"As for wrangles about gay rights, homosexuality, etc....I consider it a total non-issue, I am utterly disinterested in it…."

Shortly after midnight on October 7th of 1998, a twenty-one year old Matthew Shepard, a student at the University of Wyoming, was taken to a deserted country road outside of Laramie, where he was tied to a fence, brutally beaten, tortured, and pistol-whipped. The two assailants left him to die, still tied to the fence.

Shepard was discovered 18 hours later by a cyclist, Aaron Kreifels, who initially mistook Shepard for a scarecrow. Shepard was in a coma.

Shepard had suffered fractures to the back of his head and in front of his right ear. He experienced severe brain-stem damage, which affected his body's ability to regulate heart rate, body temperature, and other vital functions. There were also about a dozen small lacerations around his head, face, and neck. His injuries were deemed too severe for doctors to operate. Shepard never regained consciousness and remained on full life support. While he lay in intensive care, candlelight vigils were held by the people of Laramie.

Shepard was pronounced dead at 12:53 a.m. on October 12, 1998, at Poudre Valley Hospital, in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Police arrested Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson shortly thereafter, finding the bloody gun and Shepard's shoes and wallet in their truck.

The reason they gave for their brutal assault on Matthew Shepard?

"He was gay."

The sort of anti-gay propaganda and blatant misinformation that certain people on this and other threads are wont to spread ("Gays choose to be gay," and "Gays cause disease.") gives people like McKinney and Henderson a convenient excuse for their bigotry and brutality.

"….a total non-issue…."

I don't think so!

Don Firth