Matthew Shepherd’s mother bothered by slow progress for gay rights 10 years after son’s horrible murder
”We’ve actually tried to address issues that haven’t changed. It’s been ten years. Why haven’t things progressed further than they have?… The level of ignorance is just — it’s amazing that people just don’t know more about the civil rights that are being denied the gay community, and we’re moving forward and working at the grassroots level now trying to really educate people and make them aware of the gay community…. [Wyoming] is, I think, one of four states left with no hate crime legislation at all. Wyoming had the perfect opportunity to actually set the tone, set the example, just to be what every state should have been had that happened in their state, and they didn’t take advantage of it.”
Judy Shepherd, mother of Matthew Shepherd whose terrible murder 10 years ago by two young men in Wyoming has likely become the most infamous hate crime committed against a gay person. Judy Shepherd says that despite more positive portrayals of gays in media and entertainment, there remains a long way to go for gay equality in this country. She also said that to her knowledge the two killers have not shown any remorse for taking the life of her son, probably because of the insensitive environment in which they lived. (CBS News)
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