By Tod Companion
The Alabama Forum
photo's courtesy of www.mattshepard.org
The Lynching of Matthew Shepard
As Birmingham held the 13th annual Alabama AIDS walk, and many celebrated National Coming Out Day, a young man lay dying in a Colorodo Hospital. On October 6, 1998, two high school drop outs convinced Matthew Shepard to leave the Fireside Lounge in Laramie Wyoming, and join them in their truck. They reportedly revealed their deception and then took turns beating him. He was then trussed up on a fence outside of town in 30 degree weather. He had been burned and repeatedly struck with the butt of a handgun. He was found by passing bicyclists several hours later, at first mistaken for a scarecrow. The beating was so severe and the damage to his brain so extensive, it was impossible for doctors to operate. He lingered long enough for his parents to arrive from Saudi Arabia, but never regained consciousness. Matthew Shepard died on October 12, 1998.
The Shepard family was deeply touched by the massive outpouring of grief from all over the world. Rather than flowers and telegrams, they suggest people to contribute to the Matthew Shepard Fund, c/o First National Bank, PO BOX 578, Fort Collins CO 80522. Please send funds to account #1926083.
The murder of this young man has broken loose a logjam of anger, fear and frustration within the gay community. Rex Wockner, who runs a gay newswire, believes the “lynching” of Matthew Shepard is “The biggest Gay story of all time. There is a deluge – which is not a strong enough word – of editorial, columns, op-ed pieces, local profiles and news stories in every daily newspaper I’ve seen.” From CNN to the Birmingham Herald, America turned its attention to the issue of violence against the gay community for the first time. Birmingham’s normally conservative television stations covered the story with location shots of a MCC sponsored vigil and detailed the issues with accurate statistics and at least one personal account of gay bashing.
Three major weeklies covered the murder and the issue of violence against gays. Time, Newsweek and US News & World Report, each dedicated portions of an issue to the struggle for gay rights, the violence many of us face, and the efforts to win marriage rights in Hawaii and Alaska. When compared to relative media silence regarding the savage murder of Navy enlisted man Alan Schindler, the issue of gay bashing is finally front and center in American media.
Stonewall II
Gay Americans now find themselves up against the fact that being gay, being out, can be dangerous. Even urban gays, in cities large and diverse, are aware that there is violence threatening our community. Now that the tragedy has passed from the immediacy of the evening news, We are left alone with our shock, grief, and in many quarters, anger.
Anger so great, that on the Monday following Shepard’s funeral, a vigil and protest in New York City turned ugly and became a brawl. An estimated crowd of five thousand gathered at the Plaza Hotel for a peaceful vigil. But when their march spilled onto rush hour streets, the police moved in. More than a hundred were arrested. Mayor Giuliani felt that although the vigil/march was for a worthy cause, it had been planned poorly. Reportedly trampled by horses and forced onto commandeered city buses; participants were held for hours without charges and in some cases had their AIDS medications confiscated. Strangely, this event was almost totally ignored by the national media.
Matthew Shepard Online Resources:
News stories from other sources:
Gay News and Political Organizations:
National Gay and Lesbian Task force
Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
This violence echoes back to other watershed
protests, especially the Stonewall rebellion, which inaugurated the gay rights
movement in 1969.
Stonewall II, as Monday’s clash with police
is being called, has supercharged the NYC gay community, which has experienced
a huge rise in anti-gay crimes recently. The city is confronting a mayor who
many feel panders to gay political groups but is racist and homophobic.
Comment and Conspiracy
The national reaction to this murder has been mixed. President Clinton issued a statement condemning this violent murder, and all hate crimes. He sent two cabinet representatives, one openly gay, to the funeral. The Republican Party, however, has steadfastly resisted hate crimes legislation. Despite the public outcry, the congress merely resolved against hate crimes, leaving the Hate Crimes Prevention Act to languish as they passed a long overdue budget, laden with pork. Republicans quietly count this as a political victory, resisting “liberal special interests.” They accuse the gay community of wanting special rights and protected status. Hate crimes legislation, they state, punishes motive and not crimes.
In Wyoming itself, there are accusations of a conspiracy to conceal the hate motive in this case. John Aravosis, a Washington DC based Internet political consultant, believes “There may be a clandestine effort by Wyoming’s officials to re-cast Shepard’s death as simple robbery. Whether it’s blatant homophobia, simple ignorance, or a cave to pressure from religious fundamentalists, the fact remains that four key Wyoming officials have now backed off of earlier statements establishing a clear link between anti-gay hate and Shepard’s murder.”
We now have a long wait until trial. County prosecutors refuse to comment on the murder and have asked the judge to seal the records in the case. A gag order has been imposed, eliminating public access to the details of the case. “Were Wyoming’s officials adopting a strategy of downplaying the hate crime aspect of Shepard’s gruesome murder, sealing the court records would be a great way to hide that fact from the public.” Says Aravosis.
The rest of the Wyoming government has remained quiet, because despite the state motto “The Equality State,” Wyoming has no hate crime legislation at all. The conservative, Republican state legislature has soundly defeated recent attempts to enact such laws. Wyoming is among ten states that have no hate crime guidelines. Here in Alabama, a state which did not collect hate crimes data until mandated to do so by the federal government, both gubernatorial candidates have stated that there is no need for hate crimes legislation changes. Alabama is one of 19 States that does not recognize bias crimes against gay men and lesbians as hate crimes.
Fueling the Fire
Nationally, Conservatives have found themselves scrambling to respond to this incident. This high profile murder, and the vast public outcry follows a controversial series of ads claiming that homosexuality is a choice. These ads are part of an expensive, conservative-Christian media campaign. Appearing first in print and now on TV in critical conservative markets, these ads for “Truth in Love” state that being gay is an illness, and a cure may be found in Jesus. This “Ex-gay” movement has roused the ire of gay leaders. These discredited programs, they believe, do nothing for gay people and allow a subtle form of demonization of the gay community.
Is there is a connection between such ads and violence against the gay community? At a memorial rally in Washington DC, Elizabeth Birch, Executive Director of the Human Rights Campaign said of conservative demagogues, “They create an environment of intolerance and give license to those who seek to vent their rage or frustration on an entire community.” When challenged, conservatives retort that the gay community calls for diversity and tolerance but will not accept a negative view; and that such ad campaigns are part of their free speech rights. Jonathon Alter, in a column for Newsweek magazine, feels blame lies in the leadership of the religious right. “Discerning clergymen and moralists can hate the sin and love the sinner, but by the time the message reaches the angry guy sitting in the bar, the distinction has been lost.”
Fred Phelps, leader of the venomously homophobic Westboro Baptist Church and operator of godhatesfags.com, exercised his free speech rights by picketing the Shepard funeral. Phelps and his followers, mostly his children and their spouses, have gained fame by picketing gay or gay inclusive events. Seeking to spare the Shepard family further duress, the city council in Casper quickly passed an ordinance forbidding this. In a further show of sensitivity and unity, the citizens of Casper formed a shield between Phelps and the funeral party. This was, however, Phelps’ most visible action to date. His protest made the national news, but the thousands of candlelight vigils and a huge memorial service on the Mall at the Nation’s Capitol went virtually unreported.
Gay Netizens
With Internet redistribution of news, our community was connected from the moment Shepard reached the hospital. Unlike the murder of Harvey Milk, which remained largely a local event in San Francisco, the death of Matthew Shepard has ranged far and wide in its influence. John Aravosis’ web site: Wiredstrategies.com continues to serve as central access point for stories, vigil organization and information distribution. This included an online vigil for Shepard on the day of his funeral, when thousands of web pages were turned off, leaving only simple statements of outrage, grief, and calls for hate crimes legislation.
What Next?
Hate crimes legislation has come under scrutiny. In Washington State, which added sexual orientation to hate crime guidelines in 1993, reports indicate a decrease in assaults against the gay community. The Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama based organization which tracks hate crime, published an opposing study which asserts that hate crimes legislation has little or no effect on the rate of these acts. Their 1998 Intelligence report, which documents a 260% increase in hate crimes against gays and lesbians, contains a section titled “The severity of the violence shows the hatred.”
According to their data, a gay person is six times more likely to be a victim of a hate crime than Hispanic or Jewish people, and twice as likely as an African Americans. Other studies rank gay victimization by hate crimes at lower levels, but nearly all studies place homosexuals in the top five groups victimized. David Leavitt, writing for the New York Times, remarked “No, gay killings are not everyday occurrences, any more than lynchings were ever a daily event in the South, but the fear colors everything.”
Many surveys conducted at the time of the murder reveal that a large number of gay men and lesbians are victims of violence. Over 60% reported that they had found themselves in a confrontation they feared might become violent. Nearly a third reported that having been a victim of an anti-gay assault. This is supported by studies from the Department of Justice and the FBI. Both report that hate crimes are increasing against the queer community. Studies also indicate that many hate crimes go unreported, and often police departments fail to classify crimes as hate based. Motivation must be demonstrated for the sentencing guidelines of hate crimes legislation to be applied.
Another fact brought to light by the reaction to the death of Matthew Shepard is that we ARE everywhere. From Moscow, Idaho, to DC, vigils, memorials and demonstrations have clearly shown that there is a gay presence is nearly every part of America. And in towns small and large, the American people have supported us and said “There is no excuse.”
The electronic news services GLB-PRESS and GLB-NEWS contributed to this report, as did Wiredstrategies.com and the Wockner News Service.
