An Interview with Matthew Shepard’s Mother
September 16, 2009
In 1998, twenty-one year old Matthew Shepard was viciously murdered because he was gay. His mother, Judy Shepard, was recently interviewed on NPR about her new book, “The Meaning of Matthew: My Son’s Murder in Laramie and a World Transformed.” In the interview, Shepard talked about Matt’s personality—how she “felt it was a disservice for people to think that he was some angelic, perfect child. He wasn’t. He was just like everybody else.” That is, until he was singled out and murdered— “kidnapped, robbed, beaten, tied to a fence, pistol-whipped, and then left to die.” In the eleven years since her son’s murder, Judy Shepard has become a prominent supporter of gay rights and an advocate for the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
Discussion Questions:
- What is a hate crime? One caller questioned whether hate crimes should be punished more severely because of the perpetrator’s motivations. Judy Shepard’s response was that “it wasn’t those two men’s thoughts that murdered Matt; it was their actions. And they singled out Matt solely because he was gay. That made it the hate crime.” How would you have responded to the caller’s question?
- Shepard explained that hate-crime legislation is needed because “we can’t really address [hate crimes] until we find out why they’re happening, how they’re happening, where they’re happening. It’s a crime meant to terrorize the community.” After Matthew’s murder, many gay people left Laramie, for “they feared for their own safety now. . . . They viewed it as a crime against their life.” How does a hate crime that targets one person really target a whole community?
- People speculated that Matt had been tied to a fence in a crucifixion pose. Even after it was explained that he was not found in that pose, the press held onto the image. Why do you think the press held onto the crucifixion image? One caller referred to Matt as a symbol. In what way is Matthew Shepard a symbol? What does he represent?
- After Matthew’s murder, “the Wyoming State Tourism Office got calls from hundreds of people saying, we will never come to Wyoming. You just breed haters out there. You must teach them hate.” Why do you think the actions of Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson—the two young men who murdered Matthew Shepard—were seen as representative of the entire state of Wyoming? What do you make of such a generalization? Can you think of other examples of generalizations people make? What is harmful about generalizations?
- Check out Not In Our Town, an organization that "encourages community response to hate crimes."
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