In memory of Matthew Shepherd
Today, 12 October,is the seventh anniversary of Matthew Shepherd's death. MatthewShepherd was an innocent college student who was killed simply becausehe was gay. His murderers, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson usedthe "gay-panic" defense, claiming that Matthew came on to them andtherefore they went temporarily insane and killed him. In prison theyhave used the Bible to justify their crime. Either way you look at it,Matthew Shepherd was killed because of his sexuality.
MatthewShepherd was born on 1 December 1976 to Judy and Dennis Shepherd. Hegrew up in Wyoming but graduated from the American School inSwitzerland in 1995. Matthew was a first year political science majorat the University of Wyoming in Laramie when he went to a bar on thenight of 6 October 1998. There he met Aaron McKinney and RussellDavidson and asked them for a ride home. They obliged, but with theintent to rob Matthew. They did, and shortly after midnight on 7October 1998 they tied him to a fence post and beat him to a bloodypulp, stealing his shoes so he couldn't run after them. Matthew wasfound 18 hours later, alive but unconsious. He had suffered a fractureto the back of his skull as well as severe brain stem damage which lefthis body unable to regulate his heartbeat, body temperature, and othervital signs. His injuries were deemed to severe to opperate on, and henever regained consiousness, remaining on full life support. Matthewdied at 12:53 AM on 12 October 1998 at Poudre Valley Hospital in FortCollins, Colorado.
Shortly thereafter McKinney and Hendersonwere arrested. Henderson would plead guilty to avoid the death penaltyand McKinney went on to employ the now-infamous "gay panic" defense.McKinney was spared the death penalty by Matthew's parents. DennisShepherd famously said in his remarks to the court that "we are givinghim life in honor of one who no longer lives." McKinney recieved twoconsecutive terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Theevent shocked the world, with candlelight vigils popping up all overthe planet and many celebrities voicing their outrage, including EllenDegeneres (who had only recently come out herself), Melissa Etheridge,and Elton John (the latter two both wrote songs in Matthew's memory).President Bill Clinton used the event to renew the call for theinclusion of GLBT peoples in federal hate crime legislation, but theRepublican controlled Congress would not allow it.
I hope youall realize how important this day is. We must remember what happenedto Matthew Shepherd or else it will be repeated. Unfortunately, we havenot come as far as a society as we like to think. That this couldhappen in America only a handful of years ago is a sad, sad thing. Whatscares me even more is the possibility of it happening again today. Ihope you all will remember Matthew today and hold him in your heartalways. May his death bring forth some good. From this tragedy may welearn a valuable lesson: hate is not an American value.