Marking progress, a decade after a brutal murder
http://www.twincities.com/opinion/ci_10680896Rebecca Waggoner Kloek
10/09/2008
Ten years ago this week, the country was rocked by the horrific killing of a young gay man, Matthew Shepard, after two men beat him beyond recognition and left him to die on a fencepost in Wyoming. The killing triggered a national outcry over the need to address the threat of violence against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
In the decade since that brutal crime, Minnesota's police response to hate and bias crimes against the GLBT community has substantially improved.
Thanks to active efforts to work with police departments on their vital role in investigating hate and bias crimes, and thanks to the proactive efforts of police agencies themselves to seek out positive training on this issue, the climate in our state is much better than a decade ago.
