It was fourteen years ago today that Matthew Shepard was murdered
by two anti gay thugs. Every gay person sometime that horrible day said but for the grace of God, go I. Matthew will never get married, never have kids, never be the man he intended to be. But thanks to a Democratic Congress and a Democratic President he was the agent of some of the change he wanted to see. Now gays in some of the myriad of states where we aren't covered by hate crime statutes have a place to go if God forbid we get attacked for who we are. It took 11 years, but it finally happened.
The world of 14 years ago is both radically different all too the same. We recently celebrated the first anniversary of openly gay men and women in the armed forces and marriage equality in our largest city. But we also remain uncovered by even basic civil rights laws in the majority of US states representing about half the US population.
Someone born that awful night might have entered high school this year. In recent years we have heard of dozens of young gays who just couldn't bear the lives in our middle and high schools ending their lives. But we have also seen openly gay couples dance the night away at their proms. People think progress is just inevidible but that isn't the case. The life of that 14 year old isn't determined by any means. Can she marry the woman of her choice and have the rights every other couple takes for granted? If he is talented enough, can he play in the NFL or NBA? If she meets a woman while serving in the Peace Corps can she bring her back to the US? All of these questions, and more, will be answered in the next decade or so.
One of our two political parties and several of our major religions have teamed up to bring gays backward. They could win. As we found out, sadly, fourteen years ago, nothing is guaranteed.
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peace~
