Nick's Place

The murder of Matthew Shepard in 1998 was created a dying young man, but more symbolically it was "...a signpost. 'When push comes to shove,' it [the sign post] says, 'this is what we have in mind for gays'" (Lacayo) While the homophobic communities used Shepard's death as a sign post, Gay and Lesbians, especially young gay and lesbians, rallied around his death, and raised him to the status of martyr. The death of Matthew Shepard created an icon for political as well as ideological discussion.

The defense at the Shepard murder trial attempted to use a "gay panic" defense. The "gay panic" defense "is built on the theory that a person with latent gay tendencies will have an uncontrollable, violent reaction when propositioned by a homosexual" ("Defense rests"). What is most interesting about this theory is it blames the victim, which is a common defense in rape cases. The implications of blaming the victim marginalizes the gay male's existence and places them along female rape victims. Both cases the assaulting male is out of control because the victim "wanted it" and the attacker was unable to control the imposes the victim was inducing.

Much of what is at work here is the gender structures of society. Males in our society, have a an exclusive privilege. That privilege, male privilege, is the assumption that "...one has the right to occupy any space or person by whatever means, with or without permission" (Bornstein 108). Gay males often lose this privilege this as a result of the fact that they are seen as somewhat feminine in the eyes of straight males. The flash point for violence against gay males is the straight male's "...desire to not be drawn into some web of femininity" (Bornstein 106). In the Shepard case a small example, devoid of the possibility of other motives such as robbery, was exemplified in the heresy testimony of Afton Timothy, one of the attacker's step sister. She stated that Kristen Price, one of the attacker's girlfriend's, told her that "...Shepard 'reached over and grabbed Aaron's [his would be attacker's] crotch' and 'Aaron got mad and hit him in the truck'" ("Defense rests"). This simple example is a direct manifestation of a male reacting violently to being drawn into a web of femininity. Most cases are actually far more complex, involving gestures that are very subtle.

The major legislative actions that came out of the Shepard murder was a call for anti-gay hate crime legislation. This legislation will only be a stop gap measure. A long term goal for the next 150 to 300 years should be the morphing of patriarchy and male privilege to allow for the inclusion of all people as equal. This goal is unobtainable, but we must strive to obtain it.