He would be 31 today, had he not been beaten and left to die tied to a split-rail fence outside Laramie, Wyoming. It is hard to believe that it has been 10 years since Matthew Shepard was brutally murdered. The senseless death of this cute, slight, young college student moved a nation, but did it make any difference?
A decade later, we still have no federal hate crimes law. One of the candidates for president has promised to sign the law should it pass, which is progress over the man who has been in that office for the past eight years. He threatened to veto it, and, when he was governor of Texas, refused to allow the passage of any hate crimes bill that included sexual orientation. We had to wait until he moved to Washington to pass it, so I guess it isn’t surprising that we will need to wait until he moves back to Texas to pass it in Washington. It likely will pass, though most of the representatives and senators from the former slaveholding states oppose it.
I wonder what Matthew might have thought about that fact that the law as it has been currently drafted would leave out protection for transgender people. Many of our own leaders decided it was okay to throw them under the bus if that was what it took to get the bill passed. What does that say about our own leaders, or about the organizations that support, or tacitly approve, that strategy? Are they so desperate to prove they have accomplished SOMETHING that they are willing to abandon the very people who may need the legislation the most?
Matthew was beaten in the early morning hours of October 7, 1998. He never regained consciousness and died October 12. Subsequently, his murderers were captured and convicted. They were given life sentences, in part because Matthew’s parents pleaded against giving them the death penalty. By clicking HERE you can hear the words Dennis Shepard spoke at the trial. They are so powerful that they were incorporated into the play and film “The Laramie Project.” Please listen. Please remember. Please keep working to end hate not just for ourselves, but for all God’s children.
Hope for Peace & Justice
to Host President of Interfaith Alliance
Dr. Welton Gaddy to launch national dialogue
on faith, freedom and LGBT equality
Rev. Dr. Welton Gaddy, president of Interfaith Alliance, a national nonpartisan grassroots organization that celebrates religious freedom by championing individual rights, promoting policies that protect both religion and democracy, and uniting diverse voices to challenge extremism, will be the special guest speaker at the 9 and 11 a.m. services at Cathedral of Hope on Sunday, October 12. In addition, Rev. Dr. Gaddy, hosted by Hope for Peace & Justice, will launch a national dialogue on faith, freedom and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality at 3 p.m. in the cathedral sanctuary in observance of the 10th anniversary of the death of Matthew Shepard. The Cathedral of Hope is located at 5910 Cedar Springs Road; Dallas, Texas 75235. The events are free and open to all. Please join us for worship as well as this important and historic event.
Interfaith Alliance is uniquely positioned to help reframe our national conversation on LGBT equality, as the only national interfaith organization dedicated to protecting the integrity of both religion and democracy in America. At the launch, Reverend Gaddy will speak on LGBT equality and faith as he prepares a peer reviewed Green Paper on the topic. This session will allow Rev. Gaddy to elicit feedback from participants in preparation for this undertaking.
The paper, which will be completed early next year, will offer a diversity of ideas, based on Rev. Gaddy’s unique perspectives of religious freedom and interfaith dialogue. At this writing, peer reviewers include: Martin Marty (theologian, the University of Chicago) Archbishop Desmond Tutu, The Right Reverend Jane Holmes Dixon (Bishop Suffragan, 1992-2000, Bishop of Washington, pro tempore, 2001-2002), Mitchell Gold (businessman and philanthropist), Ruth Davis (constitutional attorney), Chrys Lemon (attorney) and Tom Minar (Vice President, American University).
