Donald Trump’s comparatively libertarian stance on LGBT issues has been touted by some as one the few redeeming qualities in his campaign–if it’s even possible to redeem a presidential bid that has been marked by rampant racism, misogyny, zenophobia, and conspiracy mongering. But that hasn’t fooled many gay folks besides sinister tech billionaires and racist Twitter trolls with monstrous daddy issues into ignoring his promise to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Obergefell vs. Hodges or his running mate’s virulently anti-gay record.
Now we can add one more iconic voice of the LGBT rights movement to the chorus denouncing the increasingly reviled Republican candidate. Judy Shepard, mother of anti-gay hate crime victim Matthew Shepard, appears in a new ad denouncing Trump’s hate filled rhetoric.
“I’ve seen what can happen as the result of hate,” Shepard says in the ad released by pro-Clinton super PAC Priorities USA.
“When I see the hate that Donald Trump has brought to his campaign for president, it terrifies me,” she continues between the now familiar clips of Trump mocking a disabled reporter, attempting to discredit a federal judge because of his Mexican heritage, and using violent language at his rallies.
How about we take this to the next level?
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Shepard knows what she’s talking about when it comes to the devastating impact of hate speech. She and husband Dennis were propelled to the forefront of the fight against homophobia when their son Matthew was brutally beaten and left for dead in an act of anti-gay violence. And while the Priorities USA ad doesn’t directly address any of the Trump-Pence campaign’s positions on LGBT issues, it draws a clear parallel between Trump’s hateful statements about minorities and the disabled, not to mention his literal calls for violence against protestors, and the ways that homophobic rhetoric can inspire acts of violence against the LGBT community.
“Words have an influence. Violence causes pain. Hate can rip us apart,” Shepard explains. “I know what can happen as a result of hate, and Donald Trump should never be our president.”
joeyty
LOL. Yet Hillary Clinton declaring, “Muslims are not our enemy!” doesn’t scare her?? How many Matthew Shepard’s did we have throughout Muslim countries this week, Judy ?
o.codone
Nobody gives a crap what this old bag thinks. Her son was a meth dealer and tried to rip off his crew. It was nice to re-frame this as a gay hate crime. But it wasn’t. Her stupid son had no idea who he was dealing with. He thought it was some kind of game.
Baba Booey Fafa Fooey
@joeyty: I know. But, I don’t think they really care.
@o.codone: I used think comments like this were crazy, but there are A LOT of gay people who would agree with you.
Patrick
WOW….I see the ignorant, mindless trolls are at it again. I say you build a wall around these morons and let them sort their own issues
aequalitasTN
@o.codone: Interesting… where is your proof? Where was the meth that he was supposedly dealing? Shouldn’t his assailants have located it, if that is what they were truly after?
Just where is your proof for your hateful assertion?
Chris
This woman has done more in support of gay rights than most of the people commenting here. Props to her.
joeyty
Whether Matthew Shepard was an innocent victim of two mean redneck gaybashers, or a drug-dealing troublemaker, or something and somewhere in between…..it doesn’t make Judy Shepard an expert on who best to protect gays or anyone else from alleged “hate”. She can pretend to be some kind of anti-bashing figurehead all she wants, but note she didn’t prevent the Pulse massacre (50 gaybashings right there).
o.codone
@abnerbha: “the journalists ignored them or they were condemned for talking bad about the dead”. No, not talking bad about the dead, but talking bad about the GAY. The gay mafia and the liberal press wanted to make this a hate crime, and they INSISTED it was a hate crime, despite people knowing / suspecting otherwise. It was also a nice convenient way of negating what people knew about Shepherd, that he was a drug dealer. Never let any tragedy go to waste. The media and the mafia used this as a vehicle to promote their narrative.
joeyty
@o.codone: (well…it did have all the elements of the perfect narrative…the setting, the innocent-looking delicate-looking victim, the white “villains”. Certainly more worthy of becoming the poster-boy for gaybashing than any of the Pulse victims).
Charlie in Charge
I agree with her; his disgusting attempts to make villains of Muslim Americans is going to incite more violence and cause more shooters to lose it and walk into gay bars with guns.
joeyty
@Charlie in Charge: What ????
ErikO
@o.codone: Very true. I know people from Laramie who knew Matthew Shepard, they all said how he was killed not because he was gay as everyone there knew this and they were cool with it; but because he was a meth dealer or owed someone a lot of money for meth he bought as he was a tweaker or meth addict. I read how Matt was HIV+ and a male prostitute, and this goes hand in hand with people using meth. Matthew also sexually abused a young boy as a teenager, and his parents who were not good parents at all shipped he and later his brother off to posh private schools instead of getting them help.
The people from Laramie also told me how Matt knew his killers and that they would all use meth and other drugs together, and the killers claimed they did not know Matt at all and used the “gay panic” defense since the one guy had a kid and his girlfriend who was the mother of the child also used meth and they did not want the kid taken away by the state CPS. Despite this Matt did not deserve to be murdered but he was not some innocent college kid who was bashed for being gay, and then murdered by random strangers.
ErikO
@Charlie in Charge: Hillary wants to bring in 500,000 Muslims from countries where they hate bisexual and gay men and kill us there, and even the so called “moderate” ones that become citizens or are first generation Americans wind up going crazy like the guy in Orlando did.
Stilinski26
@Charlie in Charge: You are good example of regressive left!
gmale
Matthew Shepard was a convicted juvenile sex offender.
Certain jurisdiction in the US require you to be secretive about juvenile offenders while some don’t and thus this information is now in the public domain.
I wonder if the mother has ever responded in the media to this information and allegations. . Her response would give us greater insight and clues into if she is deliberately lying about her son’s death and what is really going on behind the “Shepherd Foundation”
SteveDenver
Donald Trump’s “comparatively Libertarian” stance on homosexuality… COMPARED TO WHO? Trump has said he will repeal equal marriage, buddies with Santorum and Evangelical anti-gay creeps.
Thank you Judy for speaking out. Matthew wanted to be a political activist and he would be proud of you.
Charlie in Charge
@ErikO: Yes and has it occurred to you that these people are trying to FLEE the countries and governments that have such hateful and totalitarian policies? What we do know is that hateful rhetoric and biased policies like those espoused by the vile Donald Trump are what activate radical terrorists. Luckily that psychopath Trump has no chance of getting into the White House and his damage will be reduced as he takes his place as one of the biggest losers in American political history.
joeyty
@Charlie in Charge: So you’re saying we have to appease the Muslims who are in the U.S……or ELSE ? And with the small amount we have ? Can’t wait to see how bad it gets when Hillary lets the refugees come swarming in. If Europe is any indication, be prepared for huge uptakes in both mass rape and homophobic attacks (yes, from the REFUGEES). And Clinton knows that, which shows how much she really cares about gays and victimized women (even to where she excuses her lecherous husband). When you’re wealthy you can hide from those effects, I guess.
joeyty
@SteveDenver: Trump called out the Pulse massacre. Hillary refuses to go there.
ErikO
@Charlie in Charge: So why don’t they go to other Islamic countries then? They would prefer living in those countries to living in North America, or Europe. Oh wait, those Islamic countries are not allowing any refugees in even though they easily could.
joeyty
@ErikO: (Better yet, send Charlie in Charge and at least half of the Queerties to Islamic countries….. )
ryuichi
I think that Mrs. Shepard speaks for all Americans who understand that our society is multicultural and that we all deserve dignity and respect. Bigotry has no place in the mind of decent people.
joeyty
@ryuichi: Then she should criticize Obama for speaking at a homophobic mosque, praising them to the hilt, and then……inciting the Pulse massacre ?
trelin
@joeyty: Why are you even here? To insult everybody on their opinion? You’re so menial yourself that you feel the need to knock other people’s opinions just so you can feel superior. You clearly have way too much time your hands. Go make a difference and dig a hole.
He BGB
Im never clear on what trump’s stand on LGBT rights are but Pence is definitely a believer that Jesus hates gays and thinks they are less than. He should be studying a solution to Indiana’s rampant heroin,problem instead of trying to take away the rights of a group of Americans. He would have the equivalent of what iran has as a government ruled by a religion if he could. He like many republicans are out of touch and thrive on their fear and ignorance of gay people. Not a person for all the people in America only the ones like him. They say nobody with such a low popularity number this late in the game h0as Trump has ever won an election so we shall see.
joeyty
@trelin: yes
joeyty
@trelin: Sorry my bringing up the Pulse massacre annoys you.
simon412
I am sick, and saddened by the commercial……Matt’s Mom is a hater……so sorry I ever supported the organization. I will however not support her organization again. She should be ashamed of her HATE…
I hope she changes
snowfallisfun
I haven’t plead his 2 killers cases other than say that the 2nd man R.A. Henderson should have gotten a jury trial & a jury should have decided what to convict him on. Prosecutor could argue why it’s Murder 1, defense can argue why it’s lesser charge of 2nd Degree Murder or Manslaughter & then jury decides-that is as far as I go with his case is saying he should have gotten a jury trial. R.A. Henderson’s case should be reviewed again on appeal because he wanted a jury trial.
Natrona County Juvenile Court gave Methew Wayne Shepard counseling for molesting 2 boys when he was 15 years old, but if the Wyoming legal system had given Methew Wayne Shepard years in prison rather than counseling by Natrona County Juvenile Court for molesting 8 year old boys when he was 15 years old, then Methew Wayne Shepard would have avoided being murdered in 1998. Getting murdered in 1998 does not change the truth that Methew Wayne Shepard was a gay pedophile.
snowfallisfun
Since Book of Matt was released in 2013, others have verified main things of Stephen Jimenez’s book-that AJ McKinney & Methew W. Shepard were acquaintances & the fact Methew W. Shepard assoc. with drug dealers in Wyoming & Colorado.
I don’t know why the murder happened & I don’t know if Methew W. Shepard was a drug dealer which is why I say possible drug dealer-Methew W. Shepard could also have been a courier or lookout. Methew W. Shepard was a child molester because he had been a victim of homosexual child molestation & repeated the molestation as a 15 year old boy when he molested 8 year old boys. Stephen Jimenez possibly read Methew W. Shepard’s subpoenaed psychological/medical records, where Methew W. Shepard talks about why he molested the 8 year old boys by copying the conduct he learned from being molested as a boy. I wouldn’t be shocked if Methew W. Shepard molested more children than the 2 which were reported.
after Methew W. Shepard’s murder, most people who knew ugly facts about him were shy as they don’t want to sound rude by talking poorly of dead-families of the 8 year old boys who Methew W. Shepard molested were shy because they likely guessed the same thing. In few cases where people tried to tell ugly facts about Methew W. Shepard, the journalists ignored them or they were condemned for talking bad about the dead. Witnesses who spoke to Stephen Jimenez likely thought that because Stephen Jimenez is a gay journalist, that they can tell ugly facts about Methew W. Shepard w/o being condemned.
Judy & Dennis W. Shepard push ‘queero worship’ of Methew W. Shepard for years. They have gone to schools to speak being invited by teachers & kids have posed for pictures with Dennis & Judy Shepard. Many of the pro-gay teachers won’t tolerate students giving facts which offend them & if a student were to say to Dennis & Judy Shepard that Methew W. Shepard’s a child molester, drug junky & possible drug dealer, they could get punished by teacher.
The teachers support free speech right for students to pose for pictures with Dennis & Judy Shepard-the parents of a dead child molester, drug junky & possible drug dealer but they oppose free speech right for students to say ugly facts. There have been cases over students getting punished by teachers for giving views against homosexuality which offended the pro-gay teachers.
Dennis & Judy Shepard hope that people who agree with them reinforce them while those who differ be shy or if they speak censor them. If Dennis & Judy Shepard are invited to speak @ a school, then kids should have a right to tell ugly facts about Methew W. Shepard though Dennis & Judy hate it.
Dennis & Judy L. Shepard have been arrogantly dishonest about who Methew W. Shepard was by trying to censor Stephen Jimenez. I have been humble not haughty, in that I don’t believe in censoring Laramie Project & I don’t believe in censoring Dennis & Judy L. Shepard’s free speech right. I will use my free speech right to tell ugly facts about Methew W. Shepard which usu. gets omitted.