When Aaron McKinney was awaiting sentencing for the murder of 21-year-old Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming, Shepard’s father, Dennis, asked the court to spare McKinney the death penalty and instead impose a double-life sentence without parole.
The elder Shepard said in his statement to the court: “Mr. McKinney, I give you life
in the memory of one who no longer lives. May you have a long life, and may you thank Matthew every day for it.”
In the same spirit of compassion, Dennis and Judy Shepard have become noteworthy allies of the LGBT community, rallying behind hate-crimes legislation across the country, and establishing the Matthew Shepard Foundation, which educates and informs the public on discrimination and on promoting diversity.
The foundation also serves as the vehicle for Judy Shepard’s public speaking program, which educates individuals about the development and elimination of hate speech and behavior.
Her son has become an icon for the worldwide LGBT community and a symbol of how discrimination can undermine the very fabric which brings humanity together. Matthew Shepard cared about people, and strove for equal judgment and equality with everyone he met.
According to his father, “He didn’t see size, race, intelligence, sex, religion, or the hundred other things that people use to make choices about people. All he saw was the person.”
Indeed, Shepard’s story has inspired communities of all kinds, and along with his parents, several notable individuals have commended the youth’s ideas and created numerous tributes to him.
Melissa Etheridge wrote the song “Scarecrow,” a reference to the jogger who originally found the beaten Shepard tied to a fence, thinking the young man a scarecrow at first. Playwright Moises Kaufman wrote “The Laramie Project,” which has become a staple of American theater and spawned an HBO movie. And MTV released the film “Anatomy of a Hate Crime” followed by 18 hours of dead air, a tribute to the time Shepard spent on the fence, suffering from brain trauma, head fractures, and hypothermia.
The image of the fair Shepard has become ingrained in gay history, and the tragedy of his promising life cut short by such brutality has inspired not just a nation but a world toward hope and tolerance.
*by Jason Villemez, 365gay.com
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