The Matthew Shepard Foundation stayed busy this spring—from California, to Wyoming, to Iowa, Judy and Dennis Shepard and the Foundation staff have spent the season expanding outreach efforts to Erase Hate and engage with communities and youth across the country. Read all about the Foundation’s recent work in its 2015 spring newsletter.
In our mission to Erase Hate, the Matthew Shepard Foundation is often confronted with the simple, yet loaded question of “How?” When we hear and witness words and actions fueled by intolerance and hate, how do we respond? What is the appropriate way to react to someone who, knowingly or otherwise, is hurting and demeaning…
Since last November, the Matthew Shepard Foundation has been fortunate to have the opportunity to dive in behind the scenes of The Laramie Project and The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later with the cast and crew at the Denver School of the Arts (DSA). After the final curtain closing on The Laramie Project: Ten Years…
This month MatthewsPlace.com, our youth recourse website, is talking about the importance of financial stability and planning. Financial February presented by State Farm will give us the chance to talk about how LGBT youth have unique obstacles in reaching financial security. Sadly, it is still legal in 29 states for employers to fire you simply because of your sexual orientation,…
The death of Matthew in 1998 was the start of this Foundation’s work to replace hate with understanding, compassion and acceptance. Unfortunately, Matt’s death was far from the last to occur during the ongoing struggle for equality and equal protection for the LGBT community. It seems with every forward step we take toward a better…
The Matthew Shepard Foundation’s 2014 Annual Report revisits the highlights from the past fiscal year, including Judy and Dennis Shepard’s outreach, updates and advancements for hate crimes reporting efforts, and the continued growth of our work with Matthew’s Place and The Laramie Project.
This week the FBI released its much-anticipated annual report on hate crimes committed in 2013, and as with past reports, the news is mixed. To start, it’s clear that hate crimes of every sort—and racial, religious and anti-gay hate crimes in particular—continued for another year at a depressingly steady level throughout the country. On at…
On the evening of Oct. 6, 1998, Matthew Shepard was abducted and attacked in Laramie, WY because he was gay. Today, on the 16th anniversary of that terrible event, the Supreme Court denied appeals seeking to block the rights of loving, committed same-sex couples – and once again October 6th is a pivotal day in…
As the Foundation passes our 15th anniversary, we owe it to the movement for LGBT equality to lift up and honor those who have committed themselves to securing justice for our community. We are excited to introduce the Matthew Shepard Foundation Honors, the new iteration of Bear to Make a Difference. Judy and Dennis care…
This year, the Matthew Shepard Foundation is pleased to introduce the Dennis Dougherty Award for Community Leadership in memory of a loving, generous and inspiring member of the MSF family. The award will be presented at The Matthew Shepard Foundation Honors on October 11 in Denver, CO. Dennis was a friend, mentor, philanthropist and visionary who was instrumental…