04/16/2008
Nearly 10 Years After Matthew's Death, Judy Shepard Soldiers On
The Houston Chronicle spoke with Judy Shepard as she appeared at Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts as part of the "Campaign to Erase Hate".
Says Shepard: "I'm just somebody's mom who got really angry at the system and felt I had the opportunity to make a change. In my own mind, speaking like I did today, that is my grief process. I get to keep Matthew with me. I've always been a person who believed things happen for a reason," she said. "When I figure out what this reason is, I hope I'm open to it. And I hope that losing my son was part of it."
She doesn't plan on forgiving the two young men who put her on this path: "It's not a part of my process. I don't blame them 100 percent. I sort of blame society for creating the environment to make them think they could get away with it."
Shepard also says her new life has changed many of her relationships with friends at home: "There are a lot of them who don't know how to talk to me. They don't know what to ask me. They don't really know who I am anymore. They wonder how the Judy they knew could be doing what this Judy is doing."
Rewards, if you can call them that, come in the form of a great need: "...from the reception she got at Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts last week, she's also a surrogate mother of sorts to a generation of young gays. After her speech at HSPVA, attended by hundreds, many of those students line up backstage to meet her. Most throw their arms around her and tell her in a gush about coming out to their parents or describe their horror at homophobia. Several just want to tell her how much her work means to them. There's a sense of urgency to share with her because she somehow will agree and, most of all, understand."
'A journey of personal change' [houston chronicle]
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Judy Shepard Has a Message for Anti-Gay OK State Rep Sally Kern [tr]
Posted 11:20 AM EST by Andy in Houston, Judy Shepard, Matthew Shepard, News | Permalink
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God bless you Judy Shepard for all that your doing, you truly are a beacon of powerful light and hope to many still in the dark.
Posted by: Zo | Apr 16, 2008 11:36:49 AM
I had the good fortune of spending a couple of hours in one-on-one conversation with Judy at an annual Matthew Shepard Memorial Tennis Jam here in NYC a few years back. The woman is an inspiration and an absolute angel.
Posted by: John In Manhattan | Apr 16, 2008 11:40:30 AM
Truly, Matthew has given her all our gay children! In a society that throws these great kids under the bus ..., and then there is Judy Shepard standing there with more moral backbone than any of our 'so-called' leaders!
Posted by: MikeM | Apr 16, 2008 11:58:55 AM
Such a wonderful woman, and an amazingly effective spokesperson for equality and kindness. I hope she knows how much she's loved and valued.
Posted by: The Milkman | Apr 16, 2008 12:29:03 PM
God bless Judy.
Posted by: z | Apr 16, 2008 1:15:04 PM
We have not forgotten.....even over here in Europe....we admire Judy Shepard...we grieve for Matthew; as another contributor says she has "more moral backbone than......". RickT
Posted by: RickT | Apr 16, 2008 1:40:17 PM
10 years, seems like 10 minutes ago. God bless Judy Shepard for all she has done. None of us will ever forget her son. He has got to be proud of her. I am, and I don't even know her
Posted by: Randy | Apr 16, 2008 2:16:31 PM
Shortly after reading about the tireless efforts of this great woman, I read that 27 mostly LGBT groups are murdering 15-yr. old Lawrence King all over again. SHAME!!!
These goddamn "Love Us We're Liberals" groups are demanding that his killer not be tried as an adult as the law has long allowed.
Such pussy feelings and actions are the EXACT reason gays are still groveling for first class citizenship over half-a-century after the first enduring gay groups were formed in the US. Brandon McInerney isn't the "child" here—they are!
While many of these groups have a great deal of accomplishment to be proud of, only the Safe Schools Coalition has done ANYTHING of any consequence to combat hate crimes, to prevent them from happening. Most of them simply periodically cry crocodile tears while using pictures of such victims as King and Matthew and Gwen Araujo ad infinitum to fund raise to perpetuate their own existence.
The nature of trials and sentencing is as much, if not more, about sending a message to others that such crimes won't be tolerated, as it is "punishment" of a specific offender. We have gone from a society in which kids having access to, let alone using, guns was virtually unheard of to one in which kids are killing other kids and adults everyday—PRIMARILY BECAUSE of the Pollyanna attitudes of such groups as these.
At least SIX LGBTS have been murdered in the last year alone—TEN YEARS after the world was outraged about the murder of Matthew Shepard and such groups as these were saying the same kind of limp dick crap they ooze in their current statement: “We must respond to this tragedy by strengthening our resolve to change the climate in schools, eliminate bigotry based on sexual orientation, gender identity or expression and hold schools responsible for protecting students against discrimination and physical harm." Their grade after ten years: FFF for Fat Fucking Failures!
These 27 foolish groups wiped their hands in Lawrence King’s blood and used it to scrawl a letter to the prosecutor’s office pleading for leniency for his premeditated murderer—and anyone who sends them another dime will, too! I urge everyone to write them and demand that they stand up for the victim as much as his killer—and to realize that their action is sending the message that killing someone simply because they’re gay is no big deal—GUARANTEEING future murders of LGBTs of all ages.
American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California; American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties; American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California; Ally Action (CA); Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere (COLAGE; national); Community United Against Violence (San Francisco); Different Avenues (DC); Equality California; Gay Straight Alliance Network (CA); Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD); Human Rights Campaign; LAGAI – Queer Insurrection; Lambda Legal; LifeWorks Mentoring (Los Angeles); Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center; National Black Justice Coalition; National Center for Lesbian Rights; National Center for Transgender Equality; National Gay and Lesbian Task Force; Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) National; Safe Schools Coalition; San Francisco LGBT Community Center; Sylvia Rivera Law Project (New York); TGI Justice Project (CA); Transgender Law Center; The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center (NY); TransYouth Family Allies, Inc.
Posted by: Leland Frances | Apr 16, 2008 3:07:36 PM
I remember crying at my desk when I read that Matthew Shepard had died. His death led to my first and only real gay activist moment--I participated in the impromptu march/riot in NYC which started at the Trump Plaza and went south from there. I believe the huge crowd trapped Martha Stewart in her car on Fifth Avenue.
Posted by: jmg | Apr 16, 2008 5:55:30 PM
She's a real hero. I'd love to see Judy take on an even more public role, as did Carolyn McCarthy after the shootings on the Long Island Railroad. Carolyn was elected to Congress and worked very hard for gun control. And she had the credibility to get some things done in an organization otherwise suffocated by its own inertia.
Posted by: Ted | Apr 17, 2008 12:16:55 AM
I'm sure that Judy Shepard knows that Matthew Shepard's spirit watches her and cheers her on. I just hope she knows what an incredible difference her activism has made in the lives of countless GLBT people around the world.
And Leland...I almost always agree with you, but on the issue of the kid who killed Lawrence King being tried as an adult, I am in total disagreement. He's a juvenile, and he should be tried in the juvenile justice system.
Posted by: peterparker | Apr 17, 2008 12:56:04 AM