October 12, 1998
Six years ago today, Matthew Shepard was murdered for being homosexual.
Not long after that, J.R. Warren, a mentally retarded gay black man from West Virginia, was also killed for being homosexual, but didn’t recieve a tenth of the news coverage because he wasn’t white and well off.
Hate crimes happen every day, everywhere, to everybody, and only by remembering the victims and educating people will they ever stop.
Yep Cran. What more can be said?
It’s sad because every time somebody mentions Matt Shepard, I bring up J.R. Warren and nobody’s ever heard of him. If I didn’t live so close to him, I’m sure I would never have heard of him, either, because it wasn’t covered by the national media. But people need to know these things happen all the time to everybody.
I could try to say something profound, but wouldn’t even know where to begin. Poor kid.
Robin
Too sad. There’s probably others too who’s names never got past the police and hospital records.
Amen to that Cranberry…
Thanks for the reminder Cran.
All the Best, Tom
I become sad and afraid whenever I think of Shepard’s murder. I didn’t know Shepard or the quality of his character, but I do know enough about his murderers to say without hesitation that our world would be a better place with Shepard alive and his murderers dead.
In our area we had a transsexual teen murdered about a year ago, I believe, whose name was Eddie “Gwen” Araujo. You would think that people in the Bay Area would be more tolerant, but sadly, these horrible hate crimes happen everywhere.
Justine
I’m not keen on violent crime, be it “hate” or even “love” inspired.
When I was a teenager, a group of our friends were taken hostage, and raped. Several didn’t survive.
Later, when I was still a teenager, a friend of mine (my former Sunday School teacher) was shot five times in the back of the head and killed by her stepson.
I just don’t care for violent crime at all.
Cran,
It is noble for you to remember them both and honor their memories this way.
I pray everyday that the world will change and no one will be hated or discriminated against. I pray for my son. What happened to Matthew Shepard is the nightmare of every parent of a gay child. It is simply terrifying to think that someone might harm my child, who is a wonderful human being, just because his sexual preference is different.
God made us all, and as I don’t think God is cruel or a practical joker, I would say he made gay people gay because whatever his reasons he wanted them that way. Maybe it is to teach the rest of us to love more and to learn to be more accepting of those we perceive as “different”. I have no doubt that He/She loves us all the same.
God Bless you Cran…
In the closet, I used to cut myself because I was so convinced I deserved it. Most of us don’t need criminals to experience hell, just a few people who refuse to understand.
I came out twice. The first time I was forced out and sent to therapy to become straight by a teacher when I was 12 (the same teacher is in a coma right now on the verge of death, I’m praying for her even though I want to feel good that she’s almost dead), and my family somehow just “forgot”, so I had to come out again when I was 18. I have never been a cutter, but I used to burn myself with matches, and starve myself, both behaviours that are rooted in the exact same feeling of inner worthlessness.
God Bless you, too. mental person hugs
I disagree, but only because I know of a couple people on death row, or in prison for life, and I have seen how horrible it is on their families, if not directly on them, and more suffering is never a good thing. They may have murdered a person, but I don’t think they deserve to die, because afterall, they are people, too.