Political Quotes

“Matthew Shepard was a 21-year-old student at the University of Wyoming when he was savagely beaten on October 6, 1998. Why? Because he was a homosexual; he was gay. Two men who had offered him a ride home robbed and pistol whipped him, beat him so severely they smashed his skull. If that wasn't enough for these demons, they tied him to a fence with a rope in the cold of winter, lonely--you can appreciate it if you spent a few of them in Wyoming-- and left him to die. And he did die. He died of severe head injuries less than a week after the beating that was given. What happened to Matthew was a tragedy for this young man, of course for his family, for other gay men and women who were and have been terrorized by this awful crime. It was certainly a tragedy for our Nation. The men who murdered Matthew Shepard were not charged with committing a hate crime because crimes of violence committed on the basis of sexual orientation were not prosecutable as hate crimes under Wyoming or Federal law. This is still the case today. The Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act would strengthen the ability of Federal, State, and local governments to investigate and prosecute hate crimes.”