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

Contents:

• MATTHEW SHEPARD, MURRED GAY STUNT, FALLY LAID TO RT
• MATTHEW SHEPARD NOT MURRED FOR BEG GAY, NEW BOOK CLAIMS
• MATTHEW SHEPARD, A GAY MAN MURRED 1998, TO BE TERRED AT NATNAL CATHEDRAL
• FIFTEEN YEARS AFTER MATTHEW SHEPARD'S MURR, WYOMG REMAS ANTI-GAY
• MATTHEW SHEPARD, VICTIM OF ANTI-GAY HATE CRIME, DI
• MATTHEW SHEPARD: THE LEGACY OF A GAY LLEGE STUNT 20 YEARS AFTER HIS BTAL MURR
• NEIGHBORS SCRAWL SLUR ON GAY MEN’S GARAGE AFTER DISPUTE OVER FENCE

MATTHEW SHEPARD, MURRED GAY STUNT, FALLY LAID TO RT

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. After Shepard nfid that he was gay, police say, the two men lured him outsi and to McKney’s father’s tck. 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.

MATTHEW SHEPARD NOT MURRED FOR BEG GAY, NEW BOOK CLAIMS

It was there, newly pennt, that he began g to terms wh his homosexualy, iends say. In Laramie, Shepard also found acceptance a group lled the Lbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgenrg Associatn, whose meetg he attend on Oct. 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.

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

” To teach him a lson, Price said, McKney and Henrson told Shepard they were gay and lured him to the tck.

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

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.

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

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.

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

NEIGHBORS SCRAWL SLUR ON GAY MEN’S GARAGE AFTER DISPUTE OVER FENCE

" 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.