Earlier this month marked the 25th anniversary of the death of Matthew Shepard. On October 6, 1998, Shepard was beaten, tortured and left to die, bound to a fence in a remote Wyoming field, not far from the small town of Laramie. He was found and taken to a hospital where he died from his wounds six days later.
Suspects Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson were arrested shortly after. They were charged, tried and convicted of first-degree murder. Both received two consecutive life sentences.
The case received national attention. It also proved a turning point for the LGBTQ+ rights movement once the public learned that Shepard was gay, and that his assailants were motivated by antigay hatred. The case energized the LGBTQ+ movement, assisted by Shepard’s parents, Judy and Dennis Shepard, who became powerful spokespeople against hate crimes. This eventually led to the passage of the nation’s first federal legislation for hate crimes in 2009.
