Gay son's death turned mom into activist

Before the tragic murder of her son, Judy Shepard was a typical housewife.

She was a den mother, teaching the Webelo Scouts the ways of the world. She was a baker, who always had a fresh plate of cookies on the table for sons Matthew and Logan.

But Shepard doesn't have time for that now. Ever since Matthew Shepard's murder in 1998, Judy Shepard has traveled the nation, fighting for hate-crimes legislation.

"I played cards, mahjongg and watched soap operas, and I really liked that," Shepard said in a meeting with the Deseret Morning News editorial board Monday. "But that was my other life. This is what I do now."

Her new life includes board meetings, press conferences, cameras and microphones. She'll talk about hate crimes to anyone willing to listen.

Shepard said she never really understood the word hate until the day Matthew Shepard was murdered in October 1998. Two men attacked the 21-year-old University of Wyoming student, tied him to a fence and beat him because he was gay. The men were later sentenced to life in prison.

"I didn't give much thought to the fact that hate would lead people to do this kind of thing," Shepard said. "I was now forced to look at hate. It's part of everyone's existence and something you can learn how to do, and I don't know why we have to do that."

Instead of clamming up in a bitter rage because of her son's murder, Shepard is fighting back. Her goal is to educate young people to respect each other. Gay, straight, white or black — tolerance is the key, she said.

Shepard's calendar is booked with speaking engagements across the country. She will visit 30 different colleges and universities before the first of May.

"If young people were taught to respect each other, then we wouldn't even have to talk about hate crimes," Shepard said.

Shepard is in Utah lobbying support for HB68, a hate-crimes bill pending in the Legislature. A controversial aspect of the bill, sponsored by Rep. David Litvack, D-Salt Lake, is that it specifies that victims of hate crimes can be people attacked because of their race, color, disability, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, age or gender. A competing measure does not specify these classes.

"The two words sexual orientation is a holdup for a lot of states," Shepard said. "It just shouldn't be. We have to protect everybody."

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E-MAIL: ldethman@desnews.com