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data-activy-map="social-share-lks-article-top" data-ttid="social-share-menu"><li data-ttid="social-share-facebook" class="styl_em__b5A78 styl_facebook__bOW_X"><a href=" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="styl_lk__RsJVU"><span class="in in-share-facebook"></span></a></li><li data-ttid="social-share-twter" class="styl_em__b5A78 styl_twter__ww7sF"><a href=" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="styl_lk__RsJVU"><span class="in in-twter"></span></a></li><li data-ttid="social-share-ptert" class="styl_em__b5A78 styl_ptert__CaMm1"><a href=" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="styl_lk__RsJVU"><span class="in in-share-ptert"></span></a></li><li data-ttid="social-share-email" class="styl_em__b5A78"><a href="mailto:?subject='You're safe now': Matthew Shepard laid to rt 20 years after his ath& target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="styl_lk__RsJVU"><span class="in in-share-email"></span></a></li><li data-ttid="social-share-py" class="styl_em__b5A78 styl_py__RACZ3"><button type="button" class="styl_button__b3sx_"><span class="in in-lk"></span></button><div class="styl_pyTooltip__Ut_t1"><span class="in in-alt-check"></span></div></li><li data-ttid="social-share-sms" class="styl_em__b5A78 styl_sms__Vohh6"><a href="sms:?&body='You're safe now': Matthew Shepard laid to rt 20 years after his ath via nbews - target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="styl_lk__RsJVU"><span class="in in-sms"></span></a></li><li data-ttid="social-share-prt" class="styl_prt__cw6Gn"><button type="button" class="styl_button__b3sx_"><span class="in in-share-prt styl_in__P3XZT"></span><span class="styl_text___8iNX">Prt</span></button></li><li data-ttid="social-share-save" class="styl_save__ILVuj"></li></ul></div><div class="article-body__date-source"><time class="relative z-1" dateTime="2018-10-26T20:54:00.000Z" ntent="2018-10-26T20:54:00.000Z">Oct. 26, 2018, 8:54 PM UTC</time></div><div class="article-le-byle" data-activy-map="le-byle-article-top">By <span class="byle-name">Elizabeth Kuhr</span></div></sectn><div class="article-body__ntent article-body-font--loadg"><p class="">Matthew Shepard’s ash were terred Friday morng at the Washgton Natnal Cathedral D.C. His terment two weeks after the 20th anniversary of his ath — a ath that sparked a new chapter the untry’s LGBTQ rights movement.</p><p class="">“It's a place of safety for him, but 's also a place of quiet for our visors,” Matthew’s father, Dennis Shepard, said of his son's fal rtg place. “That giv them a chance to jt s and thk their thoughts, whether 's about Matt or about themselv and their own liv.”</p><figure class="styl_leImage__yAWZ0 styl_medium__OMa6x"><picture class="styl_image__1qciH"><source media="(m-width: 1000px)" srcSet=" 2x, 1x"/><source srcSet=" 2x, 1x"/><img src=" alt="Image: Mariann Bud, LaTrelle Easterlg, V. Gene Robson, Dennis Shepard, Judy Shepard" height="3677" width="5890"/></picture><figptn class="ptn styl_ptn__Pe5JC"><span class="ptn__ntaer">"Thanksgivg and Remembrance of Matthew Shepard" service at Washgton Natnal Cathedral Washgton, D.C., on Friday, Oct. 26, 2018.</span><span class="ptn__source">Carolyn Kaster / AP</span></figptn></figure><p class="">Over 2,000 people attend Friday’s service and many more <a href=" target="_blank">watched onle</a> as the untry said goodbye to Matthew Shepard, who was jt 21 when he was btally killed. The Right Rev. Marriann Edgar Bud, Epispal bishop of Washgton, and the Right Rev. Gene Robson, who 2003 beme the first openly gay bishop the Epispal Church, prid over the ceremony.</p><div class="ad ad--text-alignment ad-ntaer boxleAd dn-prt"><div data-mps="te" data-slot="boxle" data-siz="[[[1000,1],[]],[[758,1],[[300,250],[700,50],[5,5],[728,90],[360,360]]],[[0,0],[[300,250],[700,50],[5,5],[360,360]]]]" data-renr-on-view="te" data-targetg="{}" data-active-tab="te" data-offset-viewport="100"></div></div><div id="taboolaReadMoreBelow"></div><p class="">“Gently rt this place. You are safe now,” said a tearful Rev. Robson. “Matt, wele home.”</p><p class="">The emotn-filled service turned polil at tim, wh Rev. Robson mandg the crowd get out the vote and fight for the rights of transgenr people.</p><p class="">“If you are here jt to pay your rpects and to remember Matthew, ’s not enough,” Rev. Robson told atten. “Vlence tak lots of forms, and right now the transgenr muny is the target.”</p><sectn class="embed-widget embedWidget embed-widget__youtube embed-widget--medium"><iame loadg="lazy" tle="youtube embed" class="embed-widget__e-prentatn" src=" ameBorr="0" allowfullscreen=""></iame></sectn><p class="">Matthew Shepard was a llege hman at the Universy of Wyomg Laramie when 1998 he was btally attacked an act of homophobic vlence. On Oct. 6 of that year, two lol men abducted, bound, robbed and pistol-whipped him before leavg him for ad. He had been tied to a fence a field outsi of town eezg weather for 18 hours before a bicyclist — who ially mistook him for a srecrow — disvered him alive but a a.</p><div class="ad ad--text-alignment ad-ntaer boxleAd dn-prt"><div data-mps="te" data-slot="boxle" data-siz="[[[1000,1],[]],[[758,1],[[300,250],[700,50],[5,5],[728,90],[360,360]]],[[0,0],[[300,250],[700,50],[5,5],[360,360]]]]" data-renr-on-view="te" data-targetg="{}" data-active-tab="te" data-offset-viewport="100"></div></div><p class="">Matthew Shepard died on Oct. 12 a Colorado hospal, surround by fay. The two men who attacked him, Aaron McKney and Rsell Henrson, were nvicted of first-gree murr and received life sentenc.</p><p class="">The attack left the LGBTQ muny reelg. Protts and ndlelight vigils took place across the untry the days followg. A memorial service for Casper, Wyomg, drew over 700 people and was picketed by the Wtboro Baptist Church.</p><figure class="styl_leImage__yAWZ0 styl_medium__OMa6x"><picture class="styl_image__1qciH"><source media="(m-width: 1000px)" srcSet=" 2x, 1x"/><source srcSet=" 2x, 1x"/><img loadg="lazy" src=" alt="Image: Candlelight Vigil For Sla Gay Wyomg Stunt Matthew Shepard" height="1736" width="2500"/></picture><figptn class="ptn styl_ptn__Pe5JC"><span class="ptn__ntaer">A ndlelight vigil for Matthew Shepard on Oct. 19, 1998.</span><span class="ptn__source">Evan Agosti / Getty Imag file</span></figptn></figure><p class="">The grievg Shepards wanted a public place for those wishg to pay rpects to their son but worried that his grave would be secrated. The uple held on to his cremated remas until now, settlg on the Washgton Natnal Cathedral — an Epispalian home that offered the secury they felt his rtg place requir.</p><div class="ad ad--text-alignment ad-ntaer boxleAd dn-prt"><div data-mps="te" data-slot="boxle" data-siz="[[[1000,1],[]],[[758,1],[[300,250],[700,50],[5,5],[728,90],[360,360]]],[[0,0],[[300,250],[700,50],[5,5],[360,360]]]]" data-renr-on-view="te" data-targetg="{}" data-active-tab="te" data-offset-viewport="100"></div></div><p class="">“Everythg about Matt circl around the people who grieve for him and the people who hate him,” said Matthew’s mother, Judy Shepard. “That's jt what 's always been, and I image that's what 'll always be.”</p><p class="">The Epispal Church has signifince for the Shepards. Matthew Shepard was an alyte the Church growg up and loved the muny, acrdg to his parents. He will be buried alongsi approximately 200 others the thedral, cludg fellow notable Amerins Helen Keller and Print Woodrow Wilson.</p><figure class="styl_leImage__yAWZ0 styl_medium__OMa6x"><picture class="styl_image__1qciH"><source media="(m-width: 1000px)" srcSet=" 2x, 1x"/><source srcSet=" 2x, 1x"/><img loadg="lazy" src=" alt="Image:" height="3829" width="5498"/></picture><figptn class="ptn styl_ptn__Pe5JC"><span class="ptn__ntaer">A Gay Pri flag fli outsi the Washgton Natnal Cathedral Washgton, D.C., on Friday, Oct. 26, 2018, followg a "Thanksgivg and Remembrance of Matthew Shepard" service.</span><span class="ptn__source">Carolyn Kaster / AP</span></figptn></figure><p class="">“We had him wh for 21 years, and now we've been whout him for 20,” Judy Shepard told NBC News on Wednday. “It feels like what happened to him sometim was yterday and sometim was 100 years ago.”</p><p class="">Even though Matthew Shepard died 20 years ago, his story still ronat to this day, and Dennis and Judy Shepard say the need to share still exists. They tour the globe wh the Matthew Shepard Foundatn, which they found 1998 on what would have been Matthew Shepard’s 22nd birthday, hop of rcg LGBTQ discrimatn. The Shepards also e their platform to advote for LGBTQ youth by teachg parents to accept them for who they are.</p><div class="ad ad--text-alignment ad-ntaer boxleAd dn-prt"><div data-mps="te" data-slot="boxle" data-siz="[[[1000,1],[]],[[758,1],[[300,250],[700,50],[5,5],[728,90],[360,360]]],[[0,0],[[300,250],[700,50],[5,5],[360,360]]]]" data-renr-on-view="te" data-targetg="{}" data-active-tab="te" data-offset-viewport="100"></div></div><p class="">“We loved Matt, and we lost him to vlence. You still have your child, please wele him back to your fay. Love them as parents should do,” Judy Shepard said about her msage to other parents of gay children.</p><div><sectn class="related related--sgle dn-prt" data-activy-map="related-article-body-related"><h3 class="related__tle">Related</h3><div id="related" class="related__ems"><div class="related-em related-em__sgle"><div class="related-em__thumbnail-wrapper"><a href=" data-icid="related" class="related-em__lk related-em__picture-lk"><picture class="related-em__thumbnail__image"><source media="(m-width: 1240px)" srcSet=" 2x, 1x"/><source media="(m-width: 758px)" srcSet=" 2x, 1x"/><source srcSet=" 2x, 1x"/><img loadg="lazy" src=" alt="" height="60" width="60"/></picture></a><span class="related-em__eyebrow"><a class="related-em__label" href="><span>NBC OUT</span></a><a href=" data-icid="related"></a></span></div><div class="related-em__-wrapper"><h3 class="related-em__tle"><a class="" href="><span class="related-em__eyebrow">NBC OUT</span></a><a href=" data-icid="related" class="related-em__lk">Two s after Matthew Shepard's ath, LGBTQ muny still battl hate vlence</a></h3></div></div></div></sectn></div><p class="">The Shepards’ fight for civil rights has expand the last two s. Today, they are outspoken about hate and discrimatn agast all margalized muni. The uple say the Tmp admistratn is unravelg progrs ma recent years. They pot to hate crim agast people of lor, the ban on transgenr people om servg the ary and a proposal to fe genr solely based on a person’s genalia at birth.</p><p class="">“We're talkg about equal rights for Amerin cizens — straight, gay, black, whe, Mlim, Christian. It don't matter,” Dennis Shepard said. “It was the diversy and the different ias and cultur that that brought this untry to s greatns. And 's always been great. It didn't have to be ma great aga.”</p><p class="">In addn to their ncerns about LGBTQ rights, the Shepards pot to the rise anti-LGBTQ homicis. The <a href=">Anti-Vlence Project</a> tracked 52 reported homicis 2017, an 86 percent crease sgle-cint reports om 2016 and the hight number ever rerd by the group.</p><figure class="styl_leImage__yAWZ0 styl_medium__OMa6x"><picture class="styl_image__1qciH"><source media="(m-width: 1000px)" srcSet=" 2x, 1x"/><source srcSet=" 2x, 1x"/><img loadg="lazy" src=" alt="Image: Dennis Shepard, Logan Shepard, Judy Shepard" height="1691" width="2500"/></picture><figptn class="ptn styl_ptn__Pe5JC"><span class="ptn__ntaer">Dennis and Judy Shepard and their son Logan Shepard, left, stand as the ash of Matthew Shepard are brought forward by Rev. V. Gene Robson durg the procsn durg the "Thanksgivg and Remembrance of Matthew Shepard" service at Washgton Natnal Cathedral Washgton on Oct. 26, 2018.</span><span class="ptn__source">Carolyn Kaster / AP</span></figptn></figure><p class="">Print Barack Obama signed 2009 the Matthew Shepard and Jam Byrd Jr. Hate Crim Preventn Act to law. The act, for which the Shepards lobbied, was the first to grant protectns feral legislatn to the LGBTQ muny. However, the law did not change laws on a state level — Indiana, South Carola, Geia, Arkansas and Matthew Shepard’s home state of Wyomg still do not have any legislatn protectg agast hate crim.</p><div class="ad ad--text-alignment ad-ntaer boxleAd dn-prt"><div data-mps="te" data-slot="boxle" data-siz="[[[1000,1],[]],[[758,1],[[300,250],[700,50],[5,5],[728,90],[360,360]]],[[0,0],[[300,250],[700,50],[5,5],[360,360]]]]" data-renr-on-view="te" data-targetg="{}" data-active-tab="te" data-offset-viewport="100"></div></div><p class="">The Shepards still stggle to rencile their son’s highly publicized ath wh their private grief over losg their child. They lovgly remember him as an ordary person and rell his love for drama, his quirks and his mment to clivy of all people. The Shepards aim to live their liv a way they feel would have ma Matthew proud.</p><p class="">“We had two sons, one straight and one gay, and we're proud of both of them,” Dennis Shepard said. “Start talkg about . Be proud of your children.”</p><p class="endmark"><strong>FOLLOW<a href="> NBC OUT</a> ON<a href="> TWITTER</a>,<a href="> FACEBOOK</a> AND<a href="> INSTAGRAM</a> </strong></p><div class="expand-byle-ntributors articleByleContaer"><div class="expand-byle article-expand-byle" data-activy-map="expand-byle-article-bottom"><span class="byle-thumbnail byle-thumbnail--no-image expand-byle__thumbnail"></span><span class="byle-name expand-byle__name">Elizabeth Kuhr</span><span class="byle-social expand-byle__social"></span><div class="expand-byle__b-wrapper"><p class="byle-b expand-byle__b">Elizabeth Kuhr is an NBC News producer based London. </p></div></div></div></div></div><div class="article-body--right-rail-ntaer"><div class="article-body__right-rail layout-grid-em grid-l-4_5-l grid-l-3_5-xl grid-l-ph-half-xl"><div class="ad article-body__right-rail--ad ad--text-alignment ad-ntaer dn-prt"><div data-mps="te" data-slot="boxrail" data-siz="[[[1000,1],[[300,250],[360,360]]],[[758,1],[]],[[0,0],[]]]" data-offset="10" data-renr-on-view="te" data-targetg="{}" data-active-tab="te"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="body-bottom-remend"><div class="ad ad--midrponsive ad-ntaer dn-prt"><div data-mps="te" data-slot="midrponsive" data-siz="[[[1000,1],[[700,1],[5,5]]],[[758,1],[]],[[0,0],[]]]" data-offset="300" data-reh-terval="0" data-renr-on-view="te" data-targetg="{}" data-active-tab="te"></div></div></div></div></div></article></div></div><div id="hfs-footer" class="dn-prt" data-activy-map="hfs-footer"><footer class="hfsf" ><div class="ner"><div class="logo"><a href="><svg class="peack" viewBox="578 62 67 39" xmlns=" fill="currentColor"><g fill-le="evenodd"><path d="M579.074 90.58c1.717-4.494 6.472-6.08 10.697-3.37l18.29 12.754h-22.18c-4.62 0-8.252-4.23-6.8-9.385"></path><path class="feather" d="M579.074 90.58c1.717-4.494 6.472-6.08 10.697-3.37l18.29 12.754h-22.18c-4.62 0-8.252-4.23-6.8-9.385"></path><path class="feather" d="M597.563 75.863l9.442 21.613-19.478-13.35c-4.887-3.24-3.896-8.79-1.19-11.237 3.83-3.24 9.245-2.12 11.226 2.97"></path><path class="feather" d="M610.57 70.93l-3.433 24.19-9.772-23c-2.113-5.75 2.64-9.516 5.81-9.583 3.632-.396 8.188 2.38 7.396 8.394"></path><path class="feather" d="M625.494 72.103l-9.707 23.067-3.102-20.82c-.265-3.17 1.716-3.237 2.443-3.832-.133-.463-1.124-.463-1.124-.463h-1.848c-.198-5.42 4.028-7.8 7.462-7.535 3.697.132 7.856 4.428 5.876 9.583"></path><path class="feather" d="M635.338 84.167L615.86 97.584l9.177-21.348c2.775-6.742 9.245-5.42 11.556-2.842 2.51 2.51 3.235 7.6-1.255 10.773"></path><path class="feather" d="M637.448 99.9h-22.515l18.29-12.756c4.49-2.975 9.244-.266 10.498 3.635 1.327 4.36-1.65 9.12-6.27 9.12"></path></g></svg></a></div><nav class="lks"><ul class="lks__wrap" data-l-2="14" data-l-3=15><li><a href=" target="_self">About</a></li><li><a href=" target="_self">Contact</a></li><li><a href=">Help</a></li><li><a href=">Careers</a></li><li><a href=" target="_blank" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ad Choic</a></li><li><a href=" target="_blank" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Privacy Policy</a></li><li><a href=" target="_blank" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Do Not Sell My Personal Informatn</a></li><li><a href=" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CA Notice</a></li><li><a href=">New Terms of Service (Updated JULY 7, 2023)</a></li><li><a href=">NBC News Semap</a></li><li><a href=">Advertise</a></li><li><a href=" target="_self">Select Shoppg</a></li><li><a href=" target="_self">Select Personal Fance</a></li></ul></nav><div class="py"><p>© 2023 NBC UNIVERSAL</p><div class="brands"><a href="><svg viewBox="0 0 120 20" fill="none" xmlns=" aria-labelledby="nbc_news_logo"><tle class="nbc_news_logo">NBC News Logo

gay youth killed in wyoming

If he hadn't been killed 1998, Matthew Shepard would have turned 41 today. As a gay stunt Wyomg, I grew up aaid of the homophobia that ntributed to his ath — but queer people here are workg toward a new future.

Contents:

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 two s ago, shocked the world. * gay youth killed in wyoming *

"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.

MATTHEW SHEPARD, GAY STUNT KILLED HATE CRIME, TO BE INTERRED AT NATNAL CATHEDRAL

Matthew Shepard was abducted, beaten and killed 20 years ago bee he was gay. * gay youth killed in wyoming *

"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.

WHAT IT'S LIKE TO GROW UP GAY IN WYOMG AFTER MATTHEW SHEPARD'S MURR

When two roofg workers beat a young gay man to ath Wyomg 1998, the gome crime quickly reverberated around the U.S. and turned the sandy-haired llege stunt to a powerful symbol of the qut for acceptance and equal rights. * gay youth killed in wyoming *

" 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.

MATTHEW SHEPARD, A GAY MAN MURRED WYOMG 1998, TO BE TERRED AT NATNAL CATHEDRAL

Twenty years after his ath, Matthew Shepard, a gay llege stunt who was abducted and killed Wyomg, will be laid to rt at the Washgton Natnal... * gay youth killed in wyoming *

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

LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) — When two roofg workers beat a young gay man to ath Wyomg 1998, the gome crime quickly reverberated around the U.S. and turned the sandy-haired llege stunt to a powerful symbol of the qut for acceptance and equal rights. * gay youth killed in wyoming *

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. "I thk 20 years ago some people Wyomg hontly didn't believe they had met anyone who was gay or lbian, " she says.

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.

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

* gay youth killed in wyoming *

"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.

The gay Wyomg stunt's 1998 murr sparked a new chapter the untry’s LGBTQ rights movement. * gay youth killed in wyoming *

(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. "The natn mournsThe shockg homophobic crime the sparsely-populated state garnered natnal sympathy.

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.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Lawmakers Wyomg, where gay llege stunt Matthew Shepard was killed more than 20 years ago, aga cid not to adopt a hate crim law. * gay youth killed in wyoming *

McKney went to trial, and fense attorneys argued his vlent actns were "gay panic" -- a reactn to Shepard makg a sexual advance.

15 years after the openly gay man was tortured and killed, his home state of Wyomg has remaed sgularly ristant to change * gay youth killed in wyoming *

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

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. "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.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY YOUTH KILLED IN WYOMING

What It's Like To Grow Up Gay In Wyomg After Matthew Shepard's Murr .

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