Matthew Shepard’s horrific death at the hands of redneck homophobes shocked America and changed its laws. But 15 years later, a different truth emerged. Why does it matter?
I've never really understood the belief that legislating "hate crimes" and prosecuting them does anything but complicate things. Whether someone kills someone else because they hate gay people or for some other reason, to me, murder is hate in action. So "hate crime" is redundant. As though other violent crimes aren't hateful.
I hate to sound so pessimistic as we all mourn the death of Matthew Shepherd. But my first reaction when I heard the prepared statement from the Matthew Shepherd Foundation was cynical. Foundations generate funds and support an employment base. Any challenge to the official narrative puts this in jeopardy and doesn't serve to advance the cause. What a beautiful and troubled young man. My heart still goes out to his family.
I note that a paragraph appears in the 2014 Observer version of this article that does not appear here:
John Stoltenberg is a gay-rights activist who lived with the feminist writer Andrea Dworkin until her death in 2005. He’s a long-time supporter of The Laramie Project, but has also blogged positively about The Book of Matt. “Keeping Matthew as the poster boy of gay-hate crime and ignoring the full tragedy of his story has been the agenda of many gay-movement leaders,” he says. “Ignoring the tragedies of Matthew’s life prior to his murder will do nothing to help other young men in our community who are sold for sex, ravaged by drugs, and generally exploited. They will remain invisible and lost.”
I've never really understood the belief that legislating "hate crimes" and prosecuting them does anything but complicate things. Whether someone kills someone else because they hate gay people or for some other reason, to me, murder is hate in action. So "hate crime" is redundant. As though other violent crimes aren't hateful.
I hate to sound so pessimistic as we all mourn the death of Matthew Shepherd. But my first reaction when I heard the prepared statement from the Matthew Shepherd Foundation was cynical. Foundations generate funds and support an employment base. Any challenge to the official narrative puts this in jeopardy and doesn't serve to advance the cause. What a beautiful and troubled young man. My heart still goes out to his family.
I note that a paragraph appears in the 2014 Observer version of this article that does not appear here:
John Stoltenberg is a gay-rights activist who lived with the feminist writer Andrea Dworkin until her death in 2005. He’s a long-time supporter of The Laramie Project, but has also blogged positively about The Book of Matt. “Keeping Matthew as the poster boy of gay-hate crime and ignoring the full tragedy of his story has been the agenda of many gay-movement leaders,” he says. “Ignoring the tragedies of Matthew’s life prior to his murder will do nothing to help other young men in our community who are sold for sex, ravaged by drugs, and generally exploited. They will remain invisible and lost.”
(https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/26/the-truth-behind-americas-most-famous-gay-hate-murder-matthew-shepard)
(https://dctheaterarts.org/2014/08/11/magic-time-laramie-project-convenient-untruth1/)
Great article Julie - thank you for posting it - I didn't know any of this - just the "official" story.
Incredible story.
Great article. What a beautiful writer you are, Ms. Bindel.
I hadn't heard about this before but I wish I had known when my friend told me I was just as bad as the killers because of my gender critical views