| Matthew Shepard | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 1, 1976 Casper, Wyoming |
| Died | October 12, 1998 (aged 21) Fort Collins, Colorado |
| Cause of death | (officially, Homicide) |
| Parents | Judy Peck and Dennis Shepard |
Matthew Wayne Shepard (December 1, 1976 – October 12, 1998) was a student at the University of Wyoming who was tortured and murdered near Laramie, Wyoming, in October 1998. He was attacked on the night of October 6–7, and died at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, on October 12 from severe head injuries.
During the trial, witnesses stated that Shepard was targeted because of his sexual orientation. Shepard's murder brought national and international attention to the contention of hate crime legislation at the state and federal levels.[1]
In 2009, his mother Judy Shepard authored a book The Meaning of Matthew: My Son's Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed. On October 22, 2009, the United States Congress passed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act (Matthew Shepard Act for short), and on October 28, 2009, President Barack Obama signed the legislation into law.[2]
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Shepard was born in Casper, Wyoming, the first of two sons born to Judy Peck and Dennis Shepard. His younger brother Logan was born in 1981. He attended Crest Hill Elementary School, Dean Morgan Junior High School, and Natrona County High School for his freshman through junior years. Saudi Aramco hired his father in the summer of 1994, and his parents subsequently resided at the Saudi Aramco Residential Camp in Dhahran. During that time, Shepard attended The American School in Switzerland (TASIS),[3] from which he graduated in May 1995. Shepard then attended Catawba College in North Carolina and Casper College in Wyoming, before settling in Denver. Shepard became a first-year political science major at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, and was chosen as the student representative for the Wyoming Environmental Council.[1]
He was described by his father as "an optimistic and accepting young man who had a special gift of relating to almost everyone. He was the type of person who was very approachable and always looked to new challenges. Matthew had a great passion for equality and always stood up for the acceptance of people's differences."
In February 1995 during a high school trip to Morocco, Shepard was beaten, robbed, and raped, causing him to withdraw from school and experience bouts of depression and panic attacks, according to his mother. One of Shepard's friends feared that his depression had driven him to become involved with drugs during his time in college.
Shortly after midnight on October 6, 1998, Shepard met Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson for the first time at the Fireside Lounge in Laramie, Wyoming.[4] It was decided that McKinney and Henderson would give Shepard a ride home.[5] McKinney and Henderson subsequently drove the car to a remote, rural area and proceeded to rob, pistol-whip, and torture Shepard, tying him to a fence and leaving him to die. According to their court testimony, McKinney and Henderson also discovered his address and intended to steal from his home. Still tied to the fence, Shepard, who was still alive but in a coma, was discovered 18 hours later by Aaron Kreifels, a cyclist who initially mistook Shepard for a scarecrow.[6]
Shepard had suffered fractures to the back of his head and in front of his right ear. He experienced severe brain-stem damage, which affected his body's ability to regulate heart rate, body temperature, and other vital functions. There also were about a dozen small lacerations around his head, face, and neck. His injuries were deemed too severe for doctors to operate. Shepard never regained consciousness and remained on full life support. While he lay in intensive care, candlelight vigils were held by the people of Laramie.[7]
Shepard was pronounced dead at 12:53 a.m. on October 12, 1998, at Poudre Valley Hospital, in Fort Collins, Colorado.[8][9][10][11]
Fred Phelps, leader of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, took his church's "God Hates Fags" message to the funeral of Matthew Shepard, held in Casper, Wyoming, on Saturday, October 17, 1998. Two of his picket signs read: "No Tears for Queers" and "Fag Matt in Hell."[12]
Police arrested Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson shortly after the attack, finding the bloody gun and Shepard's shoes and wallet in their truck.[13]
Henderson and McKinney later tried to persuade their girlfriends to provide alibis for them.[14]
At trial, McKinney offered various rationales to justify his actions. He originally pleaded the gay panic defense, arguing that he and Henderson were driven to temporary insanity by alleged sexual advances by Shepard. At another point, McKinney's lawyer stated that they had wanted to rob Shepard but never intended to kill him.[13]
The prosecutor in the case alleged that McKinney and Henderson pretended to be gay in order to gain Shepard's trust.[15] During the trial, Chastity Pasley and Kristen Price, girlfriends of McKinney and Henderson, testified that Henderson and McKinney had both plotted beforehand to rob a gay man.{{citation required|date=October 2011}
It has also been suggested that McKinney and Henderson, both being of slight build, targeted Shepard, who was a very small man, as an easy target. Also, it was suggested at the trial that the perpetrators knew Shepard from high school and that he was from a wealthy family. McKinney and Henderson went to the Fireside Lounge and selected Shepard after he arrived. McKinney alleged that Shepard asked them for a ride home.
After befriending him, they took him to a remote area outside of Laramie where they robbed him, assaulted him severely, and tied him to a fence with a rope from McKinney's truck while Shepard pleaded for his life. Media reports often contained the graphic account of the pistol whipping and his fractured skull. It was reported that Shepard was beaten so brutally that his face was completely covered in blood, except where it had been partially washed clean by his tears.[16][17] Both girlfriends also testified that neither McKinney nor Henderson were under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time.[18][19]
Henderson pleaded guilty on April 5, 1999 and agreed to testify against McKinney to avoid the death penalty; he received two consecutive life sentences. The jury in McKinney's trial found him guilty of felony murder. As they began to deliberate on the death penalty, Shepard's parents brokered a deal, resulting in McKinney receiving two consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.[20]
Henderson and McKinney were incarcerated in the Wyoming State Penitentiary in Rawlins, later being transferred to other prisons because of overcrowding.[21]
Henderson and McKinney were not charged with a hate crime, because no Wyoming criminal statute provided for such a charge.[22] The nature of Shepard's murder led to requests for new legislation addressing hate crime, urged particularly by those who believed that Shepard was targeted on the basis of his sexual orientation.[23][24] Under then United States federal law[25] and Wyoming state law,[26] crimes committed on the basis of sexual orientation were not prosecutable as hate crimes.
In the following session of the Wyoming Legislature, a bill was introduced defining certain attacks motivated by victim identity as hate crimes, however the measure failed on a 30-30 tie in the Wyoming House of Representatives.[27]
At the federal level, then-President Bill Clinton renewed attempts to extend federal hate crime legislation to include homosexual individuals, women, and people with disabilities. These efforts were rejected by the United States House of Representatives in 1999.[28] In September 2000, both houses of Congress passed such legislation; however it was stripped out in conference committee.[29]
On March 20, 2007, the Matthew Shepard Act (H.R. 1592) was introduced as federal bipartisan legislation in the U.S. Congress, sponsored by Democrat John Conyers with 171 co-sponsors. Shepard's parents were present at the introduction ceremony. The bill passed the House of Representatives on May 3, 2007. Similar legislation passed in the Senate on September 27, 2007[30] (S. 1105), however then-President George W. Bush indicated he would veto the legislation if it reached his desk.[31] The amendment was dropped by the Democratic leadership because of opposition from conservative groups and President George Bush, and due to the measure being attached to a defense bill there was a lack of support from antiwar Democrats.[32]
On December 10, 2007, congressional powers attached bipartisan hate crimes legislation to a Department of Defense Authorization bill, though failed to get it passed. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, said she "is still committed to getting the Matthew Shepard Act passed." Pelosi planned to get the bill passed in early 2008[33] though did not succeed in that plan. Following his election as President, Barack Obama stated that he was committed to passing the Act.[34]
The U.S. House of Representatives debated expansion of hate crimes legislation on April 29, 2009. During the debate, Representative Virginia Foxx of North Carolina called the "hate crime" labeling of Shepard's murder a "hoax". Shepard's mother was said to be in the House gallery when the congresswoman made this comment.[35] Foxx later called her comments "a poor choice of words".[36] The House passed the act, designated H.R. 1913, by a vote of 249 to 175.[37] The bill was introduced in the Senate on April 28 by Ted Kennedy, Patrick Leahy, and a bipartisan coalition;[38] it had 43 cosponsors as of June 17, 2009. The Matthew Shepard Act was adopted as an amendment to S.1390 by a vote of 63-28 on July 15, 2009.[39] On October 22, 2009, the act was passed by the Senate by a vote of 68-29.[40] President Obama signed the measure into law on October 28, 2009.[41][42]
Romaine Patterson, a friend of Shepard, organized a group of individuals who assembled in a circle around an anti-gay group wearing white robes and gigantic wings (resembling angels) that blocked the protesters. Police had to create a human barrier between the two protest groups.[43]
While the organization had no name in the initial demonstration, it has since been ascribed various titles, including 'Angels of Peace' and 'Angel Action'.[44][45] The fence to which Shepard was tied and left to die became an impromptu shrine for visitors, who left notes, flowers, and other mementos. It has since been removed by the land owner.
The murder continued to attract public attention and media coverage long after the trial was over. When ABC 20/20 ran a story in 2004 suggesting that Shepard had been HIV positive and quoting claims by McKinney, Henderson and Kristen Price and the prosecutor in the case that the murder had not been motivated by Shepard's sexuality but rather was a robbery gone violent amongst drug users (the suggestion being that Shepard was a heavy methamphetamine user)'[13] it received considerable attention and criticism.
Retired Laramie Police Chief Dave O'Malley stated that the murderers' claims were not credible, but the prosecutor in the case stated that there was ample evidence that drugs were at least a factor in the murder.[46] Other coverage focused on how these more recent statements contradicted those made at and near the trial.[47]
Many musicians have written and recorded songs about the murder, including Sir Elton John, whose 2001 album Songs from the West Coast included "American Triangle" (originally titled "American Tragedy"), a song about Shepard's murder. The American metal band Trivium also composed and recorded "And Sadness Will Sear" in their third album The Crusade in honor of Mathew Shepard and in protest to closed-mindedness and prejudice. Beejae, American recording artist better known as Johnny Saint-Lethal from the indie rock group THE SHOW, wrote and performed "Hate Crimes", where a verse and chorus is dedicated in satire to Matthew Shepard. It appeared on his only solo album, 2006's "It Was What It Was"
The American rock band Thursday recorded a song named after Shepard, "M. Shepard", on their 2003 album War All the Time. Tori Amos recorded 'Merman', a song allegedly written by Amos about Shepard. Lady Gaga performed John Lennon's 'Imagine' at the 2009 HRC Dinner and changed the lyrics from "above us only sky" to "with only Matthew in the sky"[48] and Melissa Etheridge, whose 1999 album "Breakdown" contained "Scarecrow", a song dedicated to Shepard and his family and friends.
A play, three narrative films and a documentary were made about Shepard: The Laramie Project, The Matthew Shepard Story, Anatomy of a Hate Crime and Laramie Inside Out, and Moral Obligations, a fictionalized account of the night of the murder. The Laramie Project (a play, later turned into a film by HBO) compiles dozens of interviews with citizens of the town of Laramie ranging from a few months after the attack to a few years after. The play is designed to display the town's reaction to the crime.[49][50]
Ten years later, The Laramie Project created a second play, based on interviews with members of the town, Shepard's mother, and his incarcerated murderer.[51]
In the years following Shepard's death, his mother Judy Shepard has become a well-known advocate for LGBT rights, particularly issues relating to gay youth.
She is a prime force behind the Matthew Shepard Foundation, which supports diversity and tolerance in youth organizations. The group was founded in December 1998 by Dennis and Judy Shepard in memory of Matthew.
The Foundation focuses on three primary areas: erasing what it considers to be hate in society; putting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth first; and ensuring equality for all LGBT Americans.
The Meaning of Matthew, full title The Meaning of Matthew: My Son's Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed is a 2009 biographical book by Judy Shepard about her son Matthew Shepard. Judy Shepard speaks about her loss, her family memories of Matthew, and the tragic event that changed the Shepards' lives and America. The Meaning of Matthew follows the Shepard family in the days immediately after the crime to see their incapacitated son, kept alive by life support machines; how the Shepards learned of the big response, candlelit vigils and memorial services for their child; how they struggled to navigate the legal system as Matthew's murderers were on trial.
In the book, Judy Shepard explains why she became a gay rights activist, and the challenges and rewards of raising a gay child in America today.
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