In Wyomg, scene of famo gay hate crime an unlikely LGBTQ haven

Contents:

• MATTHEW SHEPARD: THE LEGACY OF A GAY LLEGE STUNT 20 YEARS AFTER HIS BTAL MURR
• IN WYOMG, SCENE OF FAMO GAY HATE CRIME AN UNLIKELY LGBTQ HAVEN
• FIFTEEN YEARS AFTER MATTHEW SHEPARD'S MURR, WYOMG REMAS ANTI-GAY
• MATTHEW SHEPARD, VICTIM OF ANTI-GAY HATE CRIME, DI
• WYOMG, SCENE OF NOTOR 1998 HATE CRIME, ACCEPTS GAY MARRIAGE

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

The ath of a gay stunt, tortured and tied to a prairie fence Wyomg two s ago, shocked Ameri. "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.

We're not gay, and we're gog to jack you up. " 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.

IN WYOMG, SCENE OF FAMO GAY HATE CRIME AN UNLIKELY LGBTQ HAVEN

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.

It also says LGBT Amerins n be fired for their sexualy 29 feels gay rights "took a U-turn" unr the Tmp admistratn.

"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.

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

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.

Gem Cy, as is known, has no gay bar, though s send annual PriFt last summer was emed a succs.

MATTHEW SHEPARD, VICTIM OF ANTI-GAY HATE CRIME, DI

" 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. "I thk 20 years ago some people Wyomg hontly didn't believe they had met anyone who was gay or lbian, " she says. Everyone unrstands that there are gays and lbians their muni.

"That beg said, don't mean that everyone believ gays and lbians are wele or wanted Wyomg.

"In 2008, Profsor Connolly was elected as the first openly gay member of the state legislature. 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. "Prr to this vtigatn I was pretty homophobic, " the mtached law-giver adms.

WYOMG, SCENE OF NOTOR 1998 HATE CRIME, ACCEPTS GAY MARRIAGE

"Um, I was mean spired towards the gay populatn. "I would be the first person that would tell a joke about gay Amerins and, uh, the word fag rolled off my tongue very easily.

"And when I got volved the vtigatn, I was forced to teract wh Matthew's iends, many of which were gay and lbian. 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.

They later nfsed they had "veloped a roe which they'd pretend to be gay to w Matt's nfince, " Marsn said.

(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. "He said, 'Mom I'm gay.

"Everybody he met, he said, 'Jt to let you know ahead of time, I'm gay, '" Dennis Shepard said. Agast the gay muny until after he died, " he said. "The natn mournsThe shockg homophobic crime the sparsely-populated state garnered natnal sympathy.

A ndlelight vigil is held for Sla gay Wyomg stunt Matthew Shepard, Oct. Members of the Wtboro Baptist Church protted the funeral, picketg wh anti-gay Fred Phelps and his parishners traveled om Kansas to Laramie for the funeral and trial, prottg wh brightly lored signs and spewg hatred. McKney went to trial, and fense attorneys argued his vlent actns were "gay panic" -- a reactn to Shepard makg a sexual advance.

"When the fense gets out there and starts talkg out of, the victim's flt, you know, 'gay panic, '...

"The "gay panic" fense is still legal most stat but has been outlawed a few.

McKney has cled to speak to ABC News while Henrson did not immediately rpond to a requt for WashgtonShepard's murr shed a light on the spe of feral hate crime laws, which at the time did not clu sexual orientatn or genr gay activists monstrate the streets of North Hollywood to prott agast the ath of Wyomg Universy stunt Mathew Shepard, Oct. 13, Mata/AFP via Getty Imag FILEDemonstrators prott the hate killg of gay stunt Matthew Shepard, Oct.

Matthew Shepard was tortured and murred 1998 and was targeted for beg gay, acrdg to wns. "Beyond the feral hate crime law, the years sce Matthew Shepard's ath, among the most substantive legislative ws for the LGBTQ muny were the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell 2010, so gay ary members n serve openly whout fear of beg dismissed, and the legalizatn of same-sex marriage across the untry 2015.

Michael Loccisano/Getty Imag, FILEFor Judy Shepard, one of the bt signs of cultural progrs is seeg Gay Straight Alliance groups rampg up schools. In Wyomg, where there's a populatn of jt 500, 000, she said there are 19 Gay Straight Allianc. (AP) — When two roofg workers beat a young gay man to ath Wyomg 1998, the gome crime quickly reverberated around the U.