Matthew Shepard, Symbol For Gay Rights, Laid To Rest In DC
Source: Associated Press
By JULIET LINDERMAN, Associated Press, 5 hrs. ago.
WASHINGTON -- After 20 years without a permanent resting place, the remains of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old college student whose brutal murder in 1998 has come to symbolize the plight of the LGBTQ community in America, were interred at the Washington National Cathedral on Friday.
More than 2,000 people gathered at the Episcopal cathedral, the second-largest cathedral in the country, to celebrate Shepard's life, mourn his death and honor his memory.
The service offered a measure of closure for Shepard's parents who, until now, hadn't found a spot that seemed suitable or safe enough to rest their child's remains. It also provided a moment of unity and collective grieving for those in the LGBTQ community, for whom Shepard's death has for decades represented the pain and discrimination many had experienced themselves.
And the setting inside the same sprawling cathedral in the nation's capital where U.S. presidents are memorialized lent to the weight of the moment as hymns, speeches, choral music and prayers for love, tolerance and equality bounced off the towering columns and sweeping arches, echoing across the nave.- More...
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/matthew-shepard-symbol-for-gay-rights-laid-to-rest-in-dc/ar-BBOUV7S?li=BBnbcA1
Shepard was an acolyte in his local Episcopalian church, and when Bishop V. Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop consecrated in the Episcopal church suggested the National Cathedral as a fitting resting place for Matthew's ashes, his family agreed.
Matthew's father, Dennis Shepard said, "Matt loved the church. Matt was blind, just like this beautiful house of worship. He did not see skin color. He did not see religion. He did not see sexual orientation. All he saw was a chance to have another friend. Just like this beautiful home we have here. It is so important we now have a home for Matt."
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I hope eternal happiness has blessed you. Some day I will visit and pay my personal respects. 
Thank you for posting this, I was not aware this has taken place.
