Gay student tied to fence post before being killed in crime that changed the US
A memorial has been held a quarter of a century after a gay man was tied to a fence post and tortured to death.
Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old University of Wyoming student, died six days after he was savagely pistol whipped by two young men in Laramie, Wyoming.
The openly gay University of Wyoming freshman had been planning an LGBT awareness week with friends but wanted to get a drink afterwards. At the Fireside Lounge, a local bar, the 21-year-old somehow ended up chatting to his two killers - roofing workers, Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney, both 21 at the time.
Investigators believe the pair pretended to be gay to lure Matthew into their truck to rob him. Once in the vehicle, McKinney pulled a gun and started to beat their unsuspecting victim. They drove about a mile out of town down a dirt track which ended in rocky prairie. There they tied him to a log fence using a clothesline and continued their brutal assault.
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Basket of flowers hanging from fence where Matthew hung for 18 hours (Getty Images)One of the lead investigators, Sheriff O'Malley, described how the student was "struck in the head and face between 19 and 21 times with the butt of a very large Smith and Wesson revolver".
"The only time I've ever seen those dramatic of injuries were in high-speed traffic crashes, you know, where there was just extremely violent compression fractures to the skull."
Matthew was left hanging there by McKinney and Henderson who stole their victim's leather shoes and left him to die. He hung there for 18 hours in the cold before being found the following evening by a teenager who initially thought he was a scarecrow.
A vigil held at the time (Getty Images)He was rushed to hospital but there was little doctors could do. He had a crushed brain stem and four skull fractures. He never regained consciousness and died five days after the attack.
The murder drew national attention to violence against gay people, and attracted the interest of theatre director Moisés Kaufman, who turned the horror into art with “The Laramie Project.”
After Shepard’s 1998 killing, Kaufman and members of Tectonic traveled to Laramie and wrote the play based on more than 200 interviews. “The Laramie Project” is a poignant mix of real news reports, and actors portraying friends, family, police officers, killers and other Laramie residents.
Student & professor mourning death of their friend Matthew (Getty Images)This week, Tectonic is marking the anniversary by gathering the original cast and creators, and some of the people represented in the piece for a staged reading and conversation as part of the 2023 Shepard Symposium at the University of Wyoming.
“The Laramie Project,” one of the most frequently performed plays in high schools, has been performed in more than 20 countries and translated into more than 13 languages. It is among the top 10 most licensed plays in America.
“Precisely because it wasn’t about Matthew Shepard, precisely because it was about the town of Laramie is why it continues to resonate,” says Kaufman.
“We were hoping that it wouldn’t be relevant anymore. But it is every day more relevant. Hate crimes all over our nation are at much higher rates than they were when Matthew Shepard was killed.”
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In 2009, Kaufman was on hand as the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act was signed by then-President Barack Obama. The act expanded the 1969 federal hate-crime law to include crimes based on a victim’s sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.
Grieving Dennis and Judy Shepard at funeral for their son Matthew (Getty Images)“The Laramie Project” has consistently been the subject of pushback by some conservative school districts, and this year faces banishment from Florida stages due to what critics call the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
Elsewhere, theatre creators across the nation say school censorship is getting worse, particularly around material with LGBTQ+ themes. Cardinal High School in Middlefield, Ohio, canceled a production of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” due to content issues.
Kaufman is also alarmed that the Lansing Board of Education in Kansas voted to remove the script of “The Laramie Project” from the school curriculum.
“There has always been — since the inception — a couple of theatres every year where the board of the school says no. All right. But this last year was the first time that the book itself was banned from a classroom.”
Kaufman has always been cheered by the students who find a way to perform the play despite barriers, becoming what he calls artist-activists. “My belief is that the best art occurs at the intersection of the personal and the political,” he says.
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