Judy and Matthew Shepard Still Have Power to Inspire
By SHERRI RASE
photo courtesy of
WindyCityQueerCast.com
Judy Shepard
On March 4, I sat in the auditorium at the Dorothy Young Center on Drew University's Madison, New Jersey campus wondering what will Judy Shepard, mother of Matthew Shepard, speak to that motivates us today? The simple answer is Erasing Hate.
The evening began with a warm-up of sorts, with Steven Goldstein, Garden State Equality's Executive Director, speaking about how important the struggle for Marriage Equality in New Jersey is to the eradication of hatred, both in this country and around the world. Giving props to both the Gay Activist Alliance in Morris County-New Jersey's longest continually existing activist organization-for starting the ball rolling for equality, as well as the Drew University Alliance, co-chaired by the charismatic Tom Basgil, for their continuing commitment to activism in the region and statewide.
Tom Basgil then warmly welcomed everyone to the beautiful concert hall where the stage was dominated by a big screen. In the gallery, above and all around me, were generations of activists, interested people of all sexualities and parents with a need to connect. Moments later, Judy Shepard emerged from stage right.
Beginning with a film that highlighted not just Matthew's story, but that of James Byrd, Jr. who was chained and tied to the back of a pickup truck in Jasper, Texas, it's easy to see how hatred anywhere is detrimental to people everywhere. "There is no such thing as an innocent bystander", Ms. Shepard remarked, and that has run through my mind ever since.
Mrs. Shepard spoke of topics ranging from the breadth of both of her sons' understanding of the world, despite the location of their rearing in Laramie, Wyoming, to violence in the wider world. The thought of a state that has only 500,000 residents, most of them not people of color, and what it must be like for LGBTI, Black, Latin, Asian, Pacific Islander and Native Americans to live there-which they do as just five percent of the population in aggregate-helps me remember that in the metropolitan Northeast, we truly live in a charmed circle. Not so the trusting Matthew Shepard.
Reading from the statement Mrs. Shepard would have read to the court had Matthew's assailant not changed his plea to "guilty", I began to fully feel the extent not only of the Shepard family's loss, but also the diminishment we don't realize is happening every time someone is lost to violence, injury and death. Presently on campuses in New Jersey and all over the country, there has been an escalation in violence against LGBTI people and non-white people since the election. Mrs. Shepard reminded us that the previous administration may bear some responsibility for this, because George W. Bush, in effect, declared that same-sex couples are second class citizens. It became abundantly clear to me that as long as LGBTI people pay full taxes and don't get full rights, the same ones everyone else has, regardless of color, class, creed, and as long as we settle for that, second class citizens we remain and, as such, are open targets to hatred, violence and worse.
Most interesting to me, Mrs. Shepard said the favorite television show in Saudi Arabia, during the time she and her husband lived there, was "Baywatch", and many Arabs felt that that was America. Similarly, the fear-mongers in the news show us the radical arm of Islam, thus giving us an unbalanced view of the Arab world. Paraphrasing then, from Mark Twain, that "Passports are the enemy of Bigotry," I had a great deal more to consider.
The perspective that Mrs. Shepard brought to the Drew University audience underscores that, no matter how far we feel we have come, when you look at where we were 10 years ago-we've not come all that far. Effort and close work with all communities-gay and straight, communities of faith and communities comprised of children, students, adults and elders-working together will reduce violence and hatred as we get to know one another. When people dwell on the ways that we are the same and celebrate the ways that we are different, that will go a long way toward erasing hate. For more information on the Erase Hate campaign, visit www.matthewshepard.org and hear Judy Shepard speak-it will change your life too.
