It’s hard to grasp the fact that Matthew Shepard should have been celebrating his 37th birthday this year if it hadn’t been for the tragic events of that fateful night 16 years ago on that desolate prairie outside of Laramie in Wyoming. So many of us still think of him as the slight short blond-haired boy looking younger than his 21 years wearing a blue check shirt standing in his kitchen smiling in the photograph that leaped off the pages of the world’s media for several weeks after he was killed. This was one of probably 30 fatal hate crimes in Wyoming that year alone, but unlike the others this one really captured the world’s attention and later spawned two plays and three movies that went in to great detail about Matthew’s murder and kept the whole crime on the public’s radar for a very time. It also turned his parents, particularly his mother Judy, into selfless passionate advocates for LGBT youth who created and spearheaded the Foundation that bears Matthew’s name.
As well documented as all this whole incident and the events surrounding it were, Michele Jouse felt that the focus had been solely about the crime itself and not about this remarkable young man that she had the privilege of calling a friend. Now having a distance of 16 years since his death, she felt it was time that she, and his other friends told their own story about the man behind the headlines.
What comes through in these moving and heartfelt reminisces of a teenager that she met at Boarding School in Switzerland while both their parents were working in Saudi Arabia, was of a charismatic and funny young man who reveled in the company of others. Matthew was also the centre of their group with a leader and an instigator. When he and 3 friends went on a trip to Morocco together, this closeted and sensitive man went out late one night and he was set upon by a group of six men who beat him up, robbed him, then raped him. It was a experience that would have a profound effect on him during the next few years.
Jouse revisited all the pivotal places in Matthew’s life working through a flood of memories with other school friends and the people he was close to at College including his teachers and a counsellor. The journey she undertook was highly emotional one, and by sharing his letters, his poems and a whole cache of photographs and video, it was clear that it was a highly necessary one for her to take. And for us too. There were some painful encounters like the one with the Shepard’s family Priest who had also visited the murderers in jail several times and was taking a very charitable Christian standpoint which is difficult to both understand and accept when you do not share such a strong faith.
Much has been written about Judy and Dennis Shepard including how they went on to play an essential role in helping the Hate Crime Legislation, that bares their son’s name, eventually get on the Statute Books. Seeing them up close as they participated in this memoir strikes you not only what an exceptional pair of human beings they are, but equally as important is that this in itself is a refection of what sort of man Matthew was himself to inspire his parents like this. It’s hard to forget seeing Dennis Shepard on the TV news broadcasts all those years ago when his pleas alone were the ones that insured that the convicted killers were spared the death penalty. Seeing him talk now about his son with every sinew of his face and every drop of emotion filled with such love is a completely unforgettable sight.Jouse’s story is very personal and she deserves full credit for not only sharing it with the world, but also for the immensely professional way she did it. There is no doubt that Matthew’s short life greatly affected and motivated nearly all the people that were part of it. Be warned that it is a roller coaster ride for your emotions too just witnessing the tale she has to tell, and I guarantee that you will come away having had more than one moment when you failed to hold back the tears.
You may also feel somewhat jealous of Jouse, as like me you also wish that you too could claim that Matt Shepard was a friend of mine.
