It has been 25 years since the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old student at the University of Wyoming who was robbed, severely beaten, tortured, and tied to a fence on October 7, 1998, by two men he met at a local bar, just for being gay. He died five days later, on October 12, 1998.
His death sparked an uproar in his community, and all around the world. Today, his mother doesn't think the work of activism against anti-gay bigotry has made much progress. In fact, she believes that we are going "backwards."
“It’s still hard to realize he’s not with us anymore,” his mother, Judy Shepard, shared. Matthew is survived by both his parents, Dennis and Judy Shepard, and his brother Logan.
"Bullies were something he didn’t understand," she continued. "Anybody who picked on anybody else for whatever reason, he was like, ‘I don't get that.’ He also didn't understand why, just because if your skin was a different color, people would treat you differently.”
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Though the death of Matthew sparked a movement of inclusion, this year hits a little harder for his parents. “I didn't expect it to be this raw, for all kinds of reasons," Judy explained. "We just realized that it’s been 25 years and that we’ve been without Matt longer than we had him."
“But also, it’s like, why are we still doing this work 25 years later?" she questioned. "It should all be fixed by now. We are discouraged that things are backsliding.”
The year of his death, Judy and Dennis started the Matthew Shepard Foundation, through which they have tirelessly since fought for equality and anti-discriminatory legislation. In 2009, they got the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act passed. James Byrd Jr. was the victim of a racist attack on June 7, 1998, where he was tied by his ankles to the back of a truck by three white men and dragged to death.
In 1999, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, 22 years old at the time, were each sentenced to two life terms after being found guilty of Matthew's murder. At the time, there weren't any federal or state laws equipped to deal with violence enacted solely because of a person’s sexuality or gender identity.
According to the FBI, hate crimes against LGBTQ have only increased since the 2009 pieces of legislation were passed. Statistics released in March 2023 by the FBI show that hate crime incidents increased 11.6%, going from 8,210 in 2020 to 9,065 in 2021.
"The out-and-out hatred you see is just astounding to me,” Judy said. “It used to be socially unacceptable to be a bigot. It's not anymore. We need to stop letting people behave that way.”
