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. 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.

MATTHEW SHEPARD NOT MURRED FOR BEG GAY, NEW BOOK CLAIMS

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. 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.

GAY MAN BEATEN AND LEFT FOR DEAD; 2 ARE CHARGED

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. 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. “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.

MATTHEW SHEPARD, MURRED GAY STUNT, FALLY LAID TO RT

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

IDAHO MAN GETS 28 YEARS BEATG ATH OF GAY MAN

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.

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

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. The moment was re-enacted as a climactic scene 2002 HBO movie The Laramie the angel actn, was replited two years ago Orlando, Florida, when Wtboro Baptist Church tried to dispt the funerals of gay people killed a mass shootg at the Pulse nightclub.

GAY MAN DI FROM ATTACK, FANNG OUTRAGE AND DEBATE

"All of them are that circle of faiary of extreme right-wg relig attus, " she says of the print's bet, " particular to the gay muny, to anybody who's not straight whe Christian. However, Sheriff O'Malley mak clear that theory is not supported by the source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Judy Shepard (L) at the Whe Hoe 2009 for the passage of the anti-hate crim bill named after her son and a black man killed by whe supremacistsThe Old Buckhorn Bar & Parlor Laramie has a mirror pocked by a bullet hole, and walls that bristle wh mounted antelope, buffalo and patron, Jt Bmmet - who proudly scrib himself as "third class whe trash" - says US progrs on gay rights sce Shepard's ath is to be mend. " Back at the end of the last lennium, many Wyomg apparently thought gay people were as rare on the high plas as jackalop, the state's mythil antlered ptn, (L-R) Universy of Wyomg LGBT stunts Js Fahlsg, Carlos Gonzal and Rihanna KelverShepard's murr - together wh the 2005 gay wboy love story Brokeback Mounta - helped dispel that Connolly, a Universy of Wyomg genr and women's studi lecturer, explas.

She reunts facg a "horrific" backlash last year om angry voters when she troduced a gay rights source, Getty ImagImage ptn, A dirt road near where Shepard was left to dieA Democrat, she is one of a handful of female lawmakers Wyomg.

PREVIOUS REPORT: 'I'll never get my baby back': Fay of woman killed crash on North Freeway angry over lossHoton police said Sarah Gay was toxited when she drove northbound the southbound lan of the I-45 North Freeway near the Whe Oak ex and h two rs. By Lra ZuckermanSALMON, Idaho (Rters) - An Idaho man who killed a gay man by kickg him up to 30 tim wh steel-toed boots was sentenced on Wednday by a feral judge to 28 years prison, prosecutors said on Febary, Kelly Schneir, 23, of Nampa, plead guilty to a feral hate crime for attackg Steven Nelson last year at a remote wildlife refuge while repeatedly g a homophobic slur, actg U.

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

The pair met the next eveng, when Schneir took Nelson's money but did not engage a sexual act, urt rerds that enunter, Schneir told his iends that he was not gay and would not let anyone who was touch him, prosecutors said. Instead, Schneir attacked Nelson at the wildlife area, kickg him 20 to 30 tim wh steel-toed boots while repeatedly g a homophobic slur, prosecutors did not rist throughout the asslt and died of his juri later that day, thori said.

Twenty years ago, Matthew Shepard was a "smart, funny" 21-year-old, no different than any other young man that was an "ordary kid who wanted to make the world a better place, " his parents October 1998, that all changed, when the openly gay llege stunt was abducted, beaten and tied to a fence life end a few days later, and wh me a wispread awarens of the dangers that members of the LGBTQ muny face every day.

The homophobic btal killg also served as a talyst for progrs Ameri's laws and the two s that have passed, however, remas batable how far the untry has e sce the shock of that crime.

(MORE: 'Gay panic' fense still ed vlence s may be banned by new feral bill)McKney h Shepard about 20 tim the head and face wh the end of the pistol, Marsn said, before the two stole Shepard's sho, got their tck and drove back to town. Agast the gay muny until after he grew up to bee very terted ternatnal human rights, particularly women's rights the Middle East and Asia, and he studied polil science, said Marsn.