Judy Shepard
AP Photo
EDITOR’S NOTE: In light of UM Pride Week, The Daily Mississippian is reprinting an article that was published March 23, 2005. The article covers the visit to Ole Miss by Judy Shepard, the mother of Matthew Shepard, an openly gay college student who was murdered in Wyoming in 1998. The article also highlights the proposed visit and eventual no-show of the Westboro Baptist Church at the forum in 2005. Matthew Shepard’s story is portrayed in the play “The Laramie Project,” which was performed by students in the Ole Mss theater department last week. The Daily Mississippian reported last Thursday that students openly disrespected cast members and disrupted the play.
In an event that featured Judy Shepard stressing that education is the answer to hate, those with the message of hate were a no show.
On Oct. 8, 1998, Matthew Shepard was beaten to death by Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney in what has been reported as a hate crime. Addressing recent reports which said the motives of McKinney and Henderson were robbery-related, Shepard said she believes robbery was their initial intention, but their brutal beating of her son proved that it ended in a hate crime. Shepard, in her first appearance in Mississippi, said hate crimes can be prevented.
“The reason that I travel the country is that I don’t want this to happen anymore,” she said. “Matt is no longer with us because those that took his life learned how to hate and were given the impression that society condones their behavior.”
The only answer is education, she said.
Shepard said that some people, like Pastor Fred Phelps, will never change their views of intolerance, but there is a large group of people who are only ignorant of the issue and can be educated to tolerate others, she said.
The homosexual community should unify in order to avoid being treated like second-class citizens, she said.
Homosexuals are discriminated against in many ways, specifically not being able to be legally wed, she said. In denying marriage to same-sex couples, she said she believes the government is cheating them out of tax benefits and other protections.
“It is claimed that (the homosexual community) suffers from promiscuity, yet we will not allow them the road to monogamy,” she said.
Shepard said she thinks not allowing a same-sex couple that has lived together 20 years the same rights that a heterosexual couple receive after a quick ceremony in Las Vegas is “ridiculous.” Adoption should also be open to same-sex couples, she said.
“I would much rather see children in homes that want to love and nurture their children,” she said.
Today’s family is no longer meant to be made up of one husband and one wife, but a collection of people that love each other, she said.
The only way that the homosexual and homosexual-supporting community can come together to change society is to be able to come out and be honest with themselves, she said. Ten percent of Americans are homosexual, and if each of those people has four close allies, then a huge number of Americans make up the homosexual-supporting community, she said. Shepard said the first step to an educated populace is for homosexuals to be honest with themselves.
“Be confident in who you are, you are not a mistake,” she said. “(Coming out) is not a Greek tragedy, but a glorious revelation.”
She said the pain of losing her son is almost unbearable at times, but the only way to encourage change is to push forward.
Phelps, a pastor from Topeka, Kansas, told The Daily Mississippian on Sunday he and a group from his congregation would be outside Fulton Chapel to protest the speech.
Phelps and members of his congregation have protested appearances by Judy Shepard at least 25 times, according to Phelps. But neither Phelps nor the 12 he planned to bring were present on Tuesday night.
In front of Fulton Chapel, over 150 students gathered, many of whom came to protest Phelps’ reported arrival. Represented among the counter-protestors were the Gay Straight Alliance, Parents, Family, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays and the Isom Center for Women.
“We’re here to show that there is an opposite side, that life is not all about hatred and intolerance,” said Kenneth Jones, a senior history major who was among the counter-protestors.
Jones is a member of Allies, an on-campus support group for homosexuals. He said that he believes Phelps’ absence shows that he is all surface and no substance.
