Friday, Oct. 12, will mark 14 years since the death of Matthew Shepard, the 21-year-old college student who was brutally beaten in the rural Wyoming countryside and left for dead because he was gay.
He was tied to a fence and ruthlessly tortured by his two killers, who had tricked him by offering to drive him home. Matthew was found still tied to the fence and in a coma nearly 18 hours later by a man who initially thought his near-lifeless body was a scarecrow. His head was completely covered in blood but for a few streaks that had been washed away by his tears.
Matthew remained on life support for nearly six days, but due to the extensive brain damage he had endured at the hands of his tormentors, he ultimately lost his life. His death sent shock waves through the nation and drew true attention to the treatment and tolerance of difference in our society.
We’ve seen enormous strides at the federal level to protect against the type of senseless violence that Matthew endured on that cold October morning. Early in his term, President Barack Obama signed the Matthew Shepard Act into law, which added actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability as protected classes under the U.S. federal hate crimes law.
The new additions to the law are currently being tested for the first time in Kentucky, after two cousins lured a gay man into their truck in 2011 and took him to a rural park, where they relentlessly tormented and beat him, leaving him to die. The landmark trial is expected to begin next week.
Additionally, several major cases are expected to go before the Supreme Court this term relating to gay rights and the definition of marriage on the state and federal level. While the justices haven’t formally decided to hear the cases, many insiders believe they will announce their decision to consider them after the November election.
Our military has also made significant advances in the push for equality under the law with the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the transition has been going “very well” and has not, in any way, affected overall morale or troop readiness, as some opponents of the repeal had previously suggested.
As a whole, our culture has certainly come a long way on the road to acceptance in just over a decade. Polls now show that recognition and acknowledgment of LGBTQ individuals has become virtually mainstream, and the extension of basic civil rights to these Americans has become a political rallying point during this presidential election.
But even in this promising trend of acceptance, LGBTQ Americans still face real setbacks on a mass platform in the fight for equality.
The Republican Party has vowed to restrict any advances in gay rights legislation, and their presidential candidate has made the outrageous claim that he would support a constitutional amendment establishing marriage as a union between only a man and a woman. This infantile mentality seemingly permeates through the nation’s ultra-conservative wing, even extending to the nation’s highest court.
Just last week, conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia told a group at the American Enterprise Institute that outlawing LGBTQ sex acts was a no-brainer because it had been outlawed in every state for nearly 200 years prior to the milestone Lawrence v. Texas case in 2003 that banned such laws in the States.
As a self-described ‘textualist,’ Scalia maintains that he interprets the Constitution with the same mindset of the original framers and writers, not succumbing to cultural progress and societal maturation. Perhaps by his own mind-blowing logic, Scalia would also suggest that minorities only count as three-fifths of a person or that women should not be able to vote and are considered property.
On a state level, there is still much work to be done to include the same type of protections against hate-centric acts that target LGBTQ citizens as provided at the federal level. Currently, Alabama’s hate crime statute only covers race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity or physical or mental disability. A bill to include sexual orientation as a protected class was passed by the Alabama House and Senate Judiciary Committee in 2009, but the full senate did nothing further before it adjourned the regular session.
Accepting and celebrating difference is an inherent element of a deeply diverse population. While the tide of progress has had an enormously positive effect on our societal growth, we still must aggressively challenge the voices that slow the critical progress. Only through consistent visibility and concerted cross-cultural education can we truly hope for more inclusive communities.
As we revel in the many cultural strides of the past decade, may we always remember the brave individuals like Matthew Shepard, who loved and accepted themselves – no matter the consequences – to make those strides possible.
Austin Gaddis is senior majoring in communication studies and public relations. His column runs on Wednesdays.
