In Memory of Matthew Shepard and Lawrence "Larry" Fobes King

10 years ago tonight, Matthew Shepard was brutally beaten. He died five days later on October 12, 1998. Today, Wyoming still has no protections against Hate Crimes.


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Crimes based on gender identity and expression, along with those based on sexual orientation are among the highest in the country, behind racially and religious based crimes. When these stories break they are often long overdue and rarely given the attention warrented.

On February 12th of this year, 15 year old, Lawrence "Larry" Fobes King, was shot and killed by fellow student, fourteen-year-old Brandon McInerney. This story was ignored by the mainstream media almost entirely. These are just two cases over the last ten years - there are unfortunately plenty more.



The Human Rights Campaign reports that," evidence indicates that hate crimes are underreported; however, statistics show that since 1991 over 100,000 hate crime offenses have been reported to the FBI, with 7,722 reported in 2006, the FBI’s most recent reporting period.

Violent crimes based on race-related bias were by far the most common, representing 51.8 percent of all offenses for 2006. Violent crimes based on religion represented 18.9 percent and ethnicity/national origin, 12.7 percent. Violent crimes based on sexual orientation constituted 15.5 percent of all hate crimes in 2006, with 1,195 reported for the year."

Read more here .

As someone who lives as an out lesbian working within the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community I want to say a few things. I want to thank our straight allies, for true equality to be reached the LGBT community will continue to need your support. This isn's about tolerance, I deserve every right that my heterosexual peers are entitled to. It breaks my heart when I hear people argue that same-sex couples should not be extended the right to marry or to raise children. If you know me, you know that these two things are important to me. I too, like Ellen and the hundreds and thousands of LGBT individuals out there, am NOT a second class citizen.

But this conversation goes beyond those particular rights, this conversation goes to being able to walk down the street and be safe. It means the right to go to work, school or out in my community without the fear that because of who I love I will be put in an unsafe situation. It means loving without fearing.

In this post I've focused on the deaths of Matthew Shepard and Lawrence "Larry" Fobes King, this is in no way meant to take away from the attention of the other individuals within the LGBT community that we have lost because of Hate.

Tonight, I will remember love.