Matthew Shepard
The murder of the 21-year-old student in Wyoming shook America – and led to a federal hate crimes law.
Matthew Shepard grew up in Wyoming and partly in Saudi Arabia, where his father worked. He was a small, friendly young man who was interested in politics and human rights and wanted to become a diplomat. In 1998 he was studying political science at the University of Wyoming in Laramie.
In the night of 6 to 7 October 1998 two young men lured him from a bar, robbed him, beat him brutally and left him tied to a fence outside the town. He was found the next day and died of his injuries six days later in a hospital in Colorado. He was 21 years old. His sexual orientation played a role in the crime, according to one of the perpetrators. Both men were sentenced to life imprisonment.
His death caused grief and outrage across the United States and around the world. Vigils were held in many cities. His parents, Judy and Dennis Shepard, founded the Matthew Shepard Foundation and campaigned for years for better protection. The play “The Laramie Project” (2000) became one of the most performed plays in American schools.
In 2009 President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. In 2018 his ashes were interred at Washington National Cathedral.