Alleged 'gay panic fense' Texas murr trial stuns advot

Contents:

• MATTHEW SHEPARD: THE LEGACY OF A GAY LLEGE STUNT 20 YEARS AFTER HIS BTAL MURR
• TEXAS MAN IS SENTENCED FOR USG DATG APP TO TARGET GAY MEN
• TYLER REMEMBERS BTAL MURR OF YOUNG GAY MAN
• ALLEGED 'GAY PANIC FENSE' TEXAS MURR TRIAL STUNS ADVOT
• MAN CLAIMS HE KILLED NEIGHBOR SELF-DEFENSE AFTER VICTIM TRIED TO COME ONTO HIM: 'I'M NOT GAY'
• KILLG OF A GAY RINT STIRS ACTIVISM AN EAST TEXAS TOWN
• GAY MAN BTALLY MURRED AND BEHEAD BY FAY 'HONOUR KILLG'
• RSIAN MAN TORTURED TO ATH FOR 'BEG GAY'

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

A gay mate Texas who died prison was murred and did not die by ath of Jt Levi Galloway, was a "homici" rultg om "ligature/asphyxiatn" acrdg to lol KJAS which obtaed a py of the topsy report. 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.

TEXAS MAN IS SENTENCED FOR USG DATG APP TO TARGET GAY MEN

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, '...

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.

Michael Loccisano/Getty Imag, FILEFor Judy Shepard, one of the bt signs of cultural progrs is seeg Gay Straight Alliance groups rampg up schools. "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.

TYLER REMEMBERS BTAL MURR OF YOUNG GAY MAN

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.

ALLEGED 'GAY PANIC FENSE' TEXAS MURR TRIAL STUNS ADVOT

" 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.

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.

MAN CLAIMS HE KILLED NEIGHBOR SELF-DEFENSE AFTER VICTIM TRIED TO COME ONTO HIM: 'I'M NOT 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. " 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. "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.

KILLG OF A GAY RINT STIRS ACTIVISM AN EAST TEXAS TOWN

"And when I got volved the vtigatn, I was forced to teract wh Matthew's iends, many of which were gay and lbian. Pleasant nnected wh the victims through Grdr, a datg app for gay and bisexual men, and lured them to their aths, acrdg to urt documents obtaed by first victim, a 54-year-old man, drove to an apartment plex on the cy’s southeast si where Pleasant, who went by the name ”Derek” on Grdr, agreed to meet up wh him, the statn reported. It's been five years sce the Amerin Bar Associatn lled on every state to end the e of the "gay panic" fense.

GAY MAN BTALLY MURRED AND BEHEAD BY FAY 'HONOUR KILLG'

It's been 20 years sce the ath of Matthew Shepard, and sce his killers argued a "gay panic" fense urt, claimg Shepard had ma a pass and driven them to murr. And Texas last week, knotched another w for a Miller adms he murred his neighbor but claims was self-fense bee the gay man had e on to him.

That kd of "gay panic" fense is outlawed California and Illois but not Texas, where Daniel Spencer was stabbed to jury went easy on Miller last week when issued a sentence of 10 years probatn.

RSIAN MAN TORTURED TO ATH FOR 'BEG GAY'

Miller's lawyers argued that although there was no physil altertn, he felt danger bee at age 66 he was olr and shorter, so he killed the 32-year-old gay man his own home. "In 48 stat, cludg Texas, fendants n claim that vlence is jtified bee the victim was gay or transgenr. The fense is premised on the ia that a straight, cis man would jtifiably be so enraged by a gay or transgenr person makg a pass at him that attackg or even killg that person is excable.

"Je Steven Lopez-Merdo, age 19, was pated, dismembered and burned for beg openly gay, but acrdg to the police vtigator on the se, 'people who live this liftyle need to be aware that this will happen.

' When Matthew Shepard, age 21, ma a pass at two men a gay bar, he should have expected to be beaten, pistol-whipped, tied to a fence, and left to die. AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTThe man, Daniel Jenks, was part of a group that ed the app Grdr to lure gay men to an apartment plex Dallas to rob and asslt them, prosecutors said.