Any perception that the long struggle for equality had been won has been belied by events over the past two years, LGBTQ+ activists say.
It's been 25 years since Matthew Shepard, a gay 21-year-old University of Wyoming student, died six days after he was savagely beaten by two young men and tied to a remote fence to meet his fate. His death has been memorialized as an egregious hate crime that helped fuel the LGBTQ+ rights movement over the ensuing years.
Five people were killed last year in a mass shooting at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado. More than 20 Republican-controlled states have enacted an array of anti-LGBTQ+ laws including bans on sports participation and certain medical care for young transgender people, as well as restrictions on how schools can broach LGBTQ+-related topics.
“What we’ve said in Florida is we are going to remain a refuge of sanity and a citadel of normalcy,” said Gov. Ron DeSantis as he signed such bills earlier this year. “We’re not doing the pronoun Olympics in Florida.” “We made so much progress as an LGBTQ movement, at a fast pace compared to other social justice movements,” he said. “You do have a minority who is overwhelmingly upset by it. They are fired up and they are well-resourced.”
Esseks reflected back to the Supreme Court's historic same-sex marriage ruling in 2015. At the time, he said, many activists were thinking elatedly, “OK, we're kind of done.” Several activists interviewed this week by The Associated Press evoked Matthew Shepard as they discussed broader developments. His memory lives on in many manifestations, including:
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25 years after Matthew Shepard's death, LGBTQ+ activists say equal-rights progress is at riskTwenty-five years have passed since gay 21-year-old college student Matthew Shepard died after being beaten and tied to a remote fence
Read more »
25 years after Matthew Shepard's death, LGBTQ+ activists say equal-rights progress is at riskTwenty-five years have passed since gay 21-year-old college student Matthew Shepard died after being beaten and tied to a remote fence. His death has been memorialized as an egregious hate crime that helped fuel the LGBTQ+ rights movement over the ensuing years.
Read more »
25 years after Matthew Shepard's death, LGBTQ+ activists say equal-rights progress is at riskTwenty-five years have passed since gay 21-year-old college student Matthew Shepard died after being beaten and tied to a remote fence
Read more »
25 years after Matthew Shepard's death, LGBTQ+ activists say equal-rights progress is at riskTwenty-five years have passed since gay 21-year-old college student Matthew Shepard died after being beaten and tied to a remote fence
Read more »
25 years after Matthew Shepard's death, LGBTQ+ activists say equal-rights progress is at riskTwenty-five years have passed since gay 21-year-old college student Matthew Shepard died after being beaten and tied to a remote fence.
Read more »
25 years after Matthew Shepard's death, LGBTQ+ activists say equal-rights progress is at riskTwenty-five years have passed since gay 21-year-old college student Matthew Shepard died after being beaten and tied to a remote fence.
Read more »