Slain man's mom to help fight bigotry at city banquet

Judy Shepard — the mother of Matthew Shepard, whose slaying 10 years ago sparked a movement within the gay community — will be in Oklahoma City on June 19 as part of a banquet sponsored by the Cimarron Alliance Foundation.

"Shepard's visit to Oklahoma is not coincidental. Ten years ago, her son was robbed and murdered only because he was gay. In December, a fellow Oklahoman was brutally murdered only because he was gay,” said Richard Ogden, chairman of the Cimarron Alliance Foundation. "We should all have learned from Matthew's killing that climates of intolerance breed words of intolerance, which in turn breed actions of intolerance in the form of physical abuse, such as bullying, vandalism, assaults and even killings.”

Judy Shepard was asked to come to Oklahoma because of Steven Domer's death, the defeat of hate crime legislation in the Oklahoma Legislature and the anti-gay remarks made by Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City.

"We have seen the effects of hate speech in our state, but we know hate speech does not represent the thoughts of the majority of Oklahomans,” said Rob Howard, executive director of the Cimarron Alliance Foundation. "We're honored Judy Shepard will join us in fighting bigotry of all kinds and helping us move toward a fair and just Oklahoma.”

The Oklahoma City visit was positioned during gay pride week for a reason.

"We thought it was appropriate to recognize the sacrifices of people like Matt Shepard and people like Steve Domer,” Howard said. "We've been working on hate crimes since Steven Domer was killed back in October. And then the Sally Kern thing happened. It was exactly the kind of hate-filled speech that empowers people to do hateful things.”

•Matthew Shepard: Shepard, a University of Wyoming student, was attacked Oct. 6, 1998. Shortly after midnight, two men — Russell Arthur Henderson and Aaron James McKinney — walked into a local bar posing as gay men and offered Shepard a ride in their car. Shepard later was robbed, pistol whipped, tortured, tied to a fence in a remote area and left to die. He was discovered by a cyclist 18 hours later, still tied to the fence. His injuries were deemed too severe to operate. He never regained