Mother of Matthew Shepard: LGBTQ people ‘still being denied basic rights’

The mother of Matthew Shepard, who was killed in an anti-gay hate crime 25 years ago, said LGBTQ people are “still being denied basic rights” Thursday.

“They’re still being denied basic rights, the community is, and the absolute outward showing of hate again, it’s just infuriating to me,” Judy Shepard, Matthew’s mother, said in an interview the “Today” show, according to NBC News. 

Judy Shepard also criticized recent anti-LGBTQ measures across the nation.

“They know they’ve lost the war, but this battle is just the last, most vicious attack on the community … It’s already over,” Shepard said, according to NBC News. “That’s what they don’t understand. They’re fighting a losing battle.”

Last week, in remarks marking the anniversary Shepard’s death, President Biden spoke about rising violence against the LGBTQ community. Shepard was a 21-year-old University of Wyoming student whose brutal attack in 1998 captured the attention of the nation and sparked conversations about gay rights. 

“Matthew’s tragic and senseless murder shook the conscience of the American people,” Biden said in a statement. “And his courageous parents, Judy and Dennis Shepard, turned Matthew’s memory into a movement, galvanizing millions of people to combat the scourge of anti-LGBTQI+ hate and violence in America.”

An FBI report released Monday found that anti-LGBTQ hate crimes rose by more than 19 percent in 2022 compared to 2021. The report also found that hate crimes with a motivation of anti-transgender bias climbed more than 35 percent year over year. 

“The constant stream of hostile rhetoric from fringe anti-equality figures, alongside the relentless passage of discriminatory bills, particularly those targeting transgender individuals, in state legislatures, created an environment where it was sadly foreseeable that individuals with violent tendencies might respond to this rhetoric,” Kelley Robinson, the president of the LGBTQ civil rights group Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement Monday.