Fifteen years after Matthew Shepard's murr, Wyomg remas anti-gay | US news | The Guardian

Contents:

• THE TTH BEHD AMERI’S MOST FAMO GAY-HATE MURR
• MATTHEW SHEPARD NOT MURRED FOR BEG GAY, NEW BOOK CLAIMS
• GAY MAN BEATEN AND LEFT FOR DEAD; 2 ARE CHARGED
• MATTHEW SHEPARD, MURRED GAY STUNT, FALLY LAID TO RT
• MATTHEW SHEPARD FALLY LAID TO RT 20 YEARS AFTER HE WAS KILLED FOR BEG GAY
• IDAHO MAN GETS 28 YEARS BEATG ATH OF GAY MAN
• MATTHEW SHEPARD: THE LEGACY OF A GAY LLEGE STUNT 20 YEARS AFTER HIS BTAL MURR
• GAY MAN DI FROM ATTACK, FANNG OUTRAGE AND DEBATE
• FIFTEEN YEARS AFTER MATTHEW SHEPARD'S MURR, WYOMG REMAS ANTI-GAY

THE TTH BEHD AMERI’S MOST FAMO GAY-HATE MURR

Edor’s note: Twenty years have passed sce Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay llege stunt, died after beg robbed, beaten and left tied to a fence the ld outsi Laramie, Wyomg, five days before.

Recently, the Matthew Shepard Foundatn, which advot for gay young people, announced Shepard’s ash will be terred at the Washgton Natnal Cathedral on Oct. Judy and Dennis Shepard had appealed publicly for a “peaceful, dignified” service for their son Matthew, 21, a slight, 5-foot-2 llege stunt who had met his grisly fate, police say, at the hands of two young men who btally beat him, tied him to a fence and left him for ad, at least part bee he happened to be gay.

Matthew had jt pleted his sophomore year high school when his parents reloted to Sdi Arabia, where his father worked as an oil-rig spector, and enrolled him at a boardg school Lugano, Swzerland. After a ssn to plan for Gay Awarens Week — jt five days away — he went to dner wh four women om the group, but uldn’t persua anyone to jo him for a beer. They pistol whipped him wh a gun then tied him to a fence eezg ndns and set fire to him before leavg him to attack beme a e célèbre: precipated a natnal backlash agast hyper-macho culture and tac tolerance of homophobia.

MATTHEW SHEPARD NOT MURRED FOR BEG GAY, NEW BOOK CLAIMS

When he started he was nvced that Matthew died at the hands of homophob, but he soon disvered that Matthew’s tragedy began long before the night he was killed. But the town also has a number of mobile home parks at the edg, some more ndown than the eveng of 6 October 1998, Matthew went to the Firi bar, a lol hangout that was purportedly gay-iendly.

So why has he put such time and effort to attemptg to prove that Matthew’s murr was not a hate crime, pecially as has seen him acced of beg an ally to the rightwg Christian fundamentalists who ny the realy of homophobia?

“The view was that homophobic rednecks walked to a bar and saw an obvly gay man wh money and targeted him and beat him to ath for that reason, ” says Jimenez. ”Wypijewski thks the reason some sectns of the gay muny are so angry about the Jimenez book is obv: “Jimenez has taken away their angel, and there is the reflexive sense that as a muny s sufferg was beg at last regnised. “Keepg Matthew as the poster boy of gay-hate crime and ignorg the full tragedy of his story has been the agenda of many gay-movement lears, ” he says.

GAY MAN BEATEN AND LEFT FOR DEAD; 2 ARE CHARGED

Henson told me he believ that The Book of Matt is “nothg more than the tth” and that he was “never certa” that the murr was an anti-gay hate crime.

MATTHEW SHEPARD, MURRED GAY STUNT, FALLY LAID TO RT

Photograph: Evan Agosti/Getty Imag Photograph: Evan Agosti/Getty ImagOn 16 September the Casper Star Tribune, the lol paper Matthew’s home town, published an edorial claimg that an award Jimenez had recently received for his book “serv rejectn”, sayg: “From the begng there have been those who want to ignore the sadistic homophobic motiv of Shepard’s attackers and stead sist the matter was a dg al gone bad.

MATTHEW SHEPARD FALLY LAID TO RT 20 YEARS AFTER HE WAS KILLED FOR BEG GAY

But the mystery remas – not so much why Matthew died, but why the gay muny, after almost five s of mpaigng for equal rights, reli so fundamentally on the image of the perfect martyr to reprent the e. (AP/David Zalubowski) (AP1999)Fifteen years after Matthew Shepard was tied to a fence and beaten to ath Wyomg, beg a powerful symbol for the gay muny's fight for hate crim legislatn, a new book claims the llege stunt was murred for “reasons far more plited” than beg homosexual. Stephen Jimenez’s “The Book of Matt: Hidn Tths About the Murr of Matthew Shepard” claims a 13-year vtigatn — cludg trips to Laramie, Wyo., and terviews wh more than 100 sourc — ntradicts police ttimony and natnal nsens that the Universy of Wyomg hman was targeted by Aaron McKney and Rsell Henrson 1998 bee he was gay.

His ath, which quickly beme synonymo wh anti-gay hate Ameri, spired several films, a play and feral hate-crime legislatn signed by Print Obama 2009. “Basilly the letter was sayg that the fense raised by Aaron McKney's fense team of 'gay panic' was false and the evince that was ced for that was that Aaron McKney had been a male htler, that he was faiar wh gay guys gay bars, ” Jimenez told the webse. “It mentned at first both Aaron and Rsell, but as the letter went on spoke more about Aaron, mentng that he really did like havg sex wh gay guys, that he wasn't unfaiar wh homosexualy and the gay world.

IDAHO MAN GETS 28 YEARS BEATG ATH OF GAY MAN

“It’s not bee me and Aaron had anythg agast gays or any of that, ” Henrson said, addg that he thought if he uld keep McKney drkg that night he’d fet the omo plan. But when he stopped, he found the burned, battered and nearly lifels body of Matthew Shepard, an openly gay llege stunt who had been tied to the fence 18 hours, Mr.

Although Wyomg often bills self as the ''equaly state, '' the state Legislature has repeatedly voted down hate crime legislatn on the ground that would give homosexuals special rights. ''Wyomg is not really gay iendly, '' Marv Johnson, executive director of the Wyomg chapter of the Amerin Civil Liberti Unn, said om Cheyenne. ''The bt way to characterize that is by a ment a legislator ma a few years back, when he likened homosexuals to gay bulls as worthls and should be sent to the packg plant.

McKney's police manr said that the two women helped the two men dump their bloody clothg, and that they reported hearg the men make anti-gay remarks.

MATTHEW SHEPARD: THE LEGACY OF A GAY LLEGE STUNT 20 YEARS AFTER HIS BTAL MURR

The police did not say what the other three did for a, iends and Laramie rints stggled to unrstand the Shepard, some said, may have felt a false sense of nfince bee the lol Gay Associatn pleted plans on Tuday night for Gay Awarens Week 1998.

''A versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn A, Page 9 of the Natnal edn wh the headle: Gay Man Beaten and Left for Dead; 2 Are Charged. On Friday, the llege stunt who beme a symbol of adly vlence agast gay people followg his 1998 murr, will get a fal rtg place at Washgton Natnal Cathedral — ee om bigots seekg to secrate his memory.

GAY MAN DI FROM ATTACK, FANNG OUTRAGE AND DEBATE

He went alone to a Laramie bar, about an hour wt of Cheyenne, where he was approached by two men who claimed to be gay and wanted to hang out. Gene Robson, the first openly gay bishop nsecrated the Epispal Church who will pri over Friday’s ceremony wh Bud, about terrg Shepard the thedral. Shepard’s parents are grateful his ath has paved the way for protectns wh the LGBTQ muny and to know his ternment at the thedral reprents some acceptance of gay people wh the church.

FIFTEEN YEARS AFTER MATTHEW SHEPARD'S MURR, WYOMG REMAS ANTI-GAY

Solis wasn’t there but said people who were told her a man began harassg one of Smh’s iends and tossed homophobic slurs, acrdg to The Oregonian. "WARNING: This feature ntas language that some rears may fd nights earlier, on Tuday 6 October 1998, Matthew Shepard walked alone to a dive bar ptn, Judy and Dennis Shepard at the Matthew Shepard Foundatn Denver last weekThe openly gay Universy of Wyomg hman had jt met up wh iends to plan LGBT awarens week on the town's he uldn't persua them to jo him for a beer the Firi Lounge, the 21-year-old somehow end up chattg to two roofg workers, Rsell Henrson and Aaron McKney, both the same age as pair saw an easy mark the 5ft 2, slightly built County Sheriff Dave O'Malley, who was lead vtigator the se, says: "McKney's own statement said he and Rsell went to the bathroom at the Firi bar and they planned to act like they were gay to try to ga Matthew's nfince.

It is a momento honour not even acrd to another proment gay martyr, Harvey Milk, the San Francis polician assassated the Denver cy centre offic of the LGBT rights foundatn named after her son, Judy Shepard, 66, is fightg back predicted Friday's ceremony would probably be more emotnal for her than the funeral bee she felt so "numb" immediately after her son's source, Getty ImagImage ptn, A vigil for Shepard New York Cy 1998The origal service, amid snow flurri the fay's hometown of Casper, Wyomg, on 16 October 1998, was picketed by an anti-gay preacher om Kansas. Reverend Fred Phelps of Wtboro Baptist Church and his flock, who clud children, held plards dbed wh homophobic slurs and shouted to mourners that the ad stunt was burng Shepard, 69, remembers law enforcement makg him wear a bullet-proof vt to step outsi the Epispal church, which had been sured by bomb-sniffg dogs.

Shepard's murr stoked the perceptn of Cowboy Country and flyover stat general as a danger zone for gay at his office the cy of Cheyenne, McKney trial lawyer Dn Ctis matas was a robbery gone bad, even while he accepts sexual orientatn was a factor.

"However, McKney's own gay-bashg rhetoric damns him the ey of source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Thoands gathered outsi the US Capol for a vigil after Shepard's athDurg a police nfsn, he said he began to attack Shepard bee the stunt had put his hand on his leg durg the r ri. " Yet another statement to police, he said Shepard simply looked like he was about to grope the jailhoe after his arrt, McKney reportedly wrote to another mate's wife: "Beg a verry [sic] dnk homofobick [sic] I flipped out and began to pistol whip the fag wh my gun, ready at hand.

"At trial, McKney's lawyers argued that Shepard had ma their client fly to a rage by touchg his the judge dismissed this "gay panic" a legal strategy - where crimal fendants s of vlent asslt argue they were provoked by an unwanted same-sex sexual advance - is still admissible all but three US stat, acrdg to the Williams Instute at UCLA School of Law. Sheriff O'Malley rejects any attempt to downplay the anti-gay element the source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Rev Fred Phelps and his flock prott Laramie 1999"We have never disunted ever that the ial motivatn was robbery, " he says.