"Where would we be with the equality movement and the gay community if Matt hadn't died? Would we be this far?" Dennis Shepard wonders. After a thoughtful bittersweet pause he concludes, "We wouldn't even be close."
How profoundly sad that in order to affect real change and forward the gay civil rights movement, a bright, kind, promising young man had to lose his life in a tragedy that took its highest toll on the family and friends he left behind.
Since the heinous murder of Wyoming-born Matthew Shepard back in October of 1998, he has become a symbol of most LGBT rights' battles including hate crime legislation, the fight for marriage equality and bullying laws.
And while Matthew is a forever-iconic figure and what happened to him the stuff of harsh-but-real legend, he has loved ones that wanted people to remember that Matt was also a human being. One close friend in particular, Michele Josue, decided to create a filmic memorial of sorts, an intelligent, deeply moving documentary, Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine, that has played numerous festivals and is being given a slow distribution roll-out over these next few month (including NYC where it opened earlier this month. For further information about screenings, visit the film's website.
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