Matthew Shepard Tragedy Remembered
- Oct 31, 2011
- Michael Streich
Somewhere in the clear evening sky there is a star, flickering from a far off universe that knows no hate and feels no pain. Matthew Shepard’s light continues to illuminate a sullen world enmeshed in ignorance and intolerance. Martyrs represent many walks of life and many veins of thought. These are the chosen in history to give their lives in the cause of hope and goodness of human spirit, though they may never live to see an ultimate good rise from the spilling of their innocent blood.
“What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?” Wilfred Owen asked in 1917 as the flower of a generation died in the horrors of war. Doomed youth, however, exist at all times and in all places. Matthew Shepard would have celebrated his thirty-fifth birthday on December 1, 2011, but his young life was cut short one horrific night in October 1998.
Homophobia and Murder in Laramie, Wyoming
Matthew wasn’t perfect. His mother, Judy Shepard, wrote that, “He wasn’t a saint, as the press was trying to make him out to be, but a twenty-one year old with more troubles than anyone his age should ever have to deal with.” Matthew’s life was cut short when two men succumbed to the darkest side of humanity and brutally beat him, leaving him in a remote field, tied to a fence. Matthew was targeted because he was gay, as court transcripts later demonstrated.
Matt was a college student interested in politics and international affairs. Spending his high school senior year at a boarding school in Switzerland, Matthew had the opportunity to travel, meet people that valued diversity, and experience different cultures and traditions. He became comfortable with his sexuality, beginning college in North Carolina before transferring to Wyoming. “He was just like everybody else,” his mother told Neal Conan in 2009, “Same issues, same problems, depression.”
He was lured into a pickup by two young men that had planned to find and rob a gay man. Driving him out of town, one man tied him to a fence while the other repeatedly beat him on the head with a revolver before robbing him. Matthew Shepard died in a hospital intensive care unit several days later.
Hate Crimes and Sexual Orientation
In the months after his death, his life became symbolic of a creeping terror that stalks men and women whose sexual orientations are viewed as suspect and threatening to the ignorant and simple-minded. The FBI’s crime statistics for 2009 (published in late 2010) revealed that sexual orientation hate crime victims ranked third after race and religion. The federal law that includes sexual orientation as a hate crime was signed into law October 28, 2009 and is called the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
Sexual orientation was front page news after the murder of Matthew Shepard. In recent years, however, gay rights and questions of equality have again brought to the forefront long-held prejudices and irrational fears. In May 2012, North Carolina citizens will vote on an amendment to their state constitution banning same-sex marriages. The debates over the issue are predicted to be heated and contentious. Homophobia was a motive in October 1998; it is still the silent enemy of equality, roused into action by paranoia and misunderstanding.
The Impact of Matthew Shepard
Every movement has heroes and martyrs. Matthew Shepard, who believed in social justice, never knew that his death would awaken the reservoir of deep emotions felt not only in the United States but around the world. His memory is kept alive, in part, by the Matthew Shepard Foundation as well as scholarship competitions for openly gay and lesbian students. There are Facebook pages dedicated to his life containing messages of transformations in the lives of young and old. But the most profound transformations continue to involve the mood of ordinary Americans willing to embrace unconditional openness and equality that blankets all citizens, including gay and lesbian men and women.
On the day Matthew died, his mother was quoted in a hospital statement: “Go home, give your kids a hug, and don’t let a day go by without telling them that you love them.” Matthew’s death impacted those closest to him, those involved in the prosecution of his murderers, and journalists covering the story. One of those reporters, Heather Feeney, told Peter O’Dowd during an NPR interview that, “…the experience is probably the underlying reason why I’m not a reporter anymore.”
Matthew Shepard’s star is a reminder that imperfect humanity will always be overpowered by unconditional love and that such love is the reconciliation made possible when all men and women are not just tolerated for who they are, but accepted as equals in every aspect of community life.
References:
- John Cloud, “The New Face of Gay Power,” Time, Volume 162, Issue 15, October 13, 2003
- Neal Conan, Talk of the Nation (NPR), September 8, 2009 (interview with Mrs. Judy Shepard, discussing her book)
- James C. Hurst, “The Matthew Shepard Tragedy: Management of a Crisis,” About Campus, July/August 1999
- Michael Martin, “Remembering Matthew,” Advocate, Issue 1017, October 21, 2008
- Nicholas J. Pace, “I’ve Completely Changed: The Transforming Impact of the Matthew Shepard Scholarship,” Journal of Advanced Academics, Volume 18, Number 3, Spring 2007
- Judy Shepard, The Meaning of Matthew: My Son’s Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed (Hudson Street Press, 2009)
- “The Case of Matthew Shepard,” The Atlantic, May 2009
- Weekend Edition Sunday (NPR), October 12, 2008
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