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

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, A GAY MAN MURRED 1998, TO BE TERRED AT NATNAL CATHEDRAL
• MATTHEW SHEPARD, VICTIM OF ANTI-GAY HATE CRIME, DI
• IN WYOMG, SCENE OF FAMO GAY HATE CRIME AN UNLIKELY LGBTQ HAVEN
• MATTHEW SHEPARD, A GAY MAN MURRED WYOMG 1998, TO BE TERRED AT NATNAL CATHEDRAL

THE TTH BEHD AMERI’S MOST FAMO GAY-HATE MURR

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?

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

”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. 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, A GAY MAN MURRED 1998, TO BE TERRED AT NATNAL CATHEDRAL

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

After his effort to mount a “gay panic fense” was led out by Judge Barton Voight, McKney’s unsel, prosecutor Cal Recha and the Shepards agreed to a siar plea barga for nsecutive life sentenc and McKney’s agreement not to speak to the media about the se, a provisn he would repeatedly vlate later years. Wyomg legislators 1999 nsired a state-level hate crime bill that extend to anti-gay and -lbian crimal motivatns, but the measure failed the state Hoe on a 30-30 tie on two nsecutive days and has not sce been serly bated.

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

"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.

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

" 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. 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. “As tragic as is, and as unfortunate as is, and as hard as is for Matthew’s fay, and for my fay, for all of , to go through, opened up all of to be better people and really thk about who we are, ” Henrson said of Shepard’s ath a prison terview Tuday wh The Associated, he sisted, neher he nor McKney was motivated by anti-gay hatred when they offered Shepard a ri home om a bar.

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. 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. When Matthew Shepard died on a ld night 20 years ago, after beg beaten wh a pistol butt and tied to a spl-rail wood fence, his parents cremated rather than buried the 21-year-old, for fear of drawg attentn to the rtg place of a person who had bee a global in for battg anti-gay the anniversary Friday of their son’s murr, the Shepards have cid to do jt that, terrg his remas si the crypt of the proment Washgton Natnal Cathedral, where gay-equaly activists say they n be a proment symbol and even a pilgrimage statn for the movement. 26 service will be open to the public, and will be prid over by Washgton's Epispal bishop, Mariann Edgar Bud, and Bishop Gene Robson, whose 2003 ordatn as the first openly gay bishop the Epispal Church set off a dramatic spl the nomatn that is still unfoldg.

[The gay-equaly movement has] the triangle, that remds of what was ed to brand durg the Holot, the rabow flag, and we've got Matt Shepard, who beme a symbol of how we are targets of vlence, " Robson said Wednday night. "We were hopeful through the Obama admistratn and wh the end of 'Don't Ask Don't Tell, ' and the passage of gay marriage, that maybe we were movg to an era when social and polil wars over genr and sexualy were fadg, but didn't go that way, " said Jason Marsn, executive director of the Matthew Shepard Foundatn, which advot particular for gay youth, cludg through hate-crim legislatn. "Most people do not know, they don't believe, they're surprised to hear that 29 stat you n still be fired, thrown om your apartment or nied a hotel room jt bee you're gay and there is no reurse the urts.

Wtboro Baptist Church fact ma s name signifintly after prottg Shepard's funeral wh anti-gay terred at the Cathedral are selected by the an, who picks people of "natnal importance, someone who has ma a lastg ntributn to humany, " Robson said.

Mois Kfman, founr of the Tectonic Theater Project, wanted to wre an epilogue to The Laramie Project part bee of ntued bate over whether Shepard was killed bee he was gay, or for some other reason. 26, 2004 — -- Six years ago, on a ld October night on theoutskirts of Laramie, Wyo., 21-year-old gay llegtunt Matthew Shepard was btally beaten, tied to afence and left for ad.

I mean kd of enpsulated all our fearsof beg victimized, " said wrer Andrew Sullivan, aproment gay rights as the ph for gay rights found new force, so dida rrpondg backlash om anti-gay opponents whome om out of state to grab a piece of the media spotlight.