Oct 26, 2018 · The death of a gay student, tortured and tied to a prairie fence in Wyoming two decades ago, shocked America. As Matthew Shepard's ashes are interred in the nation's spiritual home, those who knew...
Shepard, 21, died five days after the gruesome attack. He was pistol-whipped into a coma while tied to a fence outside the small college town. His …
Oct 12, 2018 · Editor’s note: Twenty years have passed since Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay college student, died after being robbed, beaten and left tied to a fence in the cold outside Laramie, Wyoming ...
Oct 26, 2014 · Matthew was tied to a fence, set on fire, and left unconscious. Fifteen hours after the attack, student Aaron Kreifels was out riding his bike when he …
Oct 07, 2015 · Matthew Shepard, date unknown. (Wikimedia Commons) O n the night of October 6, 1998, a young student at the University of Wyoming was brutally tortured and left for dead, his body found tied to a...
On the night of October 6, 1998, Shepard was approached by Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson at the Fireside Lounge in Laramie; all three men were in their early 20s. McKinney and Henderson decided to give Shepard a ride home. They subsequently drove to a remote rural area and proceeded to rob, pistol-whip, and torture Shepard, tying him to a barbed-wire fence and leaving him to die. Many media reports contained the graphic account of the pistol-whipping and his fractured skull. Reports described how Shepard was beaten so brutally that his face was completely covered in blood, except where it had been partially cleansed by his tears.
Stephen Jimenez, the producer of the 2004 20/20 segment, went on to write a book, The Book of Matt: Hidden Truths About the Murder of Matthew Shepard, which was published in September 2013.
Members of the Westboro Baptist Church, led by Fred Phelps, received national attention for picketing Shepard's funeral with signs bearing homophobic slogans, such as "Matt in Hell " and "God Hates Fags".
Matthew Shepard's murder on Oct. 12, 1998, raised awareness about violence against LGBTQ people. Editor’s note: Twenty years have passed since Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay college student, died after being robbed, beaten and left tied to a fence in the cold outside Laramie, Wyoming, five days before. The night he was attacked, he left ...
Editor’s note: Twenty years have passed since Matthew Shepard, a 21-year- old gay college student, died after being robbed, beaten and left tied to a fence in the cold outside Laramie, Wyoming, five days before. The night he was attacked, he left a bar with the two men who who would later murder him.
The advocacy of Shepard’s friends and supporters helped lead to the creation of the 2009 Shepard-Byrd Act, a federal anti-hate crimes prevention law that extended existed hate crimes laws to include gender and sexual orientation. Get push notifications with news, features and more. + Follow. Following.
“Russell’s about the most American kid you can get,” says Carson Aanenson, who rented a trailer home to Henderson and his girlfriend, Chasity Pasley, 20.
Matthew had just completed his sophomore year in high school when his parents relocated to Saudi Arabia, where his father worked as an oil-rig inspector, and enrolled him at a boarding school in Lugano, Switzerland. It was there, newly independent, that he began coming to terms with his homosexuality, friends say.
Ultimately, that impulse brought him back in June to his home state, where he enrolled for the fall semester at his father’s alma mater, the University of Wyoming. He was majoring in political science, and friends say he hoped to pursue a public service career, perhaps working for human rights causes.
After stays at North Carolina’s Catawba College and Casper College in Wyoming, he moved in the spring of 1997 to Denver, where he worked selling vitamins by telephone.
The police did not investigate the killers’ relationship to the gay community. Five days after the attack, on 12 October, Matthew died. On 14 October a celebrity vigil was held on the steps of the US Capitol, attended by the likes of Ted Kennedy and Ellen DeGeneres.
Ted Henson is a former lover and long-term friend of Matthew’s. The pair originally met when Matt was growing up in Saudi Arabia. Henson told me he believes that The Book of Matt is “nothing more than the truth” and that he was “never certain” that the murder was an anti-gay hate crime.
One is Kathleen Johnson, the former owner of Laramie antiques store Granny’s Attic, who knew Henderson, McKinney and Matthew. The young, unemployed men had not had easy lives. Henderson’s mother was a chronic alcoholic who had been repeatedly beaten by his father.
The play The Laramie Project has toured the US and many other countries, telling Matthew’s story and encouraging campaigns against bigotry. Politicians and celebrities pledged support and funding to combat anti-gay hate crime. The Shepard family have become campaigners for gay rights.
Shepard, a student at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, spent Oct. 6, 1998, at a meeting of the school's LGBTQ student group planning upcoming events for LGBTQ awareness week, Jason Marsden, executive director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, told ABC News.
Matthew Shepard was a mischievous, stubborn and argumentative child, his father said.
The shocking homophobic crime in the sparsely-populated state garnered national sympathy. The outpouring of love was immediate as flowers and stuffed animals filled the hospital.
After McKinney and Henderson were arrested, Henderson waived his pre-trial investigation and took a plea agreement, agreeing to two life sentences.
Shepard's murder shined a light on the scope of federal hate crime laws, which at the time did not include sexual orientation or gender identity.
The tragic murder also led to the creation of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, the mission of which "is replacing hate with compassion, understanding and acceptance," Judy Shepard said.
"I thought we were making such great progress in the Obama administration," Judy Shepard said, but after the 2016 presidential election, she felt the progress of the foundation was at "ground zero again."