CWU to present "The Hate Crime that Changed America"

October 1, 2006

Contact: Leslie Webb (509-963-1685/fax 509-963-1379/e-mail: webble@cwu.edu)

ELLENSBURG, Wash. - Eight years ago this month, Matthew Shepard, a gay college student, was brutally beaten and left tied to a fence in the Wyoming countryside. He died five days later.

Shepard's murder brought to the forefront discussions about the social and legal issues surrounding hate-motivated crimes, defined as a crimes motivated by an offender's bias towards the victim's race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity/national origin and disability.

Shepard's mother, Judy Shepard has turned the grief surrounding her son's horrific death into a crusade against hate crimes. She will share her story and message during a free, public presentation at Central Washington University on Wednesday, Oct. 4, at 7 p.m. in the Student Union Ballroom.

"Violence motivated by hate has deep ramifications and is often times meant to intimidate entire groups of people," Shepard says.

Shepard has testified before Senate Judiciary Committee in support of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act and she now speaks to audiences nationwide about what they can do to make their schools, workplaces and communities safer for everyone, regardless of their race, ethnicity/country of origin, gender, religion, sexual orientation or individual differences.

Her CWU presentation is sponsored by the CWU Diversity Education Center's LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) Initiatives, Campus Activities, Pride Foundation, Wenatchee and Kittitas County PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays).

For more information about Shepard's presentation, or for persons of disability to arrange for reasonable accommodation, call 509-963-1685, or (for the hearing impaired) TDD 509-963-2143.

CWU was recently designated as one of nation's top 100 schools for gay and lesbian students in "College Guide for LGBT Students," published by "The Advocate" magazine.