Posted on 10/26/2018 9:33:46 AM PDT by Ennis85
The death of a gay student, tortured and tied to a prairie fence in Wyoming two decades ago, shocked America. As Matthew Shepard's ashes are interred in the nation's spiritual home, those who knew him reflect on his remarkable legacy.
It was the dental brace.
That's how Judy and Dennis Shepard knew it was their son in the hospital bed.
"Bandages and stitches all over his face," Judy says, "and bandages around his head where the final blow had crushed his brain stem.
"His fingers and toes were curled in a comatose position already. Tubes everywhere enabling his body to stay alive.
"One of his eyes was partially open so you could see his blue eyes and the tubes in his mouth. You could see his braces, so of course it's Matt.
"His face was swollen, actually kind of unrecognisable till you got closer."
Two nights earlier, on Tuesday 6 October 1998, Matthew Shepard walked alone into a dive bar in Laramie.
The openly gay University of Wyoming freshman had just met up with friends to plan LGBT awareness week on the town's campus.
But he couldn't persuade them to join him for a beer afterwards.
At the Fireside Lounge, the 21-year-old somehow ended up chatting to two roofing workers, Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney, both the same age as him.
The pair saw an easy mark in the 5ft 2in, slightly built student.
Albany County Sheriff Dave O'Malley, who was lead investigator in the case, says: "McKinney's own statement said he and Russell went into the bathroom at the Fireside bar and they planned to act like they were gay to try to gain Matthew's confidence.
"And so the sexual orientation issue started right at the beginning of that contact."
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Drug deal gone bad.
GRRRRRRRRRR! Truth has NO place in the msm.
I demand that Trayvon be buried right next to him.
Murdered by former gay lover in drug deal gone bad.
"...that changed America..."
It really, really was a drug deal gone bad.
One of the 2 new him “intimately”, the other just knew him.
He was a drug runner between Wyoming and Colorado.
Read ‘Book of Mark’. It is very well sourced.
News is basically fiction now.
Agitprop revisionist history
As are Lawrence v Texas and the Pulse massacre.
What I didn’t like was the painting of red America as murderers of gays.
Atrocious as this act was, this dredging up the past to smear recent proposed legislation is sick and wrong.
Lamestream media once again doing liberal’s dirty work.
“nation’s spiritual home”
More total propaganda b.s. The so-called “National Cathedral” is an EPISCOPAL cathedral and it is a false pretense to try to pretend it represents our nation.
It is true that Congress and some Presidents have given unwarranted attention to this place due to its name, but it is in no way a “national” cathedral and should not be allowed to continue in such misrepresentations.
Neither other Protestant denominations nor Roman Catholics (nor other religions) should recognize this place has having any “national” status any more than every other religious structure located in Washington, DC.
None of them are the “spiritual home” for the entire nation.
another false story like Trey Trey and Big Cuddly michael Brown.
Fake news.
“Drug deal gone bad.”
Exactly the truth. How can the myth/narrative of the gay martyr continue unchallenged for years?
That doesn’t excuse his death at all. Murderers should all spend life in prison (at the least), regardless of the race, color, ethnicity, age or gender of their victims.
I thought this pervert died when a drug deal went bad.
NOT hung from a fence.
NOT targeted cuz he was gay.
NOT targeted by straight people.
NOT targeted by bigoted people.
NOT innocent at all.
In retrospect it changed America but not the way they think (i.e. about gay rights). It was a test case that proved that the MSM could lie and make up any kind of story they wanted, sweeping the actual facts under the carpet, and get away with it. Rather than reporting what was true (drug deal gone bad) they turned it into gay martyrdom.
In that respect it was the beginning of Fake News.
Pretty good for a drug deal gone bad.
Isn’t this the guy who was murdered by his bisexual drug dealer with whom he sometimes exchanged sex for drugs?
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