Matthew Shepard

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Matthew Shepard
Matthew Shepard
Born	December 1, 1976 Casper, Wyoming
Died	October 12, 1998 Fort Collins, Colorado
Occupation	Student
Parents	Dennis and Judy (Peck) Shepard

Matthew Wayne Shepard (December 1, 1976 – October 12, 1998) was an American student at the University of Wyoming who was fatally attacked near Laramie, Wyoming, on the night of October 6 – October 7, 1998 in what was widely reported by international news media as a savage beating due to his homosexuality. Shepard died from severe head injuries at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, on October 12. His murder brought national attention to the issue of hate crime legislation at the state and federal levels.

His two assailants, Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney, were convicted of the crime and imprisoned. Henderson is currently serving two consecutive life sentences and McKinney is serving the same but without the possibility of parole.^[1]

Contents 1 Background 2 The attack 3 The trial 4 Hate crime legislation proposed 5 Public reaction and the aftermath 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Background

Shepard, son of Dennis and Judy Peck Shepard, was born in Casper. He attended Crest Hill Elementary School, Dean Morgan Junior High, and the first two years of high school at Natrona County High School, and was a member of St. Mark's Episcopal Church. Shepard spent his junior and senior years of high school at The American School In Switzerland, where it is said that he enjoyed travel in Europe, learning the German and Italian languages. After graduating in 1995, he attended Catawba College and Casper College before moving to Denver. Shepard then became a first-year political science major at the University of Wyoming and was chosen as the student representative for the Wyoming Environmental Council.

He was described by his parents as "...an optimistic and accepting young man ...[who]... had a special gift of relating to almost everyone. He was the type of person that was very approachable and always looked to new challenges. Matthew had a great passion for equality and always stood up for the acceptance of people's differences."^[2]

[edit] The attack

Shortly after midnight on October 7, 1998, 21-year-old Shepard met McKinney and Henderson in a bar. According to McKinney, Shepard asked them for a ride home. Subsequently, Shepard was robbed, severely beaten, pistol whipped, tied to a fence in a remote, rural area and left to die. McKinney and Henderson also found out his address, intending to burglarize his home. Shepard was discovered by a bicyclist 18 hours later, still alive but unconscious.

Shepard suffered a fracture from the back of his head to the front of his right ear. He had severe brain stem damage, which affected his body's ability to regulate heart rate, body temperature and other vital signs. There were also about a dozen small lacerations around his head, face and neck. His injuries were deemed too severe for doctors to operate. Shepard never regained consciousness and remained on full life support. As he lay in intensive care, candle-light vigils were held in support around the world.^[3]

He was pronounced dead at 12:53 a.m. on October 12 at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins^[4][5][6][7]. Police arrested McKinney and Henderson shortly thereafter, finding the bloody gun as well as the victim's shoes and wallet in their truck.^[8] The two men had attempted to get their girlfriends to provide alibis. ^[9]

[edit] The trial

During court cases both of the defendants used varying stories to defend their actions. They attempted to use the "gay panic defense", arguing that they were driven to temporary insanity by Shepard's alleged sexual advances toward them. At another point they stated that they had only wanted to rob Shepard and never intended to kill him.

The prosecutor in the case charged that McKinney and Henderson pretended to be gay in order to gain Shepard's trust to rob him.^[10] During the trial, Chastity Pasley and Kristen Price (the pair's then-girlfriends) testified under oath that Henderson and McKinney both plotted beforehand to rob a gay man. McKinney and Henderson then went to the Fireside Lounge and selected Shepard as their target. After befriending him, they took him to a remote area of Laramie where they robbed him, beat him severely (media reports often contained the graphic account of the pistol whipping and his smashed skull), and tied him to a fence with a rope from McKinney's truck. Both girlfriends also testified that neither McKinney nor Henderson were on drugs at the time.^[11][12]

Several years after the guilty verdict, Price gave her third account of the night (the first time she provided her boyfriend with an alibi until learning that Shepard had died and that she could be charged as an accessory to murder; the second time she said Shepard was selected because he was gay). This time she said the motive for the attack was solely related to drugs and money, adding, "I don't think it was a hate crime at all. I never did."^[13]

McKinney's and Henderson's initial statement was that they were not guilty and had been with their girlfriends at the time of the crime. After the girlfriends retracted their alibis, they both attempted to use a gay panic defense, testifying that they attacked Shepard because he made flirtatious advances towards them. In November 2004, they gave a third story in a 20/20 interview with Elizabeth Vargas of ABC News. ^[13] In this version the murder was not fueled by an anti-gay motivation but by a methamphetamine-induced rage. They said that the murder was actually a result of heavy drug use, a robbery and a beating gone awry. Both had mentioned this earlier to their lawyers after it had happened, but their attorneys at the time decided to go with the unsuccessful "gay panic" defense.

McKinney's friends said that he never made derogatory references to homosexuals. ABC News interviewed a friend of McKinney's who stated: "I know he's bisexual. There ain't no doubt in my mind. He is bisexual." The man also claimed to have been a sexual partner of McKinney.^[8]. McKinney insisted in media interviews that he picked Shepard as a target for robbery and murder because he didn't think he would be a threat.^[8]

Henderson pleaded guilty on April 5, 1999, and agreed to testify against McKinney to avoid the death penalty; he received two consecutive life sentences. The jury in McKinney's trial found him guilty of two counts of felony murder. As it began to deliberate on the death penalty, Shepard's parents brokered a deal, resulting in McKinney receiving two consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.^[1]

Henderson and McKinney were incarcerated in the Wyoming State Penitentiary in Rawlins but were transferred to a Nevada prison due to overcrowding. ^[14]

[edit] Hate crime legislation proposed

Henderson and McKinney were not charged with a hate crime, as no Wyoming criminal statute provided for such a charge. The disturbing and brutal nature of Matthew Shepard's murder prompted calls for new legislation addressing hate crime, urged particularly by those who believed that Shepard was targeted on the basis of his sexual orientation.^[15][16] Under current United States federal law ^[17] and Wyoming state law,^[18] crimes committed on the basis of sexual orientation are not prosecutable as hate crimes.

In the following session of the Wyoming Legislature, a bill was introduced defining certain attacks motivated by victim identity as hate crimes, but the measure failed on a 30-30 tie in the Wyoming House of Representatives.^[19]

At the federal level, then-President Bill Clinton renewed attempts to extend federal hate crime legislation to include gay and lesbian individuals, women, and people with disabilities. These efforts were rejected by the House of Representatives in 1999^[20]. In 2000, both houses of Congress passed such legislation, but it was stripped out in conference committee.^[21]

[edit] Public reaction and the aftermath

The anti-gay Westboro Church of Kansas, lead by Fred Phelps, picketed Shepard's funeral as well as the trial of his assailants.^[22][23], displaying signs with slogans such as "Matt Shepard rots in Hell", "AIDS Kills Fags Dead" and "God Hates Fags".^[24] When the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled that it was legal to display any sort of religious message on city property if it was legal for Casper's Ten Commandments display to remain, Phelps made attempts to gain city permits in Cheyenne and Casper to build a monument "of marble or granite 5 or 6 feet in height on which will be a bronze plaque bearing Shepard's picture and the words: "MATTHEW SHEPARD, Entered Hell October 12, 1998, in Defiance of God's Warning: 'Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind; it is abomination.' Leviticus 18:22." ^{[25][26][27][28]}

As a counter protest during Henderson's trial, Romaine Patterson, a friend of Shepard's, organized a group of individuals who assembled in a circle around the Phelps group wearing white robes and gigantic wings (resembling angels) that blocked the protesters. Police had to create a human barrier between the 2 protest groups ^[29]. While the organization had no name in the initial demonstration, it has since been ascribed various titles, including 'Angels of Peace' and 'Angel Action'.^[30][31] The fence to which Shepard was tied and left to die became an impromptu shrine for visitors, who left notes, flowers, and other mementos. It has since been removed by the land owner.

People in the entertainment industry expressed their own outrage and responded in various ways to the attack:

• Ellen DeGeneres hosted Shepard's memorial services in Washington, D.C.
• Three films were made about the Shepard's story: The Laramie Project (based on the play of the same name), The Matthew Shepard Story and Anatomy of a Hate Crime. The Laramie Project and The Matthew Shepard Story both won numerous awards. He can also be seen in the documentary Dear Jesse in a brief interview, released to the Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival on October 10, 2 days before he died.^[32]
• Human rights activist and singer Melissa Etheridge wrote the song "Scarecrow" in tribute to Shepard, referring to his initially being mistaken for a scarecrow when he was found. It was featured on her 1999 album Breakdown and continues to be part of a political portion of her live performances to date. (November, 2006)
• Elton John and Bernie Taupin wrote the song "American Triangle" as a tribute to Shepard. It was featured on John's 2001 album, Songs from the West Coast (with backing vocals by Rufus Wainwright).
• Cyndi Lauper wrote a song entitled "Above the Clouds" in tribute to Shepard included on her 2005 album The Body Acoustic. Judy Shepard was involved in Lauper's tour behind the album and the singer/songwriter spoke of the events of that tragic day, as well as the mission to erase hate, before performing the song. In 2007, Cyndi Lauper launches the True Colors Tour 2007, a five-hour concert featuring Cyndi and other well-known artists to benefit the Human Rights Campaign and acquaint the audience with the work of the Matthew Shepard Foundation. It has been announced that Judy Shepard will make an appearance at the New York City concert.
• Singer Songwriter Thea Hopkins composed a song "Jesus Is On The Wire" to retell Shephard's story. In 2001 Peter, Paul and Mary begin performing the song and later was added to their recent album In These Times. In 2004 the song was showcased in the trio's documentary on PBS Peter, Paul & Mary: Carry It On - A Musical Legacy
• Tori Amos dedicated her song "Merman" to Shepard throughout her 1998 tour with Alanis Morissette. The song was never released on a CD, but appeared on her best collection A Piano.
• Kristian Hoffman performs another song called "Scarecrow" on his album &. It is a duet with Wainwright.
• Irish singer-songwriter Brian Houston wrote "The Ballad of Matthew Shepard", released on his 2006 album Sugar Queen
• There are also several songs created by other artists. Singer Randi Driscoll released "What Matters"^[33], the band This Ship Will Sink wrote "Dear Matthew", the band Best Revenge wrote "Sacrifice", singer Andrew Spice wrote the song "Matthew", and the band Good Riddance wrote the song "Cheyenne".
• Coretta Scott King, widow of Dr. Martin Luther King, wrote to Judy Shepard expressing her sympathy and expressing her belief that civil rights include gay and lesbian rights.
• Rishma Dunlop composed the poem "Copper Moon" in Shepard's memory. Suzanne Northcott then created a painting of the same name.
• Geoff Rickly, singer of the band Thursday, wrote the song "M. Shepard" for their 2004 album War All the Time.
• In the episode "Tommy's Not Gay" of Titus in the neutral space Chistopher mentions Shepard's death and how it was because he was homosexual. The episode dealt with the beating of Tommy's father also because he is homosexual.
• Andrea Gibson mentions the incident in her poem "Dive"
• Amy Ray's song "Laramie" from her solo album Stag (2001) references the Matthew Shepard incident.
• The hardcore punk band Protest The Hero's song "Fear and Loathing in Laramie" from A Calculated Use of Sound EP is about the lack of homosexual rights, and directly mentions Matthew Shepard's death.
• Singer-Songwriter Hamell on Trial mentions Shepard in the song "Hail" on his 2003 release Tough Love.
• Metal band Trivium wrote a song, named "And Sadness Will Sear" based upon the anti-gay atmosphere and the murder scene itself, on their album The Crusade.^[34]
• Radio DJ, Howard Stern, invited members of the Westboro Church onto The Howard Stern Show. Stern allowed the group to build their own demise as the show cast and callers proceeded to insult and discredit the anti-gay cause. The group has appeared on the show several times since, each time Stern makes numerous comments denouncing the group and its cause.^[35]
• Sage Francis mentions Shepard in the song "That Ain't Right" ("I attended candle light vigils for Matthew Shepard/While you put out another 'fuck you, faggot' record").^[36]

[edit] See also

• The Laramie Project play
• The Laramie Project film
• The Matthew Shepard Story film
• 10 Seconds 'Till Sunrise
• Violence against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and the transgendered

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Matthew Shepard Foundation (official website) – founded by parents Judy and Dennis Shepard to "Replace hate with understanding, compassion, and acceptance through educational, outreach, and advocacy programs and by continuing to tell Matthew's story"
• Matthew Shepard at Find A Grave
• ABC News - Report on the Attack and the Trials
• Criminal complaint against McKinney and Henderson
• Website for biography "The Whole World Was Watching: Living In The Light of Matthew Shepard"
• Matthew Shepard Resource Site at the University of Wyoming;
• "Text of the "Gay Panic" Defense ruling in the Matthew Shepard Murder Trial", CourtTV
• Barry Yeoman, A Mother Finds Her Voice, US Weekly
• InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse: Judy Shepard (TV interview with Shepard's mother)

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