10 Years After Matthew Shepard's Death, and Still No Federal Hate Crimes Law

When Matthew Shepard, the gay University of Wyoming student, died on October 12, 1998 – ten years ago this past weekend – the news sent shockwaves throughout a country too in disbelief to think that someone could be pistol-whipped, have his skull fractured in six places, be strung up to a fencepost and left to die in the middle of the night simply for being gay.

10 years later, that disbelief has resulted in inaction and paralysis from the U.S. government. Hate crimes committed against LGBT people have continued to climb since Matthew Shepard’s death, yet no federal piece of legislation has cleared Congress and made its way to the President’s desk to add sexual orientation to the list of categories protected under federal hate crimes legislation.

At the time of Matthew Shepard’s murder, President Bill Clinton made a call to arms:

“I was deeply grieved by the act of violence perpetuated against Matthew Shepard.  There is nothing more important to the future of this country than our standing together against intolerance, prejudice, and violent bigotry.  It is not too late for Congress to take action before they adjourn and pass the Hate Crimes Prevention Act.  By doing so, they will help make all Americans more safe and secure."

But five Congresses and two different presidential administrations later, the U.S. has yet to move forward legislation adding sexual orientation to existing hate crimes laws. Last year, for the first time since Matthew Shepard’s death, both houses of Congress passed a historic hate crimes bill known as the Matthew Shepard Act, which would have outlawed hate crimes based on both sexual orientation and gender identity. But the legislation has stalled under threat of President Bush’s veto, and Congress has been unwilling to push back on the issue.

Meanwhile, hate crimes committed toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people continue at an alarming rate.

February 2008: Lawrence King, a gay fifteen-year-old eighth grader from Oxnard, California, was killed by a male classmate after Lawrence asked him to be his Valentine.

February 2008:  Simmie Williams, a seventeen-year-old gay man, was shot and killed by two men on a street corner outside of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

July 2007: Satendar Singh, a gay Fijian national living in Sacramento, died after being punched in the head with brass knuckles. His assailants yelled racial and homophobic slurs at him before the attack.

May 2007: Sean William Kennedy, a gay twenty-year-old, was beaten to death outside of a bar in Greenville, South Carolina.

March 2007: Ryan Keith Skipper, a gay twenty-five-year-old Florida resident, was stabbed more than 20 times and beaten to death in retaliation for what his perpetrators called “unwanted sexual advances.”

October 2006: Michael Sandy, a gay twenty-nine-year-old from Brooklyn, died after being chased down in a car by four attackers attempting to rob him because he was gay.

And that’s all just within the past 24 months. President Clinton’s hope that “Americans will once again search their hearts and do what they can to reduce their own fear and anxiety and anger at people who are different,” doesn’t seem to be doing the deed. A stalled bill in Congress isn’t good enough.

A renewed effort is under way to remind Congress that it’s time to pass the Matthew Shepard Act, in order to ensure the safety and security of all Americans, including LGBT Americans. If you’d like to remind Congress of their duty to see through the passage and implementation of the Matthew Shepard Act, go to to Actions section of this blog.

Judy Shepard, Matthew Shepard’s mother and founder of The Matthew Shepard Foundation, issued a statement on this tenth anniversary of her son’s death. In the statement, she acknowledges that there’s still much work to be done in order to achieve equality and safety for LGBT Americans.

“The level of ignorance is astounding. The continuing belief that what happened to Matt was not a hate crime and the notion that ‘special people shouldn’t have special rights’, is beyond my comprehension,” write Shepard.

Ten years later, it’s time for LGBT and straight people to stand together and end the ‘astounding ignorance’ that continues to result in so much violence toward the LGBT community.