Matthew Shepard

13 years ago, today, openly gay Matthew Shepard was brutally attacked in Laramie, Wyoming. This was not the first hate crime he had been the victim of, but it was the last. Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson offered Matthew a ride home from the Fireside Lounge on the night of October 12. Instead, they drove him to a remote area, pistol whipped him, robbed him, tortured him, and left him tied to a fence post and left him for dead. According to their testimonies, they also intended to steal from his home.

Matthew was in a coma for the next six days. He was found on the morning of October 13 by a cyclist named Aaron Kreifels, who initially thought Matthew was a scarecrow. He had fractures on the back and right side of his skull, and at least a dozen lacerations around his head, face, and neck. There was also brain stem damage which prevented his body from being able to control its temperature or heart rate. Doctors deemed his injuries too severe to operate.

Both Henderson and McKinney are both now serving two consecutive life sentences, charged with felony murder. Neither was convicted of hate crimes because neither federal or Wyoming law protected targets of crimes motivated by homophobia.

In 2001, partially spurred by this crime, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crime Prevention Act was introduced in Congress. After eight years, it finally passed in 2009.

I know, probably, hopefully, everyone who is going to read this blog already knows this story -- if not in its every gory detail then you at least have the basic idea down. Still, it is important to remember once in a while that things are getting better, and that a lot of blood has been shed to get us where we are.

It's also important to remember that hate crimes still happen. All of the time. The media's focus lately has been on the startling number of LGBT teens who've committed suicide this year, but let's not forget that we've even seen government endorsed (and enacted) homophobia coming out of Africa. And a study done in 2010 suggests that the closer the LGBT community comes to equality, the more hate crimes we'll have to deal with.

Which reminds me of another image I came across today:

Obviously, in perfect seriousness, violence won't solve the problem of violence. But wouldn't it be nice if it would? Or, y'know, festive at the very least.