Judy and Dennis Shepard stand in front of a portrait of their son, Matthew. (Washington Blade photo by Lou Chibbaro, Jr.)
Matthew Shepard, the gay University of Wyoming student who was murdered in a 1998 anti-gay hate crime outside Laramie, Wyoming, was honored with a new portrait at the Washington National Cathedral Dec. 1.
Officials at the cathedral said the portrait, by artist Kelly Latimore and commissioned by LGBTQ members of the Cathedral staff, is the only artistic image of Shepard created in collaboration with Shepard’s parents, Dennis and Judy Shepard, who were present during the ceremony.
Matthew Shepard’s ashes were interred at the Washington National Cathedral in 2018, 20 years after his death. The dedication of the Shepard portrait also take place on what would have been Shepard’s 46th birthday.
“The horrific murders at Club Q in Colorado Springs are a tragic reminder that our LGBTQ friends and family continue to be targeted for who they love, and Matthew Shepard’s legacy reminds us of the urgency to confront bigotry and embrace people of all backgrounds, gender identities and sexual orientations,” said The Very Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith, dean of Washington National Cathedral, in a statement.
Events surrounding the portrait dedication began with a 7 a.m. online prayer service “to celebrate and recall Matthew Shepard’s life,” the statement released by the Cathedral says. The service was led by Right Rev. V. Gene Robinson, the first openly gay priest to be consecrated as a bishop in the Episcopal Church.
The Cathedral next hosted a preview of the portrait for the news media at 10:30 a.m., where Dennis and Judy Shepard talked about the portrait, their son’s life and the impact his death had on the nation’s understanding of hate crimes.
“It’s amazing how similar and what a great job that Kelly [Latimore] has done to make it look like Matt and showing the essence of Matt,” Dennis Shepard told the Washington Blade while viewing the portrait in the Cathedral’s St. Joseph’s Chapel, where the portrait was on display.
Latimore, who also spoke to reporters during the morning briefing at the chapel, said he was moved in his discussions with Judy and Dennis Shepard while getting ready to begin work on the painting by copies of dozens of letters they sent him that had been sent to the Shepards by people across the country after their son’s death.
Latimore included written excerpts from dozens of those letters as the background to his portrait of Matthew Shepard, which can be seen and read when standing close to the portrait.
“Matthew will not be forgotten,” an excerpt from one of the letters on the portrait says.
Dennis and Judy Shepard created the Matthew Shepard Foundation shortly after Matthew’s death, which has been credited with playing a lead role in advocating for the passage by Congress in 2009 of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The measure was the first federal hate crime statute that expanded the coverage of the federal hate crimes law to include a victim’s sexual orientation and gender identity as a protected class.
The Cathedral opened its St. Joseph’s Chapel from 2-5 p.m. on Thursday to visitors where the portrait was on display. Dennis and Judy Shepard were present to greet visitors.
According to the statement released by the Cathedral, later in the evening at 7 p.m., the portrait was officially dedicated in a private service in the Cathedral’s crypt near the site where Shepard’s ashes were interred.
“A longtime supporter of the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the life of the church, the Cathedral considers LGBTQ equality one of the great civil rights issues of the 21st century,” the statement released by the Cathedral says.
One of the two men charged with Shepard’s murder, Russell Henderson, pleaded guilty to a murder charge in exchange for an agreement by prosecutors not to seek a death sentence. He was sentenced to life in prison.
The other man charged in the murder, Aaron McKinney, pleaded not guilty and went to trial, where he was convicted of murder by a jury. In a dramatic statement before the judge at the conclusion of the trial, Dennis Shepard announced and he and his wife had asked prosecutors and the judge to spare McKinney from being sentenced to death, something he said McKinney did not do while fatally striking his son in the head multiple times with the barrel of a gun after the two men tied him to a fence post in a remote field outside Laramie.
The judge sentenced McKinney to two consecutive life terms in prison without the possibility of parole.
You must be logged in to post a comment.