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A TRIBUTE TO MATTHEW SHEPARD: AN ADDRESS GIVEN AT A MEMORIAL VIGIL, THURSDAYOCTOBER 15, 1998, AMHERST, MASSACHUSETTS TOWN COMMONSBy Warren J. Blumenfeld
I never met Matthew Shepard in life, but I feel I know Matthew Shepard in
death. His passing hit me like the death of an old trusted friend. His loss
to me is palpable. Matthew hoped to dedicate his life to advancing the cause
of human rights for all people. His uncle, R. W. Eaton, said that Matt was "a
small person with a big heart, mind, and soul that someone tried to beat out
of him."
I come to you tonight with both good news and bad news, and I will save the
good news to the end. The bad news is that what happened to Matthew Shepard is
nothing new. We see hate-motivated violence against gay, lesbian, bisexual,
and transgender people and other targeted social groups on the rise. Pick up
any of our publications and each week you will see stories of brutal and
senseless attacks. Groups of young males wielding baseball bats and guns at
anyone who looks "different," and men waiting outside women's spaces attacking
women on their way home. Recently hitting the national spotlight we witnessed
the brutal attacks on Rodney King in Los Angeles, the barbarous slaying of
James Byrd, Jr. in Jasper, Texas, and the fierce rape and murder of a 7-year-
old girl in a Las Vegas casino bathroom.
And these are simply the most extreme examples of hate-related violence in
general and so-called "gay bashing" specifically. I am here, then, to restate
a simple truth -- the killers of Matthew Shepard live in a society that
promotes intolerance, for gay bashing comes in a great many forms:
Whenever hate mongers like Fred Phelps and his followers threaten to picket
and protest the funerals of gay and lesbian people, including Matthew Shepard,
and people who have died of AIDS, that's gay bashing.
Whenever university students, like those at Colorado State University, spray
paint a scarecrow at their homecoming parade with vicious epithets in
reference to Matthew Shepard, that's gay bashing.
Whenever the political and theocratic right produce newspaper and television
ads that promise conversion" and "escape" from the so-called "homosexual
lifestyle" in the guise of Christian love and understanding, that's gay
bashing. Whenever politicians like Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott proclaim
in the media that homosexuality is a disease in the categories of kleptomania
and alcoholism, that's gay bashing.
Whenever the U.S. Senate and other legislative bodies refuse to confirm a
nominee for public service, like James Hormel as ambassador to Luxembourg,
simply on account of their sexual or gender identity alone and not on their
actual qualifications, that's gay bashing.
Whenever so-called religious leaders like Pat Robertson blame natural
disasters on city governments that have enacted laws protecting the rights of
gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people, that's gay bashing.
Whenever mainstream religious denominations condemn homosexuality with one
breath and actively obstruct frank and honest sexuality and AIDS education
programs in our schools with another, that's gay bashing.
Whenever any young person is tossed out on the street when family members
become aware of their sexual or gender identity, that's gay bashing.
Whenever any person is ridiculed, isolated, confronted, or attacked for not
conforming to rigid constructions of gender expression, that's gay bashing.
Whenever hate crimes legislation is drafted without including the
documentation of violence directed against lesbians, gay males, bisexuals, and
transgender people, branding this as nothing more than
the granting of "special rights," that's gay bashing.
Whenever professors in our universities and teachers in our schools exclude
the stories of our lives, our experiences, and our accomplishments in the
classroom, that's gay bashing.
Whenever any one of us is taught to hate ourselves each one of us is demeaned,
and that certainly is gay bashing, and we have a right, or rather an
obligation, to speak up, to fight back with all the energy, with all the
unity, and with all the love that we are capable of.
Today we still live in a society that proclaims we don't have a right to
exist, but exist we do, everywhere, in all walks of life.
For as we all know, we are the students, professors, teachers, guidance
counselors, day care workers, parents -- and still some people and groups
attempt to prevent us from having contact with the young
people of our nation. And because of their insensitivity and fear, the gay
bashing continues.
We are the social workers, psychiatrists, workers at homeless shelters and
rape crisis centers -- and still some people and groups blame us for the break
up of what they call the "traditional American family." And the gay bashing
continues.
The reality is that we are holding up this culture. If all the lesbians,
bisexuals, gay males, and transgender people suddenly left our jobs, this
country would literally crumble.
Referring to Matthew Shepard's shattered body, his uncle cried: "It's like
something you might see in war." Yes, we are fighting a war: a war against
ignorance, which is literally killing our people. And amidst this crisis,
segments of our country perpetuate a process of collective denial by refusing
to acknowledge the mere existence of this war in its attempts to silence us.
But silent we are not, and silent
we will never be again.
There is an old tradition in our western states of ranchers killing a coyote
and tying it to a fence to scare off other coyotes, and to keep them from
coming out of their hiding places. That's what Matthew Shepard's killers did
to him. They smashed his skull and tied him to a fence as if he were a
lifeless scarecrow, where he was bound for over 18 hours in near freezing
temperatures. The message to the rest of us from these killers is quite clear:
stay locked away in your suffocating and dank closets, and don't ever come
out.
But the good news that I alluded to earlier is that no amount of intimidation
will ever lock us away again. Lesbians, gay males, bisexuals, transgender
people, and our loving and supportive heterosexual allies are
coming out in greater numbers than ever before, as witnessed in the large
outpouring of grief, anger, and love over this past week. As marginalized
people, we are pushing the boundaries unwilling any longer to accept the
repressive status quo. In coalition with other disenfranchised groups and
allies, we are refusing to buckle under and to assimilate into a corrupt and
corrupting system that forces people to relinquish their integrity and their
humanity.
One year before the death of another of our slain leaders, gay San Francisco
City Supervisor Harvey Milk recorded a will that was to be played in the event
of his assassination. In it he stated that he never considered himself simply
as a candidate for public office, but rather, always considered himself as
part of a movement: a liberation movement for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender people -- and a liberation
movement for all people.
Each time Harvey spoke in front of a crowd, he urged people to come out
everywhere and often: "Tell your immediate family," he would say, "tell
friends, neighbors, people in the stores you shop in, cab drivers,
everyone." And he urged heterosexual people to be our allies, to interrupt
derogatory remarks and jokes, to support us and offer aid when needed. If we
all did this, he said, we could change the world.
Well, in his brief time with us, Matthew Shepard also changed lives. His
caring soul transformed the people he met. Though his attackers may have
succeeded in devastating his body, they did not and will never succeed in
destroying his gentle spirit, or in extinguishing the heart of a community and
a movement for social justice, for Matthew's spirit continues, inspiring a
people, a nation, a world.
We can take solace in the words of Judy Shepard, Matt's mother, when she tells
us: "Go home, give your kids [and I would add, all your loved ones] a hug, and
don't let a day go by without telling them you love
them."
For Matthew, and Judy, and for all of us, I do believe that love WILL conquer
the hatred. Matthew, thank you for the riches you have left us. We will
continue the struggle in your name to make the world a safer and more
supportive environment for all its people. Matthew, may you forever rest in
peace.
Warren J. Blumenfeld, Editor, Homophobia: How We All Pay the Price, Editor,
Journal of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Identity, Co-author, Looking at Gay and
Lesbian Life; blumenfeld@educ.umass.edu
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