Matthew Wayne Shepard (December 1, 1976 - October 12, 1998)

[jesus_h_biscuit]

10 years ago Matthew Shepard was beaten almost to the point of death and hung up on that fence in Laramie, Wyoming - bloody, broken, terrified, and alone. He clung to life for almost a week before he finally died. This is a repost of what I said on the subject in 2004:

Comments

[brianpdx]

Thank you.

[jesus_h_biscuit]

Reread, please - it's changed.

[brianpdx]

Moments after I read it the first time I noticed you updated it.

Essential reading. Thank you again.

[grimmlok]

It's so hard to fight the urge to hunt those hideous 'god hates fags' people down for sport.

Their entire existence seems bent on causing pain to others for no reason. I have to wonder if that immediately disqualifies them from any kind of civil discourse on our end. Would simply wiping them out constitute some kind of crime, or a kindness bestowed on our species?

It's a terrible thing to think this way, but at what point do you simply shoot the rabid dog instead of trying to reason with it?

[jesus_h_biscuit]

They are within their legal right to protest, and for as horrible as I find them to be - if it doesn't work for them it works for no one.

I completely hear you though, and don't disagree with you fundamentally from an emotional perspective. The problem as I see it is bigger though - it's those who don't raise enough hell to drown out those sick few.

[grimmlok]

Frankly, we shouldn't have to. They are an anathema to life and decency. They are, quite literally, indecent beings. Repulsive, illogical, and sadfly, quite stupid. They aren't ignorant.. ignorance is a lack of knowledge or information. They choose to ignore said information, thus are willfully stupid. Stupidity with a purpose, and the purpose is to cause pain.

Ah, for the good ol days of social ostracism and banishment under pain of death.

[jesus_h_biscuit]

No disagreement here!

[madknits]

I've spent some time this weekend meditating on Matthew Shepard and National Coming Out Day. I began the long process of coming out in 1988, and am still confronted with it every day.

Fred Phelps is an ugly abberation, and I see little difference between him and the KKK, ideologically. And one has to wonder why he focusses so much on gay sexuality. I wonder about him being a self-hating homo, his self-loathing poured out in vitriolic waves against the community he so desperately fears, because if he were self-honest, he would be a part of it. That is a thought too horrible to contemplate.

[jesus_h_biscuit]

That entire family is comprised of religious nutjobs, fringe lunatics, and disbarred lawyers whose primary source of income is in suing on the grounds of 1st Amendment rights violations. It's a lucrative gig for them. They bank on people hating them, that's the point - but in order for them to get bankrolled on it, you have to hate them enough to try and take their rights to protest and assembly away.

[madknits]

They wanted to go to Canada to protest at the funeral of the man who was murdered on the bus, but were turned away at the border.

I wonder if they'll be able to keep their momentum when Fred dies.

[jesus_h_biscuit]

Likewise and thank you.

10 Years........

[pauliebearsf]

Unbelieveable.......