Yesterday was the eighth anniversary of the death of Matthew Shepard who was lured out of a gay bar then tortured, beaten up and left to die tied up on a fence in the freezing night.
I am not sure that anyone who is old enough to remember this event was not sickened by what those two young me did. Even today eight years later it still makes me upset.
It's fascinating that although the media canonised Matthew afer his death portraying him as a young innocent victim in a semi one dimensional characterisation, we now know he was a far richer and rounded individual. He was a real human being with the ups and downs in life that this entails. This just makes me all the more sad for him.
This was a Hate Crime, not just because the killers had issues with sexuality, but because they chose him because a slight gay guy is less likely to fight back.
Eight years on and we have politicians, people in extreme positions of power who still promote hate, intolerance and discrimination. They may not realise it but by restricting equality they have blood on their hands, for every person who is gay bashed, they have a tacit responsibility.
http://www.matthewshepard.org/
