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Matthew Shepherd
On the night of October 6, 1998, 21-year-old Matthew Wayne Shepard was lured out of the Fireside Bar near the University of Wyoming at Laramie where he was a student. At only 5'2" and just 105 pounds, he was kidnapped, savagely beaten and tied to a cattle fence, and left to die. Matthew was discovered at about 6:22 p.m. on October 7, after hanging on the fence for over 18 hours. The low that night was 30, with a high on October 7 of 68. Wind gusts reached over 18 mph. When found, he was unconscious and blood was caked all over his head except where tears had washed it from his face. He was taken to a hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado. Matthew remained unconscious in the Intensive Care Unit for several days. He died during the early morning hours of October 12, 1998, with his parents and brother, Logan, at his side. At the tender, young age of 21, Matthew Wayne Shepard was dead, through no fault of his own. The two men responsible for this senseless and wholly unwarranted attack and murder are now both serving life sentences without parole in a Wyoming prison, although they could've received the death penalty.
Matthew Shepard was born on December 1, 1976, in Casper, Wyoming, to Dennis and Judy Shepard. Matthew was the first of two Shepard children, both boys. He grew up in Casper until high school, when the family moved to Switzerland because of Dennis Shepard's job.
Matthew was also gay. He didn't flaunt it or shove it in people's faces, but he didn't hide it or run from it, either. He was true to himself and everyone else, friend and stranger alike. He was as caring and compassionate a person as anyone could be. He didn't deserve to be gang raped while vacationing in Morocco as a high school senior, an event from which Mrs. Shepard said he never quite recovered. And he certainly didn't deserve to die at the hands of two homophobic Wyoming hicks. (That's not a slur. It's a statement of fact.)
What kind of person was Matthew? Consider this:
"Matt was a young man who met the world with eager expectation, who offered trust and friendship easily, and lived honestly. ... who trusted in the goodness of God's world, who revelled in God's creation and allowed people into his heart. ...
"He was not always a winner according to the world's standards. He struggled to fit into a world not always kind to gentle spirits. What was important to Matt was to care, to help to nurture, to bring joy to others in his quiet, gentle way." Rev. Anne Kitch
Dennis Shepard had this to say about his son at the November 4, 1999, sentencing of one of Matthew's murderers:
"Matts gift was people. He loved being with people, helping people, and making others feel good. The hope of a better world free of harassment and discrimination because a person was different kept him motivated. All his life he felt the stabs of discrimination. Because of that he was sensitive to other peoples feelings. He was naive to the extent that, regardless of the wrongs people did to him, he still had faith that they would change and become 'nice.' Matt trusted people, perhaps too much. Violence was not a part of his life until his senior year in high school. He would walk into a fight and try to break it up. He was the perfect negotiator. He could get two people talking to each other again as no one else could.
"Matt loved people and he trusted them. He could never understand how one person could hurt another, physically or verbally. They would hurt him, and he would give them another chance. This quality of seeing only good gave him friends around the world. He didnt see size, race, intelligence, sex, religion, or the hundred other things that people use to make choices about people. All he saw was the person. All he wanted was to make another person his friend. All he wanted was to make another person feel good. All he wanted was to be accepted as an equal.
"What did Matts friends think of him? Fifteen of his friends from high school in Switzerland, as well as his high school adviser, joined hundreds of others at his memorial services. They left college, fought a blizzard, and came together one more time to say good-bye to Matt. Men and women coming from different countries, cultures, and religions thought enough of my son to drop everything and come to Wyoming most of them for the first time. Thats why this Wyoming country boy wanted to major in foreign relations and languages. He wanted to continue making friends and at the same time help others. He wanted to make a difference. Did he? You tell me." (Read Mr. Shepard's complete statement here.)
On Saturday, March 16, 2002, NBC broadcast the made-for-TV movie The Matthew Shepard Story. It was an excellent look at not only Matthew's life and (unfortunately, to say the least) his death, but also how his parents dealt with the tragedy. I watched the movie, and I was extremely moved by what I saw. My sorrow over this senseless tragedy has been intensified as a result of watching The Matthew Shepard Story, which had the endorsement of the Matthew Shepard Foundation. I'm in the process of trying to locate a web site that details the movie. When I locate one, I'll link to it from here.
In 2001, MTV broadcast a three-part made-for-TV movie about Matthew Shepard's life and death titled Anatomy of a Hate Crime.
copyrights go to the Matthew Shepherd Foundation
 
September 11th
As recorded on the day of...
In the worst attack ever on the United States, terrorists struck Tuesday at the symbols of American financial and military might, using hijacked jetliners as suicide missiles to level the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and blast into the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C.
Not since Pearl Harbor has a day suggested such infamy. A red-eyed President George W. Bush went before the nation Tuesday night to mourn the victims and promise justice.
The day was filled with horror from the moment television broke into morning programs to tell viewers that an airplane had struck a tower at the World Trade Center. Then, with a stunned nation watching, a second plane struck the second tower. An hour later, with cameras focused on the burning buildings, one of the towers collapsed; 30 minutes later, the second one followed.
At no time in the nation's history had such a calamity been so instantly shared with the entire country, which watched riveted.
Cities came to virtual standstills as office workers and schoolchildren saw the disasters unfold on television.
Reports began to course through news circuits that the Pentagon had been attacked, that the State Department and White House were being evacuated, and that the U.S. Capitol may be a target.
In an unprecedented move, the government ordered all commercial flights grounded.
By 2:15 p.m., only military aircraft and Air Force One were in the air.
When Bush's plane landed at a military base in Nebraska, he told the National Security Council: "We will find these people and they will suffer the consequences of taking on this nation. We will do what it takes. No one is going to diminish the spirit of this country."
The stunning attacks led to an evacuation of key government buildings in Washington and may have changed the way America views its security.
"This is the second Pearl Harbor. I don't think that I overstate it," Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., said after he was evacuated from the U.S. Capitol. Establishing the death toll could take weeks. The four airliners alone had 266 people aboard and there were no known survivors. In addition, up to 300 fire fighters were feared killed. Seventy-eight police officers were missing. More than 45,000 people worked in the World Trade Center; at least 23,000 people worked in the Pentagon.
"The number of casualties will be more than most of us can bear," a visibly distraught New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said.
"We have entire companies that are just missing," said Mike Carter, a vice president of the firefighters' union. "We're going to have to bury a lot of people."
No one took responsibility for the attacks, but federal authorities identified Osama bin Laden -- who has been given asylum by Afghanistan's Taliban rulers -- as the prime suspect.
Working with intercepted communications by Bin Laden's supporters and harrowing cell phone calls from one flight attendant and two passengers aboard the jetliners before they crashed, U.S. officials began assembling a case linking bin Laden to the devastation.
U.S. intelligence intercepted communications between bin Laden supporters discussing the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, according to Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The people aboard planes who managed to make cell phone calls each described similar circumstances: They indicated the hijackers were armed with knives, in some cases stabbing flight attendants. They then took control of the planes.
Pentagon officials put the number of dead and wounded at the Pentagon at about 100 or more, with some news reports suggesting it could rise to as many as 800. Smoke billowed over the Potomac and sent federal workers streaming from buildings ordered to be evacuated.
"The numbers will be calculated and it will not be few," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said.
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., appeared ashen and stunned as he hurried from the Capitol.
"The enemy for a long time has been terrorism. This is way beyond any description or any comprehension. We can't let terrorism dominate our way of life," said Levin of Detroit.
Bin Laden is a Saudi exile who heads the al-Qaeda, a global terrorist network that has repeatedly struck U.S. targets. Al-Qaeda means "the base."
The Justice Department announced a telephone hot line and an Internet Web site for people who may know something about the attacks to contact authorities.
The toll-free number is 800-331 0075. The Web site: www.ifccfbi.gov.
Officials said the Trade Center was hit by two planes carrying 157 people: United Airlines Flight 175, a Boeing 767 bound from Boston to Los Angeles with 65 people on board, and American Airlines Flight 11, a Los Angeles-bound 767 jet hijacked after takeoff from Boston with 92 people aboard.
The Pentagon was hit, officials said, by American Flight 77, a 757 that was seized while carrying 64 people from Washington to Los Angeles.
In Pennsylvania, United Flight 93, a Boeing 757 en route from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco, crashed about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh with 45 people aboard.
U.S. Rep. James Moran, D-Va., said after attending a briefing in Washington that the intended target of the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania appeared to be Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland. The crash site was 85 miles northwest of there.
"We are being hijacked, we are being hijacked!" a passenger using a cell phone from a lavatory on the plane cried in a call to emergency dispatchers.
Barbara Olson, a prominent lawyer and the wife of U.S. Solicitor-General Theodore Olson, telephoned her husband twice from American Airlines Flight 77 and described the hijackers, telling him they were using knives as weapons to commandeer the plane.
"She was on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon," Theodore Olson said. "She called from the plane while it was being hijacked. I wish it wasn't so but it is."
At the Trade Center, people on fire leaped from windows to death, including a man and a woman holding hands. Some jumped from as high as the 80th floor after the planes exploded into fireballs. People on the ground screamed and dived for cover as debris from the towers -- both more than 1,360 feet high -- rained down.
Late in the day, a 47-story building in the trade center complex that had been evacuated also collapsed. It fell on a power substation, knocking out power to a section of lower Manhattan as night fell.
The president put the military on its highest level of alert. Authorities in Washington immediately called out troops and the Navy sent aircraft carriers and guided-missile destroyers to New York and Washington. The U.S. and Canadian borders were sealed, security was tightened at naval installations and other strategic points, and all commercial air traffic across the country was halted until at least noon today.
Afghanistan's hard-line Taliban rulers condemned the attacks and rejected suggestions that bin Laden was behind them, saying he does not have the means to carry out such well-orchestrated attacks. Bin Laden has been given asylum in Afghanistan.
Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of the Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper in London, said he received a warning three weeks ago from militants close to bin Laden, but did not take the threat seriously. "They said it would be a huge and unprecedented attack but they did not specify," Atwan said in London.
In the Mideast, in the West Bank city of Nablus, thousands of Palestinians celebrated the attacks, chanting "God is Great" and handing out candy.
In New York, the downtown area was cordoned off and a rescue effort was under way.
Emergency workers were reported to be ferrying bodies across the Hudson River to Jersey City Tuesday afternoon. A Jersey City police officer directing traffic shouted: "Get out of here! We have to bring dead bodies through here!" Emergency Medical Service worker Louis Garcia said initial reports indicated that bodies were buried beneath the two feet of soot on streets around the trade center.
"A lot of the vehicles are running over bodies because they are all over the place," he said.
Hundreds of volunteers and medical workers converged on triage centers, offering help and blood. Paramedics waiting to be sent into the rubble were told that "once the smoke clears, it's going to be massive bodies," said Brian Stark, a former Navy paramedic who volunteered to help.
Giuliani said 2,100 people were injured -- 1,500 "walking wounded" who were taken to New Jersey, and 600 others who were taken to area hospitals, 150 of them in critical condition.
"I have a sense it's a horrendous number of lives lost," Giuliani said. "Right now we have to focus on saving as many lives as possible."
Trading on Wall Street was suspended at least through today.
The death toll on the crashed planes alone will probably surpass that of the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995, which claimed 168 lives in what was the deadliest act of terrorism on U.S. soil.
Victims of the World Trade Center attacks streamed to hospitals Tuesday as officials in the city and surrounding states called in every available surgeon and nurse.
Blood donors rushed to help, overwhelming blood centers across the country.
The Navy sent ships to New York and Washington that included surgical teams and hospital beds. They included the aircraft carriers John F. Kennedy and George Washington, which were operating in the Atlantic.
More than a dozen metro Detroit medical personnel were on standby alert if needed. They are part of a federal system that dispatches local medical teams to disaster sites. The group keeps supplies at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Macomb County, said John Roach, a spokesman for the Disaster Medical Assistance.
Michigan Gov. John Engler urged Americans to "not let the unspeakbale terror of this day make us fearful or change our way of life."
Hundreds of thousands of workers in government buildings and office towers streamed home early on Tuesday, deserting downtowns large and small across the country in an orderly but fearful precaution against further terrorist attacks.
In Orlando, Disney World and Sea World shut down. Patrons at hundreds of shopping malls encountered closed doors, including those at the huge Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn. Not one Starbucks Coffee in Seattle was open. The CNN Center in Atlanta, one of the South's busiest tourist attractions, was open only to the network's frantic journalists, but hundreds of people gathered outside to watch the news on monitors and share a communal sorrow.
In Detroit, the McNamara Federal Building, Renaissance Center and the Ford Motor Co. world headquarters in Dearborn were evacuated.
The tunnel connecting Detroit to Windsor was closed. The Ambassador Bridge remained open but traffic was crawling as border officials were under high alert. Traffic on some Detroit streets also was bumper-to-bumper as companies sent employees home early.
American Muslims condemned the attacks, and feared reprisals.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based advocacy group, said it received reports of harassment Tuesday afternoon of people wearing Islamic attire.
The group urged Muslims to donate blood, and asked Muslim medical professionals to volunteer to help. It also urged those who wear Islamic clothes, which cover their hair, arms and legs, to stay out of public view "for the immediate future."
In Big Sky, Mont., Joseph Allbaugh, the chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and representatives from the 50 state emergency management agencies were attending an annual conference of emergency response officials.
One of the main topics was how to prepare for terrorist acts.
And after telling the nation, one-by-one that the nation was united by its president, congressional leaders and about 200 members of Congress gathered on the east front steps of Capitol at dusk.
They will be at work today they vowed. And then the group sang "God Bless America."
copyrights go to the Detroit Free Press
How Could You?
cute little story about a serious issue...
When I was a puppy, I entertained you with my antics and made you laugh. You called me your child, and despite a number of chewed shoes and a couple of murdered throw pillows, I became your best friend. Whenever I was "bad," you'd shake your finger at me and ask, "How could you?" but then you'd relent and roll me over for a belly rub.
My housebreaking took a little longer than expected because you were terribly busy, but we worked on that together. I remember those nights of nuzzling you in bed and listening to your confidences and secret dreams, and I believed that life could not be any more perfect. We went for long walks and runs in the park, car rides, stops for ice cream (I only got the cone because "ice cream is bad for dogs" you said), and I took long naps in the sun waiting for you to come home at the end of the day.
Gradually, you began spending more time at work and on your career, and more time searching for a human mate. I waited for you patiently, comforted you through heartbreaks and disappointments, never chided you about bad decisions, and romped with glee at your homecomings, and when you fell in love. She, now your wife, is not a "dog person" Still I welcomed her into our home, tried to show her affection, and obeyed her.
I was happy because you were happy. Then the human babies came along and I shared your excitement. I was fascinated by their pink-ness, how they smelled, and I wanted to mother them, too. Only she and you worried that I might hurt them, and I spent most of my time banished to another room, or to a dog crate. Oh, how I wanted to love them, but I became a "prisoner of
love." As they began to grow, I became their friend. They clung to my fur and pulled themselves up on wobbly legs, poked fingers in my eyes, investigated my ears, and gave me kisses on my nose. I loved everything about them and their touch because your touch was now so infrequent--and I would've defended them with my life if need be. I would sneak into their beds and listen
to their worries and secret dreams, and together we waited for the sound of your car in the driveway.
There had been a time, when others asked you if you had a dog, that you produced a photo of me from your wallet and told them stories about me. These past few years, you just answered "yes" and changed the subject. I had gone from being "your dog" to "just a dog," and you resented every expenditure on my behalf.
Now, you have a new career opportunity in another city, and you and they will be moving to an apartment that does not allow pets. You've made the right decision for your "family," but there was a time when I was your only family. I was excited about the car ride until we arrived at the animal shelter. It smelled of dogs and cats, of fear, of hopelessness. You filled out the paperwork and said, "I know you will find a good home for her." They shrugged and gave you a pained look. They understand the realities facing a middle-aged dog, even one with "papers." You had to pry your son's fingers loose from my collar, as he screamed "No, Daddy!! Please don't let them take my dog!" And I worried for him, and what lessons you had just taught him about friendship and loyalty, about love and responsibility, and about respect for all life.
You gave me a good-bye pat on the head, avoided my eyes, and politely refused to take my collar and leash with you. You had a deadline to meet and now I have one, too. After you left, the two nice ladies said that you probably knew about your upcoming move months ago and made no attempt to find me another good home. They shook their heads and asked, "How could
you?"
They are as attentive to us here in the shelter as their busy schedules allow. They feed us, of course, but I lost my appetite days ago. At first, whenever anyone passed my pen, I rushed to the front, hoping it was you that you had changed your mind-that this was all a bad dream...or I hoped it would at least be someone who cared, anyone who might save me. When I realized I
could not compete with the frolicking for attention of happy puppies, oblivious to their own fate, I retreated to a far corner and waited.
I heard her footsteps as she came for me at the end of the day, and I padded along the aisle after her to a separate room a blissfully quiet room. She placed me on the table and rubbed my ears, and told me not to worry. My heart pounded in anticipation of what was to come, but there was also a sense of relief. The prisoner of love had run out of days.
As is my nature, I was more concerned about her. The burden, which she bears, weighs heavily on her, and I know that, the same way I knew your every mood. She gently placed a tourniquet around my foreleg as a tear ran down her cheek. I licked her hand in the same way I used to comfort you so many years ago. She expertly slid the hypodermic needle into my vein. As I
felt the sting and the cool liquid coursing through my body, I lay down sleepily, looked into her kind eyes and murmured "How could you?" Perhaps because she understood my dog speak, she said, "I'm so sorry." She hugged me, and hurriedly explained it was her job to make sure I went to a better place, where I wouldn't be ignored or abused or abandoned, or have to fend for myself--a place of love and light so very different from this earthly place.
And with my last bit of energy, I tried to convey to her with a thump of my tail that my "How could you?" was not directed at her. It was directed at you, My Beloved Master, I was thinking of you. I will think of you and wait for you forever. May everyone in your life continue to show you so much loyalty
Written by a dog to his master...
***I have recently received some stories...these stories came to me second hand but they have inspired me enough to share them. They are both about sexually transmitted diseases and those that they affect...
In an Instant...
The first story I have received was about a boy in high school. Often in the locker room, boys will share clothes etc. when in need. From going to an all boys school, I know this to be true. If you need a shirt, you can ask someone and they will lend you theirs.
One day, a boy that was on the football game had a doctor's appointment. On that day, he was absent from school and from practice. About a week later, he went for a follow up appointment and discovered that within the weeks time, he had contracted Hepatitis B. Go here for more information. The boy was stunned, and swore on all things that he was a virgin; that he was saving himself for the woman he was to marry.
About a week after that, the boy with the locker next to him confessed to borrowing the boy's jockstrap because he did not have one. This locker-neighbor also confessed to having Hepatitis B. This boy now learned that because of a simple incident, he had contracted a life-long disease that has no cure known.
Now, I will skip about fifteen years into the future, when the illness has gone into a dormant stage for a while. He is now married with two children. The part that really touched me is that the woman he is married to loved him so much, that she accepted contracting the disease from him (with full knowledge about it) and she decided to have children with him. Both children were born sea-section style because if the baby passes through the birth canal, it would also contract the disease. I think that if love can overcome this, it can overcome anything...
The Choice
The second story I received has a slightly sadder ending but a slightly heavier meaning behind it. Here's the picture: all star high school football player...handsome and smart...girls throwing themselves at him left and right...then, his father finds out that his son is dying of AIDS and is gay. Now, for those of you that are gay, you are probably already feeling sorry for them. For those of you that aren't, you are probably not swaying either way; you feel bad for the boy, but you cannot imagine how the father must feel. For those of you that are homophobic (I pity you), you are probably hoping his father kills the boy himself. However, none of these things happen. Do not cheer or cry until the end.
His father decides to disown him altogether. He decides that he wants nothing to do with his son and he kicks him out. The mother (you know the type), reluctantly and sadly sticks with her husbands decision, but secretly talks to her son daily and accompanies him to his doctor's appointments. Now, flash forward about a year, and the son is in the hospital. He is brittle and ill...his rist is about two inches in diameter...his throat about four or five...he is bed-written and he is in so much pain both physically and emotionally. Still, the father refuses to even see him. When people call the father to convince him to, his wife makes excuses and rushes them away...
Then, the boy dies at about 3:30 in the morning...but his father shows up at 3:00 and apologizes and repents. He tells his son all of the things he's wanted to for so long, but let his ego get in the way. The son did the same. Then, the boy died with his mother, friends, boyfriend, and father by his side...
Anne Frank
coming soon...
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