Matthew Shepard

Mathew Shepard (1976-1998) was an American college student from Wyoming. On October 7th, 1998, he was savagely beaten and robbed by two men, and died on October 12th. The killers were heavily involved in drugs and had met Shepard in a bar, giving him a ride afterwards. A misguided defense of one of the killers tried to make an issue of Shepard's homosexuality, but there was no evidence verifying that as the cause and the defendants were convicted and received life sentences.

Shepard's death was cited by homosexual activists to propose legislation to classify attacks against homosexuals as a hate crime that would be punished more severely than in the absence of homosexuality. All legislation, both in Wyoming and on the national level, has failed.