The Impact of Matthew Shepard
Filed by: Guest Blogger
October 10, 2008 1:00 PM

http://www.bilerico.com/2008/10/the_impact_of_matthew_shepard.php

Editors' note: Greg Varnum is the acting Executive Director of the National Youth Advocacy Coalition.

It seems that regardless of your age or the amount of time you've been working with the LGBT rights movement - everyone is aware of the Matthew Shepard story. It's something so iconic in our movement that instead of referring to the anniversary of his attack or his death, many just refer to it as "The Anniversary of Matthew Shepard."

His story arguably ranks up there with the Stonewall Riots, the start of the AIDS epidemic, Paragraph 175 and the formation of the Daughters of Bilitis and Mattachine Society as having a profound impact on our entire movement. It's hard to say exactly why this one attack out of so many and this young person out of the thousands affected by anti-LGBT acts has had this profound impact, but it's hard to deny that it has.