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104 – Matthew Shepard
1 Playsin 1 hour
Jeff tells the tragic and impactful story of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old college student whose murder in 1998 became a turning point in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights in the United States.
Matthew was targeted, brutally assaulted, and left for dead near Laramie because of who he was. His death shocked the nation and sparked conversations about hate crimes, discrimination, and the treatment of LGBTQ+ individuals across America. The case ultimately helped inspire stronger hate crime legislation and remains a powerful reminder of the consequences of prejudice and intolerance.
This episode explores Matthew's life, the events surrounding his murder, and the lasting legacy carried on by his family and the Matthew Shepard Foundation.
If you or someone you know is an LGBTQ+ young person who needs support, consider reaching out to the The Trevor Project. Trained counselors are available 24/7 by calling 1-866-488-7386 or by visiting their website for additional support resources.
Visit us on Linktree for the collection of links, Instagram, or email us at jeffandsamshow@gmail.com.
Sources
- Our Story – Matthew Shepard Foundation
https://www.matthewshepard.org/our-story/ - Pushing Forward the Legacy of Matthew Shepard
https://open.substack.com/pub/matthewsplace1/p/pushing-forward-the-legacy-of-matthew-677 - NPR – Matthew Shepard Laid To Rest, 20 Years After His Death
https://www.npr.org/2018/10/26/660969035/matthew-shepard-laid-to-rest-20-years-after-his-death - LGBTQ+ Bar Association – LGBTQ+ "Panic" Defense
https://lgbtqbar.org/programs/advocacy/gay-trans-panic-defense/ - YouTube – MATTHEW SHEPARD: THE DEATH THAT CHANGED AMERICA | MIDWEEK MYSTERY
https://youtu.be/3m0S5xkM4fM - RedHanded Podcast – Episode 202: The Haunting Murder of Matthew Shepard
https://redhandedpodcast.com - Homophobia in the Heartland (PDF)
Recommended
Transcript
Reunion and Catching Up
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, Sam. Hi, Jeffrey.
00:00:24
Speaker
How are you? I'm good. are you? just feel like we're brand new at this right now because we haven't done it in so long. It does feel like it's been a while. When's the last time? We recorded on the 9th. That was the last time? Yeah. So welcome to the Jeff and Sam show.
00:00:38
Speaker
I'm Jeff. And I'm Sam. Oh, you're still Sam? am. It's so good to see You you too. For reference.
Pride Month and Travel Plans
00:00:45
Speaker
Just for reference. a never mind keep going what are you oh yeah yeah yeah um so happy pride month everybody tis the month to be proud well every month is the month to be proud actually i just got everett a shirt no it's cammy's shirt i got her shirt and it's a rainbow unicorn and it's like it's like a really buff rainbow unicorn yeah and it says we've canceled pride month and now it's just gay rage month hell yeah and i just love it hell yeah gay rage month yeah because you know what fuck it um what you drinking uh oh i don't even know honestly i'll just open that thing up pink slush alani yeah it's got energy in it oh I just saw that word, energy. I saw you pause.
00:01:38
Speaker
ah I never drink energy drinks per se. I drink coffee and this is going to like make my head tingle. He's going to glitch. I'm going to glitch. We're going have a great time. rate us, review us. You can find us wherever you want to find us because all that stuff is in our show notes. Yeah. Right?
00:01:58
Speaker
Yeah. So obviously you're listening to us. Just take a little moment. Look at the show stuff. What's new with you? Nothing. I mean, some things, but nothing. I mean, we're just, at this point, shit, Jeff, we're counting down the days. We leave so soon.
00:02:14
Speaker
Are you doing the DC
A Norwegian Hospital Adventure
00:02:16
Speaker
Pride? No, because we're going to be in Norway. Well, it's the 12th of June. Oh. No, it's the 19th and 20th this year.
00:02:24
Speaker
Normally it's the first, second weekend, but this year they said it's the 19th and 20th. Oh. So I think I'll be falling down a mountain when it's happening. Hey, I did that the last time. Please don't let that happen to me again. Hey, you had a good story from it, though, and you got a tattoo out of it. yeah yeah don't, you know, actually that was, it was a lot of fun.
00:02:44
Speaker
falling down the mountain or everything after falling it didn't hurt when i fell and like cracked open my hand that did not hurt surprisingly i didn't even know it had happened until keith behind me was like yo your hand and i was like oh my so down the mountain we went down that mountain at the speed of lightning i just picture there's that um
00:03:12
Speaker
What's that that movie? Leap Year with Amy Adams in it um and the Irish dude and she goes to Ireland, right? And she, at one point, she's running down the hill from the castle trying to catch the train. Yeah. And she falls and like, you can see her. It's like that fall where it's like something catches on the ground and then it's like,
00:03:31
Speaker
Ass over tea kettle. And it's just skid. Yeah. good yeah No, mine was just a slip on a rock and a fall. And my hand landed on a pointy rock. But that was it. But then we got down the mountain as fast as we could. Didn't freak out because, you know, i'm I'm not bleeding out. It was ugly, but like, whatever. That can be fixed.
00:03:52
Speaker
It was the hospital visit in Norway. That was just, it was kind of fun, honestly. if I go to a hospital in Norway, I'm okay with that. you
Netflix's 'The Crash' Discussion
00:04:00
Speaker
It's ah the best healthcare. care The best. The best.
00:04:05
Speaker
And the doctor was so nice. And he lives on the island where we're going to be. So there is a, because he lives, i think, down the way. is that Pamela? okay i didn't He lives down the way from where we're going to be. So maybe there is a chance we will see him. And you'll say, I talk about you all the time. Look, you did this.
00:04:23
Speaker
I mean, I did this. did this. You helped fix it, you know? And I didn't die of infection because you guys are smart and you don't just antibiotic ever go. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Well, on that note, cheers, Queers. Wait, I do have a show i want you to watch.
00:04:37
Speaker
Okay. Okay, real quick. The Crash. Why does sound familiar? On Netflix. Because everybody is talking about that damn show right now. Who's it everybody? Nobody talks to me about it. I'm talking to you about it right now. Oh, okay. So, okay, look. Netflix true crime documentary, The Crash.
00:04:56
Speaker
look. It's right there. Yes. The Crash revisits a 2022 vehicular accident in Strongsville, Ohio. 17-year-old Mackenzie Schirrilla...
00:05:09
Speaker
is driving with her boyfriend Dom and Davion in the backseat. Davion's a friend of theirs, just a friend. And the footage you can see like they turn right, Mackenzie's driving, so she turns right onto like an industrial road where the speed limit's probably 50, right?
00:05:29
Speaker
And at the end of that road, you either turn right or left. Going straight is a building. She, you see the footage from a building of her car just going down the road. So she turned right onto the road at a normal speed using the blinker.
00:05:46
Speaker
And after that, she was flying down the road. and The little black box from the car, went because there's the black boxes. didn't know that. Yes, like a plane. Like a plane.
00:06:00
Speaker
So the black box from the car shows that in the last five seconds, before they crashed into the building, Her foot was on the gas pedal at 100%, all the way down to the floor at 100%. She was going 100 miles per hour. Fuck off. 98 miles per hour, 99, 100, whatever, into the building where it killed Dom and Davion.
00:06:31
Speaker
That's the beginning of it. Okay. And then they sort of peel back the layers and think, why did... How would that happen to Mackenzie?
00:06:41
Speaker
Like, why was it intentional that she hit the gas and floored it? You know? Okay. it's Interesting. goes kind of crazy after that. I like it. I didn't give any spoilers away. okay It's another one, like, should I marry a murderer?
00:06:59
Speaker
You're going to. But you know what, though? I know what you're going to think about it. What? And will agree with you. Okay. Guarantee it. Guarantee it. Okay.
00:07:11
Speaker
Should I do a story? Yeah.
Matthew Shepard's Story Begins
00:07:14
Speaker
Tell me a story. It's that time? It is that time. Shimmy? Let me take swig of my energy drink. I'm um vibrating.
00:07:29
Speaker
Okay. You know this story. I know this story. But now I'm going to tell it. At 6 p.m. October 7, 1998, on a cold, windy day, Aaron Kreifels was riding his bicycle through field in Wyoming.
00:07:47
Speaker
Aaron came upon something strange outside of Laramie, Wyoming. Initially, he thought it was a scarecrow attached to the fence, As Aaron moved closer to the fence, he realized that he was looking, what he was looking at was definitely not a scarecrow.
00:08:02
Speaker
it was the body of a young man who was beaten, bloody, and barely hanging on to life. So frantically, Aaron got back on his bike. He rollde rode nearly two miles back to Laramie. He stopped at the first house he got to and he asked if he could use their phone to call 911. Because it's 1998. Yep, two miles.
00:08:20
Speaker
He was probably freaking out too. When the police and the paramedics arrived on scene, they found a man who had been tied to a fence. His face was covered in blood and the rope tied so tightly around his wrist that policewoman Reggie Flutie had to cut the rope around the wrist off with a knife.
00:08:40
Speaker
Officer Flutie later said that the only part of the skin on the man's face that you could see were two trails of tears that had cut through the blood on his face. Flutie also thought the man was maybe 13.
00:08:52
Speaker
thirteen He was not. This was the bruised and the battered body of Matthew Shepard, 21 years old. and that's what I'm gonna tell you about. Now this case, when this happened, I was 22.
00:09:07
Speaker
twentyw And I remember watching everything about it. It really it was with me for years. it's still with me for years. Or it has been with me for years. Clearly, because here we are. Yeah. um I think about him.
00:09:24
Speaker
i think about how grateful I am that I made it to 50. fifty Almost 50. You know what I mean? yeah And he did not have that opportunity. And I think about his parents. You're going to find out how fabulous they are.
00:09:36
Speaker
So Matthew Shepard was born December 1st, 1976 to Judy and Dennis Shepard in Casper, Wyoming. He liked to be called Matt, so that's what I'm going to call him from this point.
00:09:47
Speaker
He lived in Casper for most of his life until junior year in high school when Matt's dad got a job in Saudi Arabia. So the family up and moved there. Matt ended up attending and finishing school at the American School in Switzerland.
00:10:00
Speaker
He worked there as a peer counselor. When it was his time for college, Matt decided it was time to move back to Wyoming where he planned to study political science, foreign relations, and foreign languages at the University of Wyoming, Laramie.
00:10:15
Speaker
Matt developed a love for politics at a very early age, and he sincerely loved helping people. And Matt was also openly gay. Now for this, he was bullied a lot, and a lot of that was because he was 5'2 and 110 pounds.
00:10:31
Speaker
So Matt was a very small man, so he was bullied for that, and I'm sure for being gay too. So his need to help other people came from a place where he had his own struggles, and he could empathize with people.
00:10:45
Speaker
He wanted to make the world better for someone else. Matt was always the person to stand up for someone less fortunate. There was one point where he made friends with a homeless man, and he would take the homeless man to lunch every week.
00:10:59
Speaker
And he was a student, so he probably didn't have that much money. Matt also found the coming out process to be difficult. His mom said she knew that he was gay, but he was more scared to tell his father that he was gay.
00:11:11
Speaker
He built up this scenario in his mind of how to come out to his dad, and when he actually did come out, it wasn't that big of a deal. Matt and his family loved and accepted him for who he was.
00:11:23
Speaker
But one of the hardest parts of Matt's life came when he was a senior in high school at the American school. He and his friends were like, let's go on a vacation. Let's go to Morocco.
00:11:35
Speaker
And they did. And one night in Morocco in Marrakech, Matt headed to a local coffee shop alone. A group of six men approached him and they all sexually assaulted Matt.
00:11:49
Speaker
His mom Judy said that Matt was never the same again. He started acting recklessly, he drank too much, he abused drugs, who among us? He would meet strangers and get into difficult situations with them. He was overly cautious with dating. He didn't want to be hurt.
00:12:07
Speaker
It was also at this time that Matt found out he was HIV positive. So I'm sure that played a part in the depression. he was also, his friends report that he was suicidal. And it was the ninety s there was a stigma about, eight there's still a stigma about
The Attack on Matthew Shepard
00:12:23
Speaker
HIV. But it was. Coming off the 80s where so many people died from HIV. There was still the fear. Yeah.
00:12:31
Speaker
Around that stigma. Right. So on October 6, 1998, while attending the University of Wyoming Laramie, Matt met up with his friends at the weekly LGBT club meeting, which I think is phenomenal because it was 1998. And my university did not have that.
00:12:50
Speaker
we were And I would like to think, honestly, that alaba Alabama and Wyoming were not that far apart, you know conservatively speaking. You know what i mean? Yeah. Yeah.
00:13:03
Speaker
Matt had other plans. After the meeting with the group, they headed to the local village inn and Matt tried to persuade them, his friends, to go with him to the Fireside Lounge for a drink, but nobody wanted to go.
00:13:16
Speaker
One of the group members drove Matt home and actually watched him walk inside. But Matt had other plans, so he went alone to the Fireside Lounge. He got there at 10.30 p.m., he sat at the bar, and he chatted with the bartender.
00:13:30
Speaker
after somewhat or After about an hour, he was approached by two men his own age, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson. High school dropouts. They had roofing jobs.
00:13:41
Speaker
They had purchased a pitcher of beer with a bunch of small change and eventually engaged Matt in a conversation. Shortly after midnight, Shepard left the bar with McKinney and Henderson.
00:13:53
Speaker
Matt would not be seen again until 18 hours later when Aaron Kreifels found him tied up to that fence just east of Laramie. Once Officer Flutie arrived to that scene where Matt was tied up, she attempted to establish an airway, but Matt's jaw was clenched.
00:14:12
Speaker
She said to him, quote, "'Baby boy, I'm here, kiddo. You're going to be okay.'" Initially, Matt was taken to a local the local hospital, Ivinson Memorial in Laramie, but he was too critical for that hospital. So they flew him to Poudre Valley at 9.15 p.m. on October the 7th. That's a major trauma center, I think.
00:14:32
Speaker
Matt was, of course, intubated or on life support. His injuries were really severe. He had suffered four fractures to the back of his head and one like around his right ear.
00:14:44
Speaker
He had a brain bleed. His brain stem had been severely damaged, which affected his body's ability to regulate heart rate, body temp, and other vital functions.
00:14:54
Speaker
There were also about a dozen small lacerations around his head, his face, and his neck. His injuries were deemed too severe for doctors to operate. In fact, the ER doctor said you usually only see injuries like mats from high-speed traffic incident accidents.
00:15:11
Speaker
Now, Matt's parents were in Saudi Arabia when they were informed of Matt's condition. So they arrived at Matt's bedside on October 9th, almost 48 hours after Matt was discovered.
00:15:23
Speaker
And nobody expected Matt to live much longer. His mom, Judy, said that when they arrived to the hospital, she couldn't even tell that the man in the bed was her son because his face was so badly disfigured.
00:15:35
Speaker
The only way that she knew it was him was because she could see the braces under his torn lips. Matt's family stayed at his bedside the entire time, and they requested privacy from the media.
00:15:49
Speaker
The family did make a beautiful statement about Matt through the doctor, like the doctor is the one that came out in front of the hospital, gave the statements on Matt, like the updates on Matt. They realized that they needed to do this because Matt's case went national in a big way.
00:16:04
Speaker
It started with local media, then regional, and then national. In fact, by the time Matt's parents had reached Wyoming, the Wyoming airport, Matt was the headline of every newspaper in the country.
00:16:17
Speaker
And the fact that Matt was gay was mentioned in every article. But this is where it's different. It was written as a less salacious and more factual way.
00:16:30
Speaker
So Matt was spoken about in the national media as kind and always wanting to help people. He had loving parents. He tried to speak other languages. He traveled the world. The picture they used of Matt was the black and white one in the sweater. You've seen it. I've seen it.
00:16:45
Speaker
We all know that picture. It was a beautiful picture of him. He looked like somebody everyone knew. So a lot of people were thinking, how could someone do something like that to someone like him?
00:16:56
Speaker
He was more of a person than just A story, a case. A story, a case, a victim. He was a person that people could relate to. The Shepherds, like, so...
00:17:10
Speaker
um Wait, I skipped a paragraph. It became personal to people. He looked like he could have been anybody's son. There were candlelight vigils across the world. In New York, there was a vigil that kind of got a little rowdy, turned a little violent.
00:17:24
Speaker
The news was so big that i was following it every day at the age of 22. And I remember the doctor coming out and giving the updates on Matt's health. President Clinton even called Judy and Dennis, his parents, with a supportive statement.
00:17:37
Speaker
So as Matt lay in the hospital, he became a symbol, a martyr, and he embodied the fear that so many people in the LGBTQ community faced on a daily basis because Matt was openly gay.
00:17:48
Speaker
The
National Outcry and Legal Battles
00:17:49
Speaker
Shepherds, like so many people, lived in a bubble. They just assumed something like this, based in hate, could not happen to their son, Matt. Many people had never considered the fact that a hate crime could happen like this because someone's sexuality or gender.
00:18:04
Speaker
But we know... A lot of people have a lot of hate in their heart for anybody that's different. So Matt's in the hospital and the police are working diligently to figure out who did this.
00:18:15
Speaker
About an hour after Matt was assaulted, two teens, Emiliano Morales and Jeremy Herrera, were walking through Laramie Park when two other men appear that same night.
00:18:26
Speaker
They started arguing and they fought, and Emiliano ended up with 21 staples in his scalp. When police show up at the scene, two men are running away from the scene, but they left their truck.
00:18:38
Speaker
The two men were Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson. They were just shit stirrers. Shitbags. Yeah. Horrible humans. Police search their car and find Matt's credit card and his shoes.
00:18:51
Speaker
They also find a 357 Magnum that was covered in blood. They make no connection to Matt because it's still another 17 hours until Matt was discovered. Yeah. When Matt was taken to the hospital later, the police immediately had their suspects. So by the time Matt was found, they had already gone through the car of McKinney, right? So they knew, yeah. Yeah, they already knew who committed the crime.
00:19:15
Speaker
McKinney and Henderson had already returned to their girlfriend's house after the crime, and they started getting their alibi straight. McKinney's girlfriend took him to the hospital because he had a hairline fracture the same night from the fight with Emiliano, where he was like three beds down from Matt. Fuck off.
00:19:34
Speaker
I forgot that. don't think remember that. The ER doctor was saying, I took care of him, and I took care of him. They were three beds down from each other. which we work in the ER, so we know that that is very well possible. We've had that this happen. Yeah.
00:19:49
Speaker
after they drive After the hospital, they drive to Cheyenne to dispose of evidence. It didn't take long for them to be arrested, though, and the story of what happened that night to Matt slowly started to emerge.
00:20:00
Speaker
McKinney and Henderson, who had been up for days using meth, met Matt that night at the Fireside Lounge. They went into the restroom and decided to pretend to be gay and pick Matt up just to rob him.
00:20:13
Speaker
McKinney said in the police interview that while they were riding in the car, mat rubbed his legs... and it pissed McKinney off. McKinney tells Matt that they aren't gay and basically that they're going to, quote, jack him up.
00:20:25
Speaker
Matt gives him his wallet, but the wallet only has $20 in it, and McKinney drives out to Sherman Hills outside of Laramie. They tie Matt up to a fence with his hands behind his back. They take Matt's shoes off so if he does escape, it'll take him longer to walk back to town.
00:20:43
Speaker
They start to pistol pistol whip Matt with the end of the gun. They beat Matt until he is unconscious. They leave him there to die. Matt was hit in the head 18 20 times.
00:20:55
Speaker
He was found with bruises on the back of his hand showing that at some point before he was tied up he had attempted to defend himself. Matt's groin also had a lot of bruising around it and showed that he had possibly been kicked there many times.
00:21:08
Speaker
McKinney and Henderson left Matt there that night, assuming that he was dead, and he never regained consciousness. At midnight, October 12th, Matt's blood pressure began to drop and his family was immediately notified.
00:21:23
Speaker
At 12.53 a.m., Matthew Shepard died from his injuries. His mom and dad were in the process of deciding whether or not to continue life support when Matt passed away. They expressed how grateful that they were that they did not have to make that decision.
00:21:37
Speaker
His family said, quote, Matt was caring until the end. He removed the guilt or stress from the family. While Matt had a lot of supporters in Laramie, there was also a lot of backlash.
00:21:50
Speaker
In the days after Matt's death, his father Dennis gave a press conference. When Dennis gave that press conference, police advised him to wear a bulletproof vest. So Dennis is crying for the loss of his son at this press conference while wearing a bulletproof vest because of all the hate.
00:22:08
Speaker
Over the next few days, the world mourned the death of Matthew Shepard. Matt's funeral was on October 16, 1998, attended by his family and friends. And of course, this is where I learned of them, the Westboro Baptist Church led by Fred Phelps, who protested everyone and everything with their nasty signs.
00:22:30
Speaker
Do you know what i'm talking about? And their homophobic slurs. One sign said, quote, Matthew Shepard is burning in hell, complete with a photo of Matt with a pink triangle above his head, ah throwback to Nazi camp not see concentration camps.
00:22:44
Speaker
One sign read, thank God for AIDS. Another one said, God hates fags. So while the LGBTQ community was aware of Westboro Baptist Church because of the previous instance, the general public, for the most part, was not aware of them.
00:23:02
Speaker
they found them appalling. This helped in an odd kind of way. Imagine the Shepard family at the worst moment in their life having to take all that vitriol. So many precautions were taken at the funeral. a SWAT team was outside of every door and the church also had to be swept for bombs.
00:23:25
Speaker
Judy Shepard... It's just horrible. I mean, it's their kid, you know? Yeah. Judy Shepard was later asked what she thought of Fred Phelps, the leader of Westboro. She said, quote, We loved Freddy.
00:23:39
Speaker
If it wasn't for him, there would be no Matthew Shepard. She was referring to the fact that even though Phelps and Westboro were so vitriolic, they really helped make Matt a symbol in the fight against hate.
00:23:51
Speaker
Boom. They're just good people. Damn it, Judy. What a lady. Damn. The LGBTQ community at the University of Wyoming that Matt was a part of decided to show their love for Matt. So while Westboro protested with their hate, the LGBTQ group turned up at the picket line picket line wearing outfits made from white sheets with wings that, to me, the wings looked seven feet tall. They were dressed as guardian angels.
00:24:19
Speaker
They encircled the Westboro members and then they forced them out of Laramie. Isn't that phenomenal? Meanwhile, the murder charges for McKinney and Henderson had been upgraded to first-degree murder, and now the two of them are up for the death penalty.
00:24:36
Speaker
A lot of people in Wyoming did not want this to be called a hate crime, but after Matt died, papers around the world read things like crucifixion in cowboy country.
00:24:47
Speaker
Matt's death was added it really added to the perception that states like Wyoming were place were dangerous places for gay people to be. In April of 1999, Henderson avoided going to trial when he pleaded guilty to murder and kidnapping charges. In order to avoid the death penalty, he agreed to testify against McKinney and was a sentenced to two consecutive life terms.
00:25:14
Speaker
McKinney's... Real quick question on that note. This is ah could be controversial, but... When people plead down, right?
00:25:26
Speaker
they They do something, they they turn on somebody, right? Do you think that that should be allowed? Do you think both of these gentlemen, black of gentlemen, um were both equally responsible and one of them never had to worry about the death penalty at all because he was like, oh, I'm going to turn. But I don't think they thought both were equally as responsible. I think they thought McKinney was was the one that was the worst, right? So if Henderson could provide information...
00:26:03
Speaker
That would solidify McKinney's. mean, he got two consecutive life terms. He only avoided the death penalty. And I say two life terms in prison, you're going to suffer for the rest of your life. You know what mean? Hopefully. Yeah.
00:26:16
Speaker
So McKinney's trial took place in October and November of 99. His trial lawyer led with the argument that Matt's murder was a result of a robbery gone wrong. And not a hate crime perpetuated or perpetrated because the victim was gay.
00:26:32
Speaker
According to his lawyer, McKinney was a lost kid and he was 21 and drugs were the real issue. But during the recorded police interview right after the attack, McKinney constantly used homop homophobic slurs. You can see it.
00:26:47
Speaker
You can see the interview. In McKinney's interviews, he had several variations of the same story, which were all something like, he touched my legs, I'm not gay, i freaked out, and I beat him.
00:26:59
Speaker
Those were not the the words that he said. It was way worse than that. McKinney's attorneys were also using the gay panic defense. This is saying that a criminal defendant in a nonviolent assault case was provoked by the victim because an unwanted sexual advance. Yeah, definitely. It's self-defense argument against gay people. Yeah, definitely, definitely, definitely. Side note, as of right now, 2026, this month, 30 states still allow the gay panic defense. Well, you know, because every gay man is attracted to every every man and every gay woman is attracted to every woman. So, you know, we don't have types. we We're not attracted to certain people. it's We're always coming on to you. What if a straight man, not there's a lot of good straight men out there. We're not like bashing anybody.
00:27:46
Speaker
hit on you. happens all the time. and I don't panic. used Try panic. You used the heterosexual panic defense. I got the heterosexual panic. It just came over me.
00:27:59
Speaker
I couldn't help it. I killed him. He had it coming. um um So 30 states still allow this gay panic defense. A defendant will use... probably going to be more soon. Right.
00:28:10
Speaker
Available legal defenses against assault and murder with the aim of seeking acquittal or a conviction of lesser offense. A defendant may allege to have found the same sex sexual advances so offensive or so scary that they were provoked into reacting.
00:28:25
Speaker
they were acting in self-defense, or they were temporarily insane and that this circumstance is exculpatory or mitigating. Well, you know, the 110-pound, 21-year-old man, um huge threat, huge, huge threat. 110-pound, yeah, 110. That's crazy.
00:28:45
Speaker
But he tried. That's my size. Yeah. That is me. Actually, I'm five three so he's smaller than I am. Yep. Wow, think about that. Yeah. Yeah. According to the lgbtqbar.org website, the goal of this strategy is to employ homophobia and transphobia to persuade a jury into fully or partially acquitting the defendant. It's
Legacy and Legal Reforms
00:29:07
Speaker
an appeal to bigotry.
00:29:09
Speaker
Every time the gay panic defense is invoked, it reinforces the dangerous and discredited belief that LGBTQ lives are worth less than others.
00:29:20
Speaker
Wait, they're not? Right. Right. Thankfully, in the case of Matthew Shepard, the judge dismissed the gay panic defense, and McKinney was convicted of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, kidnapping, and aggravated robbery.
00:29:33
Speaker
The prosecution wanted the death penalty, but during the sentencing phase, a plea deal was struck, perhaps because they were assuming McKinney would receive the death penalty. McKinney agreed to the plea.
00:29:46
Speaker
The deal was to drop the felony murder charge and therefore the death penalty, with McKinney agreeing that he would never appeal his life sentences and he would never speak about the crime publicly.
00:29:59
Speaker
To be clear, McKinney nor Henderson were convicted of hate crimes. They were convicted of murder, robbery, kidnapping. The legislation just didn't exist at that time for it to be called a hate crime.
00:30:16
Speaker
In fact, there are still three states today with no hate crime legislation. they? Can you guess one? Florida. Uh-uh. It seemed like they would. Surprisingly, Arkansas, South Carolina, and Wyoming.
00:30:34
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Matt's parents, Dennis and Judy, agreed to the deal that resulted in McKinney receiving two consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.
00:30:47
Speaker
Dennis Shepard made a victim impact statement at mckinnna's McKinney's sentencing saying, quote, My son Matthew paid a terrible price to open the eyes of all of us who live in Wyoming, the United States, and the world to the unjust and unnecessary fears, discrimination, and intolerance that members of the gay community face every day.
00:31:08
Speaker
On October 6, 1998, my son tried to show the world that he could win again. On October 12, 1998, my firstborn son and my hero lost.
00:31:20
Speaker
To McKinney, Dennis Shepard said, every time you celebrate Christmas, a birthday, or the 4th of July, remember that Matt isn't. Every time you wake up in that prison cell, remember that you had the opportunity and the ability to stop your actions that night.
00:31:37
Speaker
Every time you see your cellmate, remember that you had a choice, and now you're living that choice. You robbed me of something very precious, and I'll never forgive you that for that, Mr. McKinney.
00:31:49
Speaker
I give you life in the memory of the one who no longer lives. May you have a long life, and may you thank Matthew for it every day. Elegant. Beautiful.
00:32:01
Speaker
Starting almost immediately after the crime, national LGBTQ organizations renewed their call for federal hate crime statutes to be extended into crimes motivated by and modeed motivated by anti-gay bias. The bill had been a losing cause for Congress for many years, despite presidential backing.
00:32:22
Speaker
But supporters outraged by the Shepard case redoubled their efforts with the highly visible support of Matt's parents, Judy and Dennis. They were out there. They were out there.
00:32:33
Speaker
Sometimes passing the House, sometimes it passed the Senate, but the bill continued to fail or it was sideed sidelined by presidential veto threats until President Barack Obama signed it into law in October of 2009.
00:32:49
Speaker
Determined to prevent others from suffering their son's fate, Judy and Dennis decided to turn their grief into action and establish the Matthew Shepard Foundation to carry on Matt's legacy.
00:33:01
Speaker
The foundation is dedicated to working toward the causes championed by Matt during his life. Social justice, diversity, awareness, and education, and equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people.
00:33:16
Speaker
Per the Matthew Shepard Foundation, the life and death of Matthew Shepard has changed the way we talk about and deal with hate in America. Matt's legacy has challenged and expired inspired millions of individuals to erase hate in all forms. His legacy lives on in thousands of people who actively fight to replace hate with understanding, compassion, and acceptance.
00:33:41
Speaker
and From the npr article NPR article that I read, on October 26, 2018, 20 years after Matt was murdered, Matthew Shepard was interred in the washington Washington National Cathedral where he remains today.
00:33:57
Speaker
Bishop Gene Robinson, who's the first openly gay Episcopal bishop and a family friend of the shepherds, played an integral role in helping them secure a final resting place for their son.
00:34:09
Speaker
Matt's remains are held in the National Cathedral crypt in Washington, D.C., among those of Woodrow Wilson, Helen Keller, and her teacher Ann Sullivan. Bishop Robinson said, a burial among the nation's most revered figures," is quote, the perfect place for Matthew.
00:34:29
Speaker
I visited this cathedral in 2021 with Ashley and Alan, this is how special they are. We had a hard time finding the remains of Matthew or the spot where he's interred.
00:34:41
Speaker
We even had a docent from the church kind of helping us to find this, and it took a while, and I was like, we don't have to we don't have to do this. I can come back on my own time. Ashley was like, no. We're this. We're going to and we're going to find this, and we found it. oh So Theo Tran from Medium, ah love you do love Medium. Medium.
00:35:03
Speaker
Said, and this was an article from last year, he said, on this 27th anniversary of Matthew's death, we're seeing a petrifying regression into a climate that makes hatred, especially political violence, normal.
00:35:16
Speaker
It is not. Attacks on queer and trans people, immigrants and refugees, and people of color alike now seem so common that we've increasingly become numb to them.
00:35:28
Speaker
Sixteen years ago, President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the goal in mine being to be a world leader in what is meant to be a democratic, just society.
00:35:42
Speaker
The American dream, that American dream though, is quickly sliding away from us. Political scientists often say that democracy begins and ends with our own willingness to defend it.
00:35:54
Speaker
I would apply this claim to equality, too. I'm an outlier when I say that I have hope. And he ended his article with this. When you're walking in the mountains, people say, as I'm sure Matt may have once heard when he was in Wyoming, that you shouldn't take breaks when you're walking uphill, that it will only break down your energy.
00:36:13
Speaker
I say take this advice to the fight to erase hate, which is apparently only getting more difficult to climb in our current environment. Take care of yourself, of course, but perhaps more importantly, continue to love, to care, and to passionately and persistently defend what it means to be yourself without the fear of hatred.
00:36:36
Speaker
And that is the story of Matthew Shepard. Oh, well done,
Closing Thoughts and Resources
00:36:41
Speaker
Jeffrey. Thank you. You got it together. woof i did. You did. I did I did not. i did. i looked up and you had tears and I was like, and and I'm not doing it. You didn't do it. For one show, I'm not going to do it. Wow.
00:36:55
Speaker
Well done. oh All the sources I used will be in the show notes. um Yeah. That one was a good, that but was a big one for me, you know?
00:37:06
Speaker
That's extraordinary. that's a think it's very appropriate in the current climate, as you know. Right. That's why I added that last thing by medium.
00:37:18
Speaker
that's Yeah, it's wild. It's wild to think about. So also, if you LGBTQ plus youth and you need help or assistance or support, the TrevorProject.org, they have a number that you can text. It's six seven eight six seven eight you text START to six seven eight six seven eight Or you can call them at 1-866-488-7386, and they will be there for you.
00:37:53
Speaker
That's a good resource. It is indeed. oh o That was a good one, man.
00:38:04
Speaker
Did you see the thing I sent you on Instagram? They're making the Gay is the Word movie. Wow.
00:38:13
Speaker
They are, and I will look at it right now. So... Guys,
00:38:26
Speaker
your gays have arrived. wait, everybody. me the group you're representing. arrived. gays have arrived. Also, did and I don't think you've seen this. I think it's just called Pride. Oh, yeah.
00:38:36
Speaker
Oh, yeah, I'm going to do that story. ah have that did they come in my... Yeah, they're coming up with the movie is coming out. That is on, it's kind of a big story to do, but it is in my list of stories to do. it. God damn, love that story. I can't believe you haven't done it yet.
00:38:52
Speaker
I mean, we talk about it all the time. Yeah. um what What else was I going to say? Oh, when we went to see Hokum the other night. Such a good, good movie.
00:39:03
Speaker
there was a um There was a preview for a gay horror movie. Shut up. It looked so good. It was called Leviticus. Ooh. From the Bible. Biblical. From the Bible.
00:39:16
Speaker
Well, there's a there's a lesbian psychological thriller coming out or that has already come out. And it's about like culty things. And I'm really excited for that too. o It's the year for the gays, man. The year for the gays.
00:39:33
Speaker
The year for the gays. But take care of yourself, of course. But continue to love, to care, and to passionately and persistently defend what it means to be you, Sam.
00:39:45
Speaker
think I shall. I think I shall. And with that said, we're here for a good time. Not a long time. Bye.