Judy Shepard never wanted to be an activist, never wanted a piece of legislation to bear her son's name, never wanted to head a foundation. That all changed on October 12, 1998 when her son Matthew was tied up, brutaly beaten, and left to die simply because he had the nerve to be gay.
Now, Judy is friends with Elton John and other celebrities who have embraced the mission of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, to try and stamp out hate towards GLBT people.
This is a nice article about her from USA Today. Here are a couple of excerpts:
"We try to educate everyone about everyone," she says. "But hate is still out there."
The foundation has educational, outreach and advocacy programs "to replace hate … with acceptance," Shepard says.
(GLAAD, the gay anti-defamation group, will honor Shepard with its Excellence in Media award Monday in New York. Past recipients include Billy Crystal, Diane Sawyer, Glenn Close, Patti LaBelle and Phil Donahue.)
Shepherd is encouraged by The Laramie Project, the play about Matt's murder that has seen 5,000 productions around the world.
"Ten years ago, can you imagine a high school putting that on?" she asks. "But it's been everywhere."
Shepard also points out what has and what hasn't changed in the 10 years since her son was murdered.
What hasn't is that hate crimes continue. She mentions the recent murder of Lawrence King, a gay 15-year-old junior high student in Oxnard, Calif., who was shot to death by a fellow student.
"This terrible incident underscores the fact that we cannot let hate go unchecked in our schools and communities," Shepard says. "Our young people need our direction and guidance to prevent this type of crime from happening."
If you are interested in more information, here is a link to the Matthew Shepard Foundation.
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