By now you should all be aware of the Matthew Sheppard story. A tragic story of a young gay man beaten and tied to a fence left to die by two boys that hated gay men.
As much as I hate this painting above I can seriously relate to it.
For 35 years I have been the target of the same kind of hate and every minute of every day since 1987 I have been publicly spat upon by the same woman and her brother that seem to find it funny. They do it in full view of people that hear their words and know their past and present deeds and yet every single day I embark on the journey to have her stopped it remains the same.
If the two boys that did this to Matthew stopped by every single day to spit on his body, film them doing it and post it on YouTube for all of you to see...you would be outraged. Drew Carey would put out a reward to have them found. Elton John would write a song about it. Sharon Stone would star in a movie and everyone would be outraged.
I don't know what it is going to take to convince all of you that what I am enduring is just as bad...to live through than to die from..is a toss up. Would it have been better for it to have ended in one night than to have endured it for this long? If you are looking at it from a humane stand point what I have to live through is much worse.
God bless Matthew and what happened to him should never be forgotten, but how can I be remembered if nobody does anything?
Think about your decisions...are you saving Matthew now or are you still letting him stayed tied to that fence waiting for someone to help him through me? You think you would have helped him, but people like me, daily tortured are wondering if you really would? How can you possibly be offended by Matthew Sheppard's story and not be moved to act on mine and Christopher's behalf?
Are we better now having seen what can happen to Matt? Are you any different?
It doesn't seem like it.
