are intended or, having regard to all the circumstances, are likely to stir up hatred.
Folks, that law can be used to prosecute ANY speech, text, or internet posting the government finds troublesome.
Up to now, the First Amendment of the Constitution of the US has thwarted the ADL, and you can see them grouse about it on their web site, google - adl hate crimes first amendment -
The only organized opposition to the ADL in the US is from the religious right, google - ted pike -
This article evoked a real feeling of the horror and senselessness of Matt's death.
It does not even bother to present a logical argument for Hate Crimes legislation. As another poster pointed out, murder is murder. Why create a special category of crime dependent upon the sexual preference of the victim? It's unneccesary and just more grist for the prison industrial complex.
Only certain murders can be prosecuted under federal law, e.g., attempts on certain defined high ranking officials. Otherwise, murder is only a state crime. Far too many local prosecutors are more interested in re-election than they are in bringing criminals to justice. Thus a hate crime is many times plea bargained to a lesser charge, and unless the state also has a hate crime law covering that crime, the criminal who kills a person simply because he hates what that person is will get off with a few months in prison and be set free to kill again. That is why we need for all minorities that are the targets of intolerance to be included in the Civil Rights legislation by definition. If the local prosecutor is too chicken to enforce the law, then the US Attorney can.
"Hate crime" legislation is a way to compensate for the fact that certain people are more at risk because of their involuntary membership in a group.
If because of your group membership you are 10X more likely to be attacked and maybe killed than I am, there should be a way to make the cost (and thus the deterrance) commensurate. It's an attempt to *prevent* the attack in the first place. Punishment is never the preferred outcome.
Minnesota isn't a comboy state, but I would say that this article really doesn't make the case for new Hate Crimes Legilslatiion, and actually I've seen a strong case made against at CounterPunch, as it likely will become too easy for prosecutors who want to use it to abuse it.
Likelwise it probably wont' deter homophobic violence. The best thing might just be to add it to federal legislation which makes it crime to conspire to violate another person's civil rights and add gays to those covered. This would allow federal prosecution in cases where state prosecutors failed to act. But otherwise, we could be headed for thought control, and that simply doesn't help anybody, and it will hurt straights and gays in terms of free speech. Hell, we already have free speech zones. That's a clue to the type of tyranny which may be awaiting us all if we go down this path.
AD
This was a terrible crime, but maybe we have to really get after the kind of atmosphere which fosters such unbridled hatred. I'd be willing to bet that West European countries with or without hate crimes legislation don't have near the problem with this kind of crime. The USA has more of a fake Christian evangelical atmosphere which fosters such hatred. The more ecumenical people are in the religious views, the less likely they are to have such outrageous hatred of this type. "Christian" religious fanaticism which isn't really at all Christian is the real problem.
AD
listen to some of the lyrics in Hip Hop music about gay people. But we can't touch that. that would be racist
Listen to some of the preaching from Christian pastors, including African-American pastors, about LGBT people.
But we can't touch that. That would be "anti-Christian".
why the fear? The fear of bringing up attitudes and lyrics of Hip Hop music. More than 70% of African Americans voted against gay marriage in CA. Is the "majority white" church a safe target? Take on all sources, not the safe ones.
Take on all sources, yes. Sources such as the African American churches.