It was a killing that would scar America.
On an October night in 1998, 21-year-old university student Matthew Shepard accepted the offer of a ride home from a bar. He never made it.
Instead, he was viciously beaten, tortured and left to die, tied to a barbed-wire fence – almost as if crucified -- in Laramie, a remote part of rural Wyoming.
Matthew died of his injuries – so bad that his parents could hardly recognise him -- six days later. All because he was gay.
His name and face became symbols of the evil that man can do in the face of homophobia.
But through their work for the charity that would bear Matthew’s name, his parents Judy and Dennis Shepard channelled love in the face of hatred to see – ultimately, at the hand of President Barack Obama – federal hate crime law extended to include offences motivated by sexual orientation, gender or disability.
The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr Hate Crimes Prevention Act stands as testament to their extraordinary ability to find good in something fundamentally evil.
At the heart of our 2018 Attitude Awards ceremony, exactly 20 years to the day that their son was abducted, Judy and Dennis were a picture of compassion, humility and stoicism. They had even agreed a deal which saved one of the two men guilty of the crime from facing the death penalty. Both killers are serving life sentences.
The Mathew Shepard Foundation pours money into education to teach future generations about embracing difference and diversity, as well as funding Matthew’s Place, an online safe space for LGTBQ youth.
Little surprise, then, that the Attitude Magazine Foundation wanted to help and so there was a surprise guest at the Matthew Shepard Foundation’s 20th anniversary gala dinner in Denver, Colorado.
Attitude Magazine Foundation trustee Tom Tillmon was there to hand over a cheque for $10,000 - proceeds of the prize draw at the Attitude Awards.
"To have experienced such hate and respond with such love is so compelling a demonstration of the human spirit that there could only be one destination for the monies donated by our guests., says Tom.
Matthew’s ashes were interred in the crypt at the Washington National Cathedral in the nation’s capital in October 2018, at a service attended by more than 2,000 people.
The following summer he became one of the inaugural 50 American "pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes" inducted on the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor within the Stonewall National Monument in New York City.
“We had him with us for 21 years, and now we've been without him for 20,” Judy Shepard told a news programme. “It feels like what happened to him sometimes was yesterday and sometimes was 100 years ago.”
"To have experienced such hate and respond with such love is so compelling a demonstration of the human spirit”
