In memory of Matthew Shepard

[bluedragon]

16 years ago, on this very fateful day, an innocent soul left us, breathing his last.

Matthew was murdered in a brutal manner, something that any human with conscience will not do. He was beaten up, tortured and tied to a fence and let to die. A cyclist found him only many hours later. If he has been spot by someone earlier, he could have survived. When the police arrived on the scene, they saw that his face was covered fully in blood and the only white skin that could be seen was where the streaks of tears had washed the blood away. Imagine how much pain and agony he went through that fateful night to be crying like that


(Picture depiction of Matthew Shepard)

His life had some tormentous events, one in which he was beaten and raped during a high school trip in Morroco and this has led him to a state of having depression and panic attacks.


(All I can see is only innocence in this picture. )

He was known to have a pleasant personality and has great interest in politics. He was a political science major in the university.


(Graduation photo of Matthew Shepard - I believe its his high school graduation photo)

I didn't come to know of his death at 1998 ( I was really young - 8 yrs old then). I came to know about him and his tragic demise in 2010 through one of Ellen Degeneres's shows.



(This is the exact video that I saw)

I was really shocked when I saw the video and went to research more about him. Reading his life story really made me sad and grieve for him. I remember I could not eat my meals properly that day and it took about a week for me to get back to normal. You can see how emotional Ellen was at the end of the video. Thats how I felt too.



There is a biography book of him "The meaning of Matthew".


And there are many films based on his life story.

One film is "The Matthew Shepard Story".



(I hope youtube does not remove this video.)

Even after his death, there was a homophobic group that carried hateful slogans saying that he will go to hell. I mean why no sympathy for him? He has passed away, mind you. It was really touching to see when there were supporters dressed up as angels who stopped the homophobic mob.


(The supporters are really angels indeed.)

I really feel upset and sorrowful whenever I think of Matthew Shepard. If there is life after death, i really hope he will be having a happy life now.

[Jake]

Well, I was not young enough not to remember the report in the news. 1998 I was in University Finishing Business and entering Sociology, the outrage I felt that day... I didn't care much about the gay part. NOBODY in its right mind should make another human being suffer like they did with that kid. Unfortunately, I came to understand something through my social and behavioral studies, although being gay was one of the major reasons. Matthew has been just like my Alex a quite attractive young man, and somehow, somewhere one of the perpetrators of Matthew had a crush on him.

Yep... as simple as IF I CAN'T HAVE YOU - NOBODY WILL. If only you guys knew how many stories of torture and bullying I heard about young men or middle age when I was an outreach worker, men who didn't come out of the closet or did not accept themselves as gay men and have that sick, twisted thoughts when they did not even try but immediately believe that their crushes will say no. Alex got beat up pretty bad in high school not just because he was gay, because he was causing confusion among those who fancy him.

There's much more than the gay hating part of Matt case.

Matt would be my age today 38

[BlueStar]

May these criminals rot in hell forever!!!!

[Jake]

Oh and mob was - guess whom... just check the signs. The Westboro Baptist Church, you can't get more immoral, imbeciles, sack of shit.

[Jake]

May these criminals rot in hell forever!!!!

If hell only existed my friend. Hell is on earth, and the only way for us to beat hell is to get rid of those sack of shit. Unfortunately there's too much laws protecting them. Honestly why do we keep that darn Westboro Baptist Church, can't someone just burn it while they're heading for a mass... you know Oups I drop a match after pouring gasoline on that church. They won't be missed, and they may not go to hell but hell on earth will get better.

[Jake]

If something similar happens to Alex or any of my children and they die. I will have no reason to live. I will take all my money, turn it into an arsenal of deadly weapons and go after the sons of a bitches. No pity they would all fucking die of a painful death. Yes I'd be killed by FBI, CIA, Gestapo who cares, before they would have gotten to me the damage would have been done already.

[bluedragon]

Well, I was not young enough not to remember the report in the news. 1998 I was in University Finishing Business and entering Sociology, the outrage I felt that day... I didn't care much about the gay part. NOBODY in its right mind should make another human being suffer like they did with that kid. Unfortunately, I came to understand something through my social and behavioral studies, although being gay was one of the major reasons. Matthew has been just like my Alex a quite attractive young man, and somehow, somewhere one of the perpetrators of Matthew had a crush on him.

Yep... as simple as IF I CAN'T HAVE YOU - NOBODY WILL. If only you guys knew how many stories of torture and bullying I heard about young men or middle age when I was an outreach worker, men who didn't come out of the closet or did not accept themselves as gay men and have that sick, twisted thoughts when they did not even try but immediately believe that their crushes will say no. Alex got beat up pretty bad in high school not just because he was gay, because he was causing confusion among those who fancy him.

There's much more than the gay hating part of Matt case.

Matt would be my age today 38

I'm really sorry to hear about Alex I'm sure he is having a happier life now with an understanding partner like you

[bluedragon]

If something similar happens to Alex or any of my children and they die. I will have no reason to live. I will take all my money, turn it into an arsenal of deadly weapons and go after the sons of a bitches. No pity they would all fucking die of a painful death. Yes I'd be killed by FBI, CIA, Gestapo who cares, before they would have gotten to me the damage would have been done already.

Don't worry Jake. Nothing like that will happen. You will live happily with Alex and your kids and enjoy the many years to come delightfully.

[Virge]

The thing that got me when I was a teen and heard about this and went to a play put on here about Matt was he was the not much bigger than a 12 year old boy. His murderers were both pretty strong big guys. That still bothers me real bad and probably has some deep psychological influence on me tending to be extra nice to guys who are shorter than average.

[Bowyn Aerrow]

On the bright side because of this tragedy society did an about turn when it came to how to deal with gay bashing in general.

Prior to Matthew this sort of stuff happened a lot, it just never made it to the light of day in newspapers.

Now days bullies get drug out into the light and physical violence becomes near headline news.