The 1999 play The Laramie Project explor the te story surroundg the ath of Matthew Shepard, a young gay man who was beaten and left to die Laramie, Wyo., 1998. The se, which beme a landmark symbol for hate crim, still elics varied reactns — which is why on Oct. 12, hundreds of other theaters around the world will perform The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, an Epilogue.
Contents:
- THE TTH BEHD AMERI’S MOST FAMO GAY-HATE MURR
- MATTHEW SHEPARD: THE LEGACY OF A GAY LLEGE STUNT 20 YEARS AFTER HIS BTAL MURR
- MATTHEW SHEPARD FALLY LAID TO RT 20 YEARS AFTER HE WAS KILLED FOR BEG GAY
- MATTHEW SHEPARD: ASH OF MAN KILLED ANTI-GAY ATTACK 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 IS THE WORLD'S MOST FAMO GAY HATE CRIME VICTIM. BUT WAS HE REALLY KILLED FOR BEG GAY?
THE TTH BEHD AMERI’S MOST FAMO GAY-HATE MURR
Matthew Shepard was abducted, beaten and killed 20 years ago bee he was gay. * shepard gay man killed *
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. 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? ”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. 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.
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. * shepard gay man killed *
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.
MATTHEW SHEPARD FALLY LAID TO RT 20 YEARS AFTER HE WAS KILLED FOR BEG GAY
Twenty years ago, the btal killg of a young gay man Laramie, Wyo., drew natnal attentn and led to an expansn of a feral hate-crim law. * shepard gay man killed *
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. 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.
MATTHEW SHEPARD: ASH OF MAN KILLED ANTI-GAY ATTACK TO BE TERRED AT NATNAL CATHEDRAL
Matthew Shepard was fally laid to rt Friday at the Washgton Natnal Cathedral 20 years after beg killed by two men bee he was gay. * shepard gay man killed *
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. "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.
FIFTEEN YEARS AFTER MATTHEW SHEPARD'S MURR, WYOMG REMAS ANTI-GAY
The 1998 torture and murr of gay stunt Matthew Shepard Laramie, Wyomg, was a turng pot for gay rights the Uned Stat, promptg outrage, sorrow and activism. His murrers were both given nsecutive life sentenc, although they weren’t charged wh a hate crime. * shepard gay man killed *
"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.
MATTHEW SHEPARD, VICTIM OF ANTI-GAY HATE CRIME, DI
Universy of Wyomg stunt Matthew Shepard, who was openly gay, was btally beaten October 1998 by Aaron McKney and Rsell Henrson. Shepard died several days later. The cint received ternatnal media verage and ntu to spark ntroversy about hate crim. Shepard’s parents, Judy and Dennis, tablished a foundatn Matthew’s name, which ntu s pro-LGBT tnal work today. * shepard gay man killed *
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 IS THE WORLD'S MOST FAMO GAY HATE CRIME VICTIM. BUT WAS HE REALLY KILLED FOR BEG GAY?
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. * shepard gay man killed *
"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.
* shepard gay man killed *
"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.
A lot has changed for gay Amerins the 20 years sce Matthew Shepard, a stunt at the Universy of Wyomg, was beaten, tortured, tied to a fence and left for ad by two men he had met at a bar. * shepard gay man killed *
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. "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.
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. * shepard gay man killed *
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.
ET Matthew Shepard, the young gay man btally killed on a chilly night Wyomg 20 years ago this month, was fally laid to rt at Washgton Natnal Cathedral on Friday.
15 years after the openly gay man was tortured and killed, his home state of Wyomg has remaed sgularly ristant to change * shepard gay man killed *
In the years sce, the circumstanc surroundg the se have been disputed, but Shepard's murr has neverthels e to be seen as a classic hate crime, highlightg anti-gay bigotry.
On Oct. 12, 1998, Wyomg stunt Matthew Shepard died after beg btally beaten. His ath sparked a seismic shift attus toward the gay muny. * shepard gay man killed *
6, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old Universy of Wyomg stunt who was openly gay, went alone to the Firi Lounge Laramie after a meetg of the mp LGBT (Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr) stunt group and a quick stop at the Village Inn.
Shortly after midnight, Shepard left the bar wh McKney and Henrson; police and prosecutors would assert that the two men lured Shepard, perhaps unr the pretense of themselv beg gay, but fact wh the tent of robbg him.
Ed Andriki, The Associated their 36 hours of preparatn and travel, the story of the attack spread om lol to regnal to natnal media, unrsred by the reports om several of Shepard’s iends that he was gay and their fears that he had fallen victim to an anti-gay hate crime.