Prosecutor Rerucha recalls that Shepard's friends also contacted his office. Rerucha told "20/20," "They were calling the County Attorney's office, they were calling the media and indicating Matthew Shepard is gay and we don't want the fact that he is gay to go unnoticed."
I have to wonder, if the attackers had been muslim and the victim a straight, white male, would it have been reported thusly (bolding by me):
Prosecutor Rerucha recalls that Shepard's friends also contacted his office. Rerucha told "20/20," "They were calling the County Attorney's office, they were calling the media and indicating Matthew Shepard is a straight, white male and his attackers are muslim. We don't want the fact that his attackers are muslim to go unnoticed."
Something tells me that at that point we would hear how we can't report that he was muslim since it may inflame the muslim community or some other garbage.
In any case, this is a terrible crime these two committed. That it wasn't really a hate crime does not do a whole lot to lessen that in my eyes.
That the MSM hooked onto the gay angle and it became gospel truth is not surprising in the least.