Matthew Shepard December 1,1976-October 12,1998

Matthew Shepard December 1,1976-October 12,1998

Matthew Shepard was born on December 1st, 1976, to Judy and Dennis Shepard. Matthew’s family moved from Casper, Wyoming to Saudi Arabia when Matthew was a junior in high school, at which time Matthew attended The American School in Switzerland. He was a peer counselor with a passion for equality. He was kind and empathetic, and well liked by his classmates. Upon graduation, Matthew traveled back to Wyoming to attend the University of Wyoming in Laramie, where he studied political science, foreign relations and languages.

On October 7th, 1998, Matthew accepted a ride from Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson. Henderson and McKinney drove Matthew into the country, tied him to a fence post and beat him severely. McKinney and Henderson attacked Matthew because he was gay. They left him there in the cold dark, bleeding and unconscious until a cyclist found him, almost 18 hours later. Matthew died from his injuries on October 12th, 1998. In his last hours, Matthew was surrounded by the people who loved him most, and even as they mourned the extinguishing of Matthew’s light, they knew this moment was not in vain.

Eleven years after Matthew’s death, President Barack Obama signed into law The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Act, formerly the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. This bill makes it a federal crime to assault people based on their gender, sexual orientation and gender identity. The measure was a priority of the late Senator Edward Kennedy and civil rights groups all over America. Judy Shepard had visited President Obama in the Oval Office and he had made her a promise that this day would come. By signing The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Act into law, President Obama kept his promise to Matthew’s family.

In the thirteen years since the death of Matthew Shepard, things have changed. Some for the better, some for the worse. Earlier this year, the Tennessee senate passed a bill that makes it illegal to talk about homosexuality. The “Don’t Say Gay” law forbids public school teachers and students from discussing homosexuality from kindergarten through eighth grade. Tennessee governor Bill Haslam signed HB 600/SB 632 into law this summer. This bill gives businesses in Tennessee the right to discriminate against someone based on their sexual identity. However, on September 1st of this year, New Jersey drafted and adopted the strictest and most powerful anti-bullying legislation in the country, in response to the death of Tyler Clementi, the Rutger’s freshman who took his own life after his roommate and a friend installed a hidden camera in his room and released footage of Tyler kissing a man. Clementi’s roommate was indicted on hate crime charges. Westboro Baptist Church continues their hate campaign against members of the LGBT community, and when WBC shows up to picket a funeral, there are Angels there as well; people who silently surround the mourners, effectively protecting them from the madness that is the Phelps family.

Have we learned anything? I believe we have. I believe we have learned how to speak up, how to recognize the hate, and how to combat it. Is it easy? No. When we have presidential candidates who believe homosexuality is a choice (Herman Cain) or have spouses who specialize in “reparative therapy” as if gay people are somehow broken and need to be repaired (Marcus Bachmann, Michele Bachmann’s husband), and when we have a Speaker of the House who uses tax payer money to fight the repeal of DOMA, we realize how far we have yet to go. When President Bill Clinton signed DOMA into law, I wonder if he knew exactly what that meant, how that law would be used to belittle and demean and abuse members of the LGBT community. I wonder if he would do the same thing today.