October 3, 2008

INTRODUCTION

Ten years ago, the brutal murder of openly gay college student Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming, shocked the nation. Shortly after midnight on Oct. 7, 1998, the 21-year-old University of Wyoming student was tied to a split-rail fence, savagely beaten and left to die in the cold of night.  He was found almost 18 hours later by a cyclist, who initially mistook him for a scarecrow. He died six days later.

With on the ground assistance from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) in Laramie to help manage media coverage and assist in organizing student and community press conferences, Matt’s story became one of the most covered and discussed anti-gay hate crimes in American history.  By channeling the community’s collective grief into action, Matt was not treated as another statistic, but as a life lost too soon – bringing new visibility to the role of hate violence and opening up conversations around the country.

10 years later, however, hate violence is still a pervasive problem.  According to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), the total number of victims reporting anti-LGBT violence increased by 24 percent from 2006 to 2007.  The number of anti-LGBT murders also doubled during that time period – only five murders less than the year Matthew Shepard lost his life to anti-LGBT violence.  Despite all this, sexual orientation and gender identity are to this day not included in any federal hate crimes legislation.  Although we have come a long way, we still have further to go.

By looking back on Matthew Shepard’s death and the countless other tragic incidents that occur every year due to anti-LGBT crimes, the media can play a vital role in determining community and law enforcement response to hate-motivated attacks – from local and state hate crimes legislation to the Matthew Shepard Act and beyond.