The Laramie Project
The Laramie Project is a play by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project based on the controvesy surrounding the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming.
The play first opened at The Ricketson Theatre by the Denver Center Theatre Company in February 2000. The play was also performed in the Union Square Theater in New York City, and again in November 2002 performance in Laramie. HBO subsequently made a movie based on the play. To date, the play has been performed at several hundred High Schools across the United States helping many young people address issues of homophobia in their own communities.
Judy Sheppard and the Matthew Sheppard Foundation
Judy Sheppard founded The Matthew Sheppard Foundation shortly after her son was killed, then almost immediately began offering her services as a guest speaker on "anti-gay hate crimes" across the United States at all manner of events.