Judy Shepard: Just a "Grief-Stricken Mother" Who Doesn't Understand Hate Crimes?

Judy Shepard knows a hell of a lot more about hate crimes than some English professor at Appalachian State University.

Twelve years ago, her son Matthew Shepard was tortured and murdered in a brutal anti-gay hate crime. At the time, however, the assault could not be tried as a hate crime: Wyoming, the site of the killing, didn't have any applicable legislation. After over a decade of fighting to see federal hate crimes legislation that includes sexual orientation and gender identity passed, last fall President Barack Obama signed the Matthew Shepard Act into law, while praising Matthew's mother for her tireless work for the cause.

After the death of her son, Judy Shepard devoted her life to fighting against anti-queer violence and for hate crimes legislation. She has over a decade of experience in the political and activist realm on this subject, and a personal understanding of the issue that most of us cannot fathom. So her recent book, The Meaning of Matthew: My Son's Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed, seems like excellent reading for anybody who wants to comprehend the tragic motivation behind the latest hate crimes legislation, from the perspective of an advocate and, yes, a mother, uniquely positioned to offer the public and the personal angles to the issue.

But as Michael A. Jones points out on the Gay Rights blog, Judy Shepard won't be appearing on Appalachian State's summer reading list, despite being suggested. And her work was dismissed in the most disrespectful, insulting way possible: an email to the LGBT publication QNotes cited "concern that a grief-stricken mother had gotten into print on a subject that she neither wholly understood nor have [sic] a broad experience with."

Now, not selecting Shepard's book for the reading list is one thing; there are many important books out there, and the university only picks one each summer. But the rationale publicized is extremely demeaning to someone who has devoted over a decade to advocacy and teaching in this arena. Brushing off Judy Shepard as nothing more than a "grief-stricken mother" who somehow finagled her way into print on a subject she lacks a "broad experience with" (and what, pray tell, would give her a broader experience than she already has?) is downright rude and sounds awfully sexist.

You can sign the petition here to insist on an apology from the university.

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