The
defining
setting
for
anti-gay
violence
for
the
last
decade
was
a
rickety
fence
in
a
desolate
Wyoming
field.
But
a
string
of
anti-gay
beatings,
shootings
and
killings
in
recent
months
shows
that
homophobic
hatred
didn’t
disappear
when
Matthew
Shepard
was
killed
10
years
ago
this
October,
nor
is
it
confined
to
rural
pockets
of
America’s
heartland.
In
the
last
year
alone,
young
gay
people
have
died
at
the
hands
of
straight
friends
in
central
Florida,
been
beaten
to
death
after
leaving
a
bar
in
Greenville,
S.C.,
and
assassinated
in
an
eighth
grade
classroom
in
California.
Last
weekend
in
Athens,
Ga.,
a
17-year
old
gay
man
carrying
a
purse
was
beaten
and
verbally
gay-bashed
by
three
boys
he
knew,
according
to
a
March
4
report
in
the
Athens
Banner-Herald.
“I
think
if
you
ask
the
average
American,
they
think
Matthew
Shepard
was
the
last
person
killed
in
this
country
for
being
gay,”
said
Kevin
Jennings,
executive
director
of
the
Gay,
Lesbian
&
Straight
Education
Network
(GLSEN),
a
national
group
that
focuses
on
gay
issues
in
schools.
“Unfortunately,
that’s
not
the
case.”
Elke
Kennedy
knew
her
son
Sean
was
gay
by
the
time
he
was
six
years
old,
but
slight
pangs
of
fear
rushed
through
her
when
Sean
came
out
to
her
in
2004
at
age
17.
“I
was
really
more
worried
about
him
being
harassed
and
people
not
liking
him
for
who
he
was,”
Kennedy
said.
“It’s
a
common
concern,
and
I
think
it’s
getting
worse
now.”
At
about
4:30
a.m.
on
May
16,
2007,
Kennedy
received
a
call
from
a
hospital
that
many
mothers
of
gay
children
dread.
She
asked
if
her
son
was
seriously
hurt
and
was
told
only
that
she
needed
to
arrive
at
the
hospital
as
soon
as
she
could.
As
her
20-year-old
son
lay
brain
dead
in
South
Carolina’s
Greenville
Memorial
Hospital,
Kennedy
learned
that
Sean
was
leaving
a
bar
when
he
was
attacked
by
a
young
man
who
called
him
a
“faggot.”
The
beating
caused
Sean’s
brain
to
separate
from
his
brain
stem
and
ricochet
inside
his
skull.
He
was
taken
off
life
support
later
that
night.
Although
South
Carolina
police
investigated
Sean’s
death
as
a
hate
crime,
prosecutors
said
there
was
no
evidence
of
“malicious
intent”
to
kill,
and
charged
Stephen
Moller,
18
at
the
time
of
the
murder,
with
involuntary
manslaughter
in
October.
The
manslaughter
charge
carries
a
maximum
of
five
years
in
prison.
“It’s
bad
enough
that
you
have
to
lose
a
child
and
deal
with
all
of
that,
but
then
on
top
of
that
you
have
to
deal
with
the
fact
that
they’re
saying
your
son
deserved
to
die,
or
that
[Moller]
really
didn’t
mean
to
do
it,
so
we’re
just
going
to
give
him
a
slap
on
the
wrist,”
Kennedy
said.
Kennedy
said
she
was
also
stung
by
her
community’s
apparent
apathetic
response.
“People,
they’re
sorry
that
I
lost
my
son,
but
they
don’t
want
to
talk
about
why
he
was
murdered,”
she
said.
“They’d
rather
ignore
that
fact
and
pretend
it
didn’t
happen.”
Gay
people
in
Greenville
have
also
had
a
muted
reaction
to
Sean’s
murder,
Kennedy
said.
“Most
of
them,
they’re
afraid,”
Kennedy
said.
“For
them
to
give
up
their
life,
their
job,
because
they
could
lose
their
job,
give
up
their
safety
—
why
would
people
want
to
stand
out
there
and
put
themselves
in
that
danger?”
But
even
in
cities
with
booming
gay
populations
like
Atlanta,
people
are
often
unaware
of
or
ignore
anti-gay
violence
like
the
recent
killings
of
gay
teenagers
Lawrence
King
in
a
California
middle
school
and
Simmie
Williams
in
Ft.
Lauderdale.
“I’m
kind
of
frustrated
because
I
think
a
lot
of
people
are
blind
to
events
and
activism,”
said
Thomas
Byrd,
a
gay
teen
who
attends
high
school
in
Cobb
County.
“This
could’ve
been
me
or
any
of
us.”
From
D.C.
to
Florida
to
YouTube,
gay
people
have
paid
tribute
to
Williams,
who
was
found
dead
while
wearing
women’s
clothes,
and
King,
who
was
shot
in
the
head
at
point-blank
range
by
a
classmate.
“I
think
it’s
amazing
that
gay
and
lesbian
centers
all
over
the
U.S.
have
done
vigils,”
said
Jay
Smith,
executive
director
of
the
Ventura
County
Rainbow
Alliance,
where
King
participated
in
events.
“It’s
been
a
sad
three
weeks
for
us,”
Smith
said.
“We
tell
[youth]
to
be
out,
be
proud
and
be
safe,
and
Larry
seemed
to
be
doing
that
and
got
killed
for
it.”
Gay
people
in
Ft.
Lauderdale
are
experiencing
“a
heightened
sense
of
urgency
and
concern”
after
Williams’
death,
which
was
followed
days
later
by
another
local
anti-gay
attack,
said
Paul
Hyman,
executive
director
of
the
Gay
&
Lesbian
Community
Center
of
South
Florida.
Lawrence
King’s
murder
marks
the
first
time
in
10
years
that
an
anti-gay
killing
has
come
close
to
becoming
a
national
news
story.
“The
Matthew
Shepard
case
captured
the
nation’s
attention
in
a
way
we
have
not
seen
since
then,”
said
Neil
Giuliano,
president
of
the
Gay
&
Lesbian
Alliance
Against
Defamation.
“All
incidents
that
involve
violence
and
brutality
against
LGBT
people
deserve
the
same
kind
of
public
outcry
and
community
response
in
order
to
shift
the
cultural
climate
about
LGBT
issues,”
Giuliano
said.
News
...
