by Heather M. Ross
Knight Ridder-Tribune
Four years ago I stood in a crowd of people listening to a woman talk about her gay son. She loved him and hoped that no hate-filled, ignorant person would ever hurt him.
This was a crowd of people, gay and straight, that had gathered together on a cool October night in Toronto. We were there because a thousand miles away two young men had murdered a young gay college student named Matthew Shepard. This was one of many such vigils held by people who never knew Shepard but felt the need to do something to protest his horrific death.
It has been four years since Shepard was brutally beaten and left to die in a field in Wyoming on Oct. 12, 1998. His killers are in prison, where they will remain for the rest of their lives.
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In the years since Shepard's murder some things have changed, others have not.
Gay-rights advocates have won in the courts, and even some at the ballot box. Most telling was the Sept. 10 vote in Miami-Dade County, Fla. Voters there did an about face from the days of Anita Bryant and upheld anti-discrimination legislation that the county commissioners passed in the wake of Shepard's murder.
California, Vermont, Connecticut, Hawaii and several cities now recognize same-sex domestic partners for a variety of rights and responsibilities.
But Congress is still sitting on the hate-crimes bill, with the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives refusing to call a vote. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act has also suffered the same fate.
And assaults against gays and lesbians, simply for who they are, continue - some physical, some not.
Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell said homosexuals were partly responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks because they have angered God. According to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, there have been more than 50 gays and lesbians reported killed in anti-gay attacks since Matthew's murder, just as there were many before it. The actual number of deaths is likely higher because anti-gay attacks are underreported.
In Matthew's memory, and the memory of all those who have suffered at the hands of intolerance, we must stand up and say "Enough."
Heather M. Ross is a free-lance writer who lives in Canada. She can be reached at pmproj@progressive.org.
