Twenty years after the death of Matthew Shepard, an openly gay University of Wyoming student from Casper, the Laramie community is commemorating his legacy with a series of memorial events.
The series includes panel discussions, musical performances, film showings and other events throughout September and October, organized by the Matthew Shepard Memorial Group, part of the Shepard Symposium on Social Justice.
“It’s an opportunity for people to engage with a piece of not-too-distant history,” said Christi Boggs, co-chair of the symposium. “We’ve moved into a time in the world when people tend to think that a lot of these things aren’t important anymore, that we don’t have these problems anymore, but there have been multiple incidences around the state recently that have to do with hate crime. It hasn’t gone away.”
On the night of Oct. 6, 1998, 21-year-old Shepard was robbed, tied to a fence and severely beaten by two young men, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson. Several days later Shepard died of his injuries. McKinney and Henderson were convicted of murder and each sentenced to two life sentences in prison.
Shepard’s murder, covered extensively by national and international media, sparked a national conversation about homophobia and served as the impetus for hate crime legislation like Laramie’s LGBTQ nondiscrimination ordinance and the Matthew Shepard Act, passed by Congress in 2009 and signed into law by President Obama.
“This is now a watershed moment in history, not just in Laramie but for the world,” said UW alumna and filmmaker Beverly Seckinger. “It will be written about and talked about and analyzed and reanalyzed for years to come. It’s not going away.”
In addition to legislation, Shepard’s life, death and legacy have inspired numerous works in art, music, film and writing. The university’s memorial events aim to showcase these works and foster a conversation about Shepard’s legacy, for Laramie as well as the wider LGBTQ community.
“There is a lot of work we need to do in the state and in Laramie,” said Jess Fahlsing, a UW student and co-chair of the memorial group. “Events like the memorial really keep our attention focused on the work that we still need to do but also on the progress that we have made…I think too some of the conversations that happen during the memorial will be very helpful in letting people actually talk about what happened here 20 years ago, where we’re at 20 years later and what it means.”
Supported by President Nichols and the Laramie Town Council, the memorial reaffirms a community commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. Other universities around the U.S. are also hosting memorial events, from Colorado to Rhode Island. While Shepard’s death is not directly a part of their community history, in Boggs’ view this shows how the tragedy has influenced a generation of students and queer youth.
Local memorial events began with President Nichols’ LGBTQ reception Sept. 5 and continue this week with a discussion panel and free film screening of Seckinger’s “Laramie Inside Out” tonight at 6:30 p.m. in the Wyoming Student Union.
Seckinger, now a professor of Theater, Film and Television and founding member of the Institute for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Studies at the University of Arizona, grew up closeted in Laramie in the 1970s before graduating from UW. She returned to Laramie in the months following Shepard’s murder to make sense of the tragedy, and equipped with a camera followed the community response to it.
“I stayed a lot longer than the mainstream media who were there for their soundbites,” Seckinger said. “I hung around and got to know people who were most involved in responding in different ways – responding to the national press, supporting local gay students who were freaked out. I returned to Laramie several times in the next several years to follow their stories.”
This month, other memorial events include the Scholarship and Research Symposium on Culture, Gender, and Social Justice and Diversity Awards Dinner, a forum for scholars in gender and social justice, on Sept. 20 and 21, and a walking tour and discussion of Laramie’s downtown murals of Wyoming history on Sept. 28.
In October, events include accounts from the Angel Action Activists and a collegiate choir performance, Oct. 4; a conversation with hospital CEO Rulon Stacey, who announced Shepard’s death and his family’s public statement, Oct. 5; talks by Sheriff Dave O’Malley, community responders and the composer of the nationally recognized piece “Considering Matthew Shepard,” hosted by Saturday University, Oct. 6; “Considering Matthew Shepard” performed by Grammy award-winning choir group Conspirare, evening of Oct. 6; panel discussion and film screening of “The Laramie Project,” date to be decided; and panel discussion and film screening of “Matthew Shepard Is a Friend of Mine,” Oct. 25.
For details and additional information see UWyo.edu/ShepardSymposium/Matthew-Shepard-Memorial-Group.
