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On 17th anniversary of Matthew Shepard’s death, his parents ‘have so much work left to do’
It was 17 years ago today that college student Matthew Shepard died.
His tragic death came from the severe head injuries he suffered several days earlier when he was abducted and tortured by two men, before being left to die – tied to a fence – near the town of Laramie, Wyoming.
He was just 21.
The attackers were arrested and eventually sentenced to two-consecutive life sentences each for one of the most notorious hate crimes in U.S. history.
His parents created The Matthew Shepard Foundation shortly after their son’s death and have worked tirelessly to get federal hate crimes legislation passed.
Dennis and Judy Shepard, married for 42 years, have also traveled to 18 counties in recent years for the US State Department to talk about equal rights and bullying and discrimination.
‘After 17 years, Dennis and I are so grateful to still see such a huge outpouring of support from all of you,’ Judy Shepard wrote in a Facebook post over the weekend.
‘Your continuing support allows our message to reach more people so they will no longer feel alone or afraid to speak up, and more people are given the chance to change their hearts and minds in order to accept everyone. We have so much work left to do and we can’t do it alone.’
In an emotional interview with Gay Star News earlier this year, Dennis Shepard spoke of living with such a tremendous loss.
‘You feel the guilt that you weren’t there when he was out there in that field by himself, that’s the thing that really bothers me,’ he said. ‘Was he asking for dad to come take care of him like he used to?’
It’s clear that no many how many years pass, the loss is ever present.
‘You never make progress, you’re always mourning,’ the father said. ‘You always have that hole. You don’t have the same joy when it comes to mother’s Day and Father’s Day and birthdays and Christmas. You always have that little bit of mourning that you’re doing and grieving. But you have to go on with your life. You can’t just shelter up in the corner. Matt wouldn’t have wanted that and I refuse to do it because then the bad guys win.
‘We were forced into (activism),’ he adds. ‘We didn’t know anything about the gay issues. Matt was our son, that’s all we knew. We didn’t know that he’d have to fear for his life, that he couldn’t get a job if he was gay, we didn’t know any of these issues. It just really upset us to find this out – all these kids with no chance to succeed because they are considered different. That is just not right.’
The post On 17th anniversary of Matthew Shepard’s death, his parents ‘have so much work left to do’ appeared first on Gay Star News.
Greg Hernandez
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