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5 years ago in October - anyone remember this ?

rh71

rh71

No Lifer
Before I begin, this is not a message to the mods or anyone else about the whole "gay" thing... I just found this story this morning... happened 5 years ago. Anyone remember this one ?

Matthew had been lured from a campus bar shortly after midnight on October 7 by two men who told him they were gay. He was driven to a remote area near the Sherman Hills neighbourhood east of Laramie, tied to a split-rail fence, tortured, beaten and pistol-whipped by his attackers, while he begged for his life; he was then left for dead in near freezing temperatures. A cyclist who found him on Snowy Mountain View Road at 6:22 pm, some 18 hours after the attack, at first mistook him for a scarecrow. He was unconscious and suffering from hypothermia. His face was caked with blood, except where it had been partially washed clean by tears.

Matthew died at 12:53 am on Monday 12th October 1998, at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, with his family at his bedside. Hospital officials said Matthew had a fracture from behind his head to just in front of his right ear and a massive brain stem injury which affected his vital signs, including his heart beat, body temperature and other involuntary functions. There were also approximately a dozen small lacerations around his head, face and neck. He was so badly injured in the attack that doctors were unable to operate. He never regained consciousness after being found, and remained on full life support.

While Matthew lay dying in hospital, just a few miles away, a group of students from Colorado State University thought it would be funny to ride atop a homecoming float that featured a scarecrow figure designed to resemble Matthew's battered body. The figure was wearing a sign that said "I'm gay." An obscene message was painted across the back of the scarecrow's shirt. The students didn't mean to be insensitive. It was supposed to be a joke. They were just ordinary, average guys, having a bit of fun.

Matthew was born Dec. 1, 1976, in Casper, and was the oldest son of Judy Peck Shepard and Dennis Shepard. While living in Casper, he attended Crest Hill Grade School, Dean Morgan Junior High, and completed his sophomore year in Natrona County High School. He was a member and an acolyte in St. Mark's Episcopal Church.

He attended the last two years of high school at the American School in Switzerland, where he graduated in 1995. After graduation from high school, he attended Catawba College in Salisbury, N.C.,and Casper College. He then moved to Denver, where he had several jobs. He was a first- year political science major at the University of Wyoming in Laramie at the time of his death.

He enjoyed the theatre and had parts in several Casper College and Stage III Theater plays. He liked soccer, swimming, running, camping, hunting, fishing and snow skiing; as well as dancing and theatre.

Matthew was gentle of demeanour and passionate about human rights and foreign relations. Friends described him as a small man - 5-foot-2, 110 pounds - with a big heart. "He would do anything for anybody".

Matthew was killed to make a point. His fragile, broken body was left strung up like an animal as a clear message to gay men everywhere. How can someone be so consumed with hatred for a fellow human being that atrocities like this happen? Why is homosexuality even an issue? Why does it excite such feelings of hatred and violence in people, when their lives will never be touched by it? Why is a person's sexuality anyone else's business; and who are we to judge other people?
This was a hate crime, and Matthew was brutally attacked, and left there to bleed his life away, simply because of who he was.
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I remember that.

They talked to someone from the school where it happened. They said that there is a lot of peace and friendship towards the gay community there. That's a good thing.
 
Originally posted by: RickyRoma
Yep, I think HBO even did a movie on it.
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i think it was a play. The Laramie Project.
or maybe it was a documentary turned into a play...
something like that.
 
i think it was mtv that did a movie on that. i remember seeing somehthing resembling this story on mtv. never knew it was based on a real story. truly sad though that someone could do that to another person
 
Originally posted by: DorkBoy
who really cares ?:disgust:
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Your name fits you....of course you're not fred either.

It's scary to think that people are running around in this country with a lack of regret or fear of punishment.
 
It was sad a gay man was targeted, but there are many 'hate' crimes everyday. Most of them instigated as children are growing and being taught the hatred and being told they are above the law or that no one will care to find out who did it.

These kinds of random crimes (and just random crime in general) are hard to solve many times and often go unsolved.

However, I think the real problems are that people just don't want to get involved....tons of things happen where many have had to have seen it happening, but noone does anything....even those will cell phones don't take the time to call in a see if an altercation/accident has been reported or that person alone on the side of the road in the middle of the night. You don't have to get involved, just make a simple phone call.
 
Originally posted by: alkemyst
It was sad a gay man was targeted, but there are many 'hate' crimes everyday. Most of them instigated as children are growing and being taught the hatred and being told they are above the law or that no one will care to find out who did it.

These kinds of random crimes (and just random crime in general) are hard to solve many times and often go unsolved.

However, I think the real problems are that people just don't want to get involved....tons of things happen where many have had to have seen it happening, but noone does anything....even those will cell phones don't take the time to call in a see if an altercation/accident has been reported or that person alone on the side of the road in the middle of the night. You don't have to get involved, just make a simple phone call.
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Kitty Genovese
 
I saw the movie on MTV. Its a very very sad story. I don't know what happened to those guys- but I think what those Colorado State U kids did almost is worse. I know that sounds weird- but that kind of insensitivity is even more dispicable that enraged stupidity.
 
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