Friends of the Foundation: On the first anniversary of the Pulse shooting, I wanted to share why it is that I got involved in LGBTQ+ advocacy again, after leaving to work in tech. On June 12th, my entire life changed. On that fateful night, one of my very best friends from college, Christopher Andrew “Drew”…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Sara E. Grossman Tel: 303-830-7400 x10 Email: sara@matthewshepard.org Date: 5/22/17 MATTHEW SHEPARD FOUNDATION LAUNCHES HATE CRIME SURVEY The organization is looking to get stories from the Greater Denver Area DENVER, CO–The Matthew Shepard Foundation is looking to intake reported stories of hate crimes or bias-motivated incidents in the greater Denver area, including…
Yesterday, it was reported that Senator Enzi (R-WY) made a harmful comment while addressing middle and high school students about protections for LGBTQ+ people: “What work are you and your comrades doing to improve the life of the LGBT community in Wyoming?” the student asked Enzi. “How do you plan to help Wyoming live up…
Can an entire government be accused of a hate crime? From our purview, that is exactly what is happening in Chechnya. Right now, activists and humanitarians all over the world are scrambling to figure out what to do about the Chechen concentration camps persecuting gay men. The atrocities being reported on right now are almost…
MSF Supporters: We have had some really amazing wins lately. The ACA is still in place, keeping some of the most vulnerable members of our communities safe and healthy. The travel ban has been halted, ensuring our Muslim brothers and sisters are not unrightfully discriminated against. And the FBI is finally probing Trump’s associates to…
In our last blog post, we talked about the dangers of giving states the power to decide whether to protect some of the most vulnerable youth in our population: transgender students. Unfortunately, leaving it up to states gives certain states the option to discriminate, rather than protect. Unfortunately, we know this is true because it’s exactly…
Absolutely unacceptable. There is no other way to describe what took place in the White House yesterday. The President and his cabinet took immediate action in humiliating, disavowing, and quite frankly putting our transgender students in harm’s way. As it stands, the suicide rate for transgender people is already much higher than of cis-gender people.…
The rumors of a forthcoming anti-LGBTQ executive order are not only troubling, but downright harmful to the entire community. Here in America, we have a separation of church and state for very good reason. It is in place to protect those who differ from the “norm” and have the same basic desires of all Americans:…
Inauguration day is here. There is a lot of uncertainty as we begin a new chapter in America. The pendulum has swung once again, and it is not necessarily in our favor. But we are determined to keep working towards justice and erasing hate. While we were not prepared to be working under an unfriendly…
As the year wraps up, we are beginning to reflect on the past year as well as look forward to the next. We make resolutions, reach out to family, and spend time counting our blessings. Unfortunately, that is not the privilege that a lot of youth have. Some kids get kicked out of the house…