Remembering Matthew Shepard 10 years later

Minneapolis might be hundreds of miles from Laramie, Wyoming, but this week it's where Matthew Shepard's mother is choosing to remember her son.

"It just seemed like a perfect place to do this, to honor Matt," says Judy Shepard, who frequently visits Minnesota. "Matt loved it here."

Matthew, a gay college student in Wyoming, was beaten, tied to a fence post and left for dead in October 1998. He passed away ten years ago this Sunday.

"I'm actually trying not to think about it," Judy Shepard told KARE 11 Sunday. "They're having a terrible snowstorm in Wyoming right now and it was very reminiscent of the day of Matt's funeral, where we just had tons of snow. So that made it a little extra hard today."

As hard as it might be, Matthew's parents continue to speak out. They created the Matthew Shepard Foundation, an organization working to erase hate, especially toward gays and lesbians.

"Overall, I'm still very unhappy that parents and families are throwing away their children," Judy Shepard says. "The most important thing is to love your children no matter what."

Remembering Matthew in Minnesota

Ten years ago, hundreds gathered in Minneapolis for a candlelight vigil to remember Matthew Shepard. This Monday night, Minnesotans will gather again for a vigil at 6:30 p.m. in Loring Park. The event is free and open to the public. Judy Shepard will speak at the ceremony.

Then at 7:30 p.m., at the nearby Woman's Club, there will be a reading of "The Laramie Project," a powerful play about Matthew's death. It's a ticketed event benefiting the Matthew Shepard Foundation. Click here for ticket information.

T.R. Knight, a Minneapolis native who currently stars in "Grey's Anatomy," will appear in the performance.

"It's telling his story," Knight told KARE 11. "It's telling all our stories. It's telling the story of hate, it's telling the story of fear, it's telling the story of hope."

Ten years later, Shepard and Knight can't possibly think of a more important story to tell.

"It's just remembering what happened to him and why," Judy Shepard says. "We can't forget the why because then we tend to overlook that these things are still happening."

Judy Shepard is disappointed the federal government has not passed national hate crimes legislation for the LGBT community. Proponents have pushed for federal action for the past ten years, coming closest last year when measures to expand the definition of hate crimes to cover sexual orientation passed both houses of Congress.

The proposals ultimately fell short, partly because of a veto threat by President Bush. Senator Barack Obama supports signing such a bill. Senator John McCain has yet to support it, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

By Joe Fryer, KARE 11 News   Read Joe's Blog

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