Home › Opinion › Opinion
Fear, ignorance, hatred take lives of Shepard and King
STORY TOOLS 
More from OpinionOn the night of Oct. 6, 1998, a young man in Laramie, Wyo., was brutally beaten and then hogtied to a split-rail fence where he lay for more than 18 hours. The 21-year-old, who had been left to die, was Matthew Shepard.
Six days after the savage attack, Matthew died with his family by his side.
His death was a wake-up call. Many were appalled by the horrific, senseless nature of the crime. But as time passed, we forgot. We were lulled into complacency until last winter.
On Feb. 12, almost 10 years after Matthew's death, our community was struck by a similar tragedy. Fifteen-year-old Lawrence King was shot in the head by a fellow classmate in his English class. Though doctors initially thought he would survive, he was declared brain dead the next day. Lawrence died two days later.
Although Wyoming and California are hundreds of miles apart, and these tragedies are separated by an entire decade, they are tied together by common threads.
Matthew was brutally killed for being gay. To justify their crime, his attackers said they were driven to violence after Matthew hit on them. Attorneys for Lawrence's shooter have used a similar line of defense. According to friends and classmates, Lawrence told friends he was gay. He was sometimes harassed for his appearance. I was overwhelmed by the fact that such violence could take place right here in my own community. Hadn't we learned our lesson after what happened to Matthew Shepard?
The facts are still emerging in Lawrence's case, but what is clear in both of these heartbreaking instances is that two lives were cut drastically short because of fear, ignorance and hatred. Neither Lawrence nor Matthew will have the opportunity to realize their dreams, to enjoy another Thanksgiving with their families, to watch a movie with friends, to pursue a career and find their places in the world.
These tragic deaths highlight the need for us to stand up and ensure young people feel safe in their schools and in their communities, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. We must find a way to prepare teachers and parents to deal with school bullying and hate in our communities. We must ask ourselves, do we want to be responsible for creating an environment where gay and transgender youths live on the margins of society in fear, or do we want to lead the charge in fostering an environment where everyone is valued, accepted and nurtured?
As Californians who value fairness and just communities, we must resolve to put a stop to bias-motivated crimes and such vicious acts of intolerance. Implying that an openly gay victim shares responsibility for being attacked, or that an attack was justified because of an unwanted romantic or sexual advance, is totally unacceptable. We must focus on solutions, so that no family and no community is touched by this kind of violence and bigotry ever again. After another decade passes and we pause to remember the deaths of Matthew and Lawrence, I pray that we will live in place where no one is targeted for their sexual orientation or gender identity.
— Jay Smith is executive director of the Ventura County Rainbow Alliance in Ventura.
Posted by NowHearThis on October 5, 2008 at 1:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Folks: This is one in upcoming many stories that the STAR will publish to align themselves with the "No on Prop 8" lobby.
The above op-ed is fraught with misstatements, misconceptions and innuendo.
"Matthew [Shepard] was brutally killed for being gay." According to an ABC News 20/20 by Elizabeth Vargas, (a leftist-liberal by the way); she interviewed both men convicted in the Shepard murder. Both say, the murder was about a drug deal gone wrong. And the Laramie police chief at the time thought robbery was the motive. But the pro-homosexual liberal news reporting media jumped on the Shepard murder as their cause celebre. The local reporter in Laramie commented that once the murder of Shepard, a gay guy got out, the news media descended on the small Wyoming town, like locusts.
Writer Jay Smith intones that everyone is out to get gays. But, in the liberal news media, there is a definite double standard when reporting on Gay crime and issues.
Not many have ever heard of Jesse Dirkhising, a 13-year-old teen murdered by homosexual Joshua Macave Brown, while his, "boyfriend" watched. You see when a straight guy is murdered by a homosexual, it hardly makes the police blotter. But, when a gay guy is murdered by a straight guy it's national news.
And, oh, by the way, According to, "Violence and Homosexuality," (By Paul Cameron, Ph. D.);
The top six U.S. male serial killers were all gay:
• Donald Harvey claimed 37 victims in Kentucky;
• John Wayne Gacy raped and killed 33 boys in Chicago, burying them under his house and in his yard;
• Patrick Kearney accounted for 32, cutting his victims into small pieces after sex and leaving them in trash bags along the Los Angeles freeways;
• Bruce Davis molested and killed 27 young men and boys in Illinois;
• A gay sex-murder-torture ring (Corll-Henley-Brooks) sent 27 Texas men and boys to their grave; and
• Juan Corona was convicted of murdering 25 migrant workers (he "made love" with their corpses).
Not to mention Jeffrey Dahmer.
What happened to Matthew Shepard was a tragic and barbaric crime against a human being; that’s it. Yet, the news and entertainment folks jumped on another homosexual promoting bandwagon for their own self-aggrandizement.
The sad tragedy for young Lawrence King was the fact that he cavorted and used his "weirdness" (as some described in Star stories) to flaunt and taunt others in the middle school.
No one should have to die for being different. But keeping your idiosyncrasies to yourself, may be more prudent in the long run.
Posted by NowHearThis on October 5, 2008 at 1:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"And yet, to the bewilderment of some people here, there is no memorial to Shepard in Laramie. The log fence where Shepard lay dying for 18 hours on Oct. 7, 1998, has been torn down. There is no marker," (Matthew Shepard and Laramie: A crime that lingers, LA Times, Sept. 17, 2008).
Say, what? There are people who would want to build a "memorial" to Shepard in Laramie? If this isn't proof to a cause celebre of the homosexual lobby and leftist-liberals, then please; tell me what is?
Posted by NowHearThis on October 5, 2008 at 1:51 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Long story short: The lionization of Matthew Shepard has gone overboard. That's my opinion on the matter.
Posted by NowHearThis on October 5, 2008 at 1:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)
CORRECTION:
"Matthew Shepard and Laramie: A crime that lingers," published in the International Herald Tribune, the international edition of the NY Times.
(You've seen one "Times," you've seen them all...shouldering the liberal line on a daily basis.)
Posted by AnnaWhaat on October 5, 2008 at 8:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)
NowHearThis, I completely agree with you. Everything gets turned around by the media as a hate crime due to sexual preference. When its not always the case. If you harrass someone enough and nothing is done to stop the harrassment then someone may get hurt. Not because they are gay..........
MRSMYTH ,Yes I noticed that also....
Quoted by Rainbow house:
As Californians who value fairness and just communities, we must resolve to put a stop to bias-motivated crimes and such vicious acts of intolerance. Implying that an openly gay victim shares responsibility for being attacked, or that an attack was justified because of an unwanted romantic or sexual advance, is totally unacceptable. We must focus on solutions, so that no family and no community is touched by this kind of violence and bigotry ever again.
A 13 year old kid,who just turned 14 can take only so much harrassment. Were not talking here about one advance by Larry. There were many !!!! I still think mentally Brandon lost it. Did he do the right thing? No.....Did he know of another way to stop the harrassment? Apparently not since not one teacher helped him although they were aware of it. Should he be punished? Yes . As an adult? Noooooooooooo
Posted by Freedom1 on October 5, 2008 at 12:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
NowHearThis - I couldn't agree more. Great insight into this situation and the bias shown by the press in reporting it.
Posted by NowHearThis on October 5, 2008 at 3:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The double standard also occurs when the national liberal news media report on white against black murder vs. black against white murder.
From the Atlantic Monthly, (atlanticmonthly.com):
"The horrible murder in 1998 of James Byrd, an African-American, by three white supremacists who dragged him behind a truck for three miles near Jasper, Texas, became a national sensation and a rallying cry for more hate crimes legislation, even after two of the defendants got death sentences for plain old murder.
But the national media ignored the hauntingly similar murder in 2002, also near Jasper, of white hitchhiker Ken Tillery by three black men. They beat him, drove a car over him, and dragged him by the undercarriage for more than 20 feet. Ho-hum, said the media. Nor has this been treated as a hate crime. The supposed reason is that it involved a dispute over money. But had the races been reversed, I suspect, it would be high on the hate crime lobby's list of examples."
I'll bet everyone has heard of the tragedy to befall Mr. James Byrd. But no one has heard of Ken Tillery, the white guy murdered by three black guys.
In "Myths That Divide Us," (John Perazzo), the following stats are evident how the liberal news reporting media is lax in truthful telling.
• Though blacks commit more than half of our nation's murders, nearly 60% of all Death Row inmates are white.
• 94 % of all black homicide victims are slain by other blacks.
• Violent white criminals select black victims for just 3% of their crimes, while black criminals choose white victims for 54% of their crimes. All told, 89% of all interracial violence is black-on-white.
A few good books for everyone to read are, "Bias," (Goldberg); "Coloring the News," (McGowan); "Weapons of Mass Distortions," (Bozell). These are three great books that will educate the public on the bias in the news reporting media.
A good way to learn folks, is to do the research and not just drinking Kool-aid.
Thanks for your time everyone.
Posted by John61608 on October 5, 2008 at 7:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I may be wrong about this, although I'm pretty sure I'm not...are all of the commentators on this story(besides myself) one person under several different names?
If so, I suppose the question is why? If not, you all sound exactly alike, and should start some sort of narrow-minded club.
You might be right about the media bias, I think the news should show both sides to ensure an informed opinion. However, yours obviously is not an informed opinion, as the rest of what you say is hurtful and ignorant. Please have respect for those you speak, and those that care about them.
Posted by mdquick01 on October 5, 2008 at 8:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
You people should learn and teach tolerance. We live in a society that promotes "HATE". The religous zealots are promoting it all the time. Children are not born with hate, they are taught hate and it usually starts at home. We as adults and parents need to teach tolerance and teach our children to get along with others. Everyone is different but it does not give someone the right to shoot a person (child in this case) in the head twice because they might have made an advance at someone. It is time that we learn to accept individuals for who they are. You individuals that write what you have written above with hate in your tone need to be respectful of the King family for what they are and already have been put through. You are being disrespectful to this family and you should learn to have conpassion. What if it were your child? Would you still act this way? I think not.
Posted by Zeke on February 12, 2009 at 9:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Sadly today marks the horrific anniversary of dear Larry's murder. I pray the Lord is now watching over him, as I'm sure he is. One would think we would have learned from this devastating tragedy, but, have we, I think not. The Religious Rights Fundies constant barrage of hate and intolerance spewed at GLBT's, and to do so in the name of God's no less, is despicable. They have declared their in the midst's a culture war against God's gay children, our equal rights and that we're the single biggest threat to the sanctity of marriage is ludicrous. With their leaders being caught in sexual scandals on a regular basis, adultery rampant, 50 plus percent of all heterosexual marriages ending in divorce and single parent households at epidemic proportions. If anyone, they're the ones destroying the sanctity of marriage, with no help from gay folks what so ever. They continue to point the finger of blame at Gods gay children, as scapegoats to divert attention of their own sinful acts. These blatant lies only serves to put targets on or backs and puts our lives in more jeopardy than ever. Gay bashings, as well as people who are perceived to be gay and brutal murders of GLBT citizens continue to rise.
As for Brandon being harassed by Larry to the point that he lost it and blew Larry's brains out in a classroom. What about our gay teens who are verbally and physically abused in our public schools on a daily basis, as teachers stand by and do nothing to stop this. You don't see them take firearms to school and blow the brains out of their harassers. No, instead sadly when they can no longer endure the constant terrorism in our schools and loose it, it's their own lives they take not the bullies. Brandon, as with may of our young teens, are taught to hate by their parents. And what were they thinking to leave a firearm accessible to him. I don't believe he's completely to blame and shouldn't have to spend the rest of his life for the mistakes of his parents. I was one of the hundreds of leaders of a GLBT organization who signed the letter to requesting the courts treat him as a juvenile, not an adult. If all schools need to enact strict anti-bullying laws, this may be the only way to curb violence in our schools.
R. Zeke Fread
Article discussions on this site are to support community debates of issues related to our stories and editorials.
Discussions should not stray from the subject of the story or editorial.
We do not allow the following:
- Posts that degrade others on the basis of gender, race, class, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation or disability.
- Disparaging remarks, abusive language or obscene comments.
- Threats, whether obvious or veiled.
We reserve the right to delete threads and/or ban users for these or other reasons we deem necessary.
Opinions are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.
There are 10 comments to this article.
Comments are found beneath the Yahoo! ad below.