Two decades after Matthew Shepard's death, LGBTQ community still battles hate violence
Twenty years ago, gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard died after being brutally beaten on the outskirts of Laramie, Wyoming. His mother, Judy Shepard, has never stopped missing him.
“I miss talking to him, arguing with him — his big, bright smile, his great hugs,” Judy Shepard told NBC News.
Six days before his death, Matthew Shepard's assailants — Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson — picked him up at a bar, drove him to the edge of town, tied him to a fence and brutally beat him. Eighteen hours later, a passerby discovered Shepard barely alive. He was taken to a Colorado hospital where he later died on October 12. Russell and McKinney were sentenced to life in prison.
The homophobic attack of Matthew Shepard was a watershed moment for LGBTQ activism. Advocates staged protests and candle light vigils across the U.S. Activists were especially enraged that McKinney, who alleged Shepard made sexual advances toward him, claimed “gay panic” in his defense — a defense that is still legal in most states.
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Gay Man Dies From Attack, Fanning Outrage and Debate
By JAMES BROOKEOCT. 13, 1998
Matthew Shepard, the gay college student who was kidnapped, robbed and pistol-whipped, died here today, five days after he was rescued from a Wyoming ranch where he had been left tied to a fence for 18 hours in near-freezing temperatures.
His death, announced at the Poudre Valley Hospital here, fanned the outrage that followed word of the attack, spawning vigils, producing calls for Federal hate-crimes legislation from President Clinton and fueling debates over such laws in a host of Western states, including Wyoming, that have resisted them.
In places from Denver to the University of Maryland, people turned out to mourn the soft-spoken 21-year-old who became an overnight symbol of deadly violence against gay people after he was found dangling from the fence by a passerby.
Russell A. Henderson, 21, and Aaron J. McKinney, 22, were charged with attempted murder and are expected to face first-degree murder charges that could bring the death penalty. Their girlfriends, Chasity V. Pasley, 20, and Kristen L. Price, 18, were charged as accessories.
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