10 Years Ago: Matthew Shepard’s Mom Appeared On The Ellen Show [WATCH]
This month marks the 21st anniversary of Matthew Shepard's death, his mother, Judy Shepard, appeared on The Ellen Show in 2009.
The Ellen Show Facebook page just recently posted this interview again on Saturday. This is what it was captioned with, "Thinking about Matthew Shepard today, and continuing the fight to #erasehate in his honor."
Judy appeared on the show in October 2009 to talk about her new book at the time, 'The Meaning of Matthew.' Ellen and Judy also recapped what happened to Matthew, how impacted the country and Ellen.
In 1998, Matthew took a ride from a couple of guys who robbed him, beat him, and tied him up on a fence post just outside of Laramie. That's where he was found barely conscious 18 hours later by a person riding a bike. Matthew passed away four days later due to the injuries.
Judy started her interview by explaining who she was and why she was there. Ellen expressed how this situation still affects her to this day as she holds back tears. Ellen then says the year when Matthew's murder occurred, she had just publicly "came out" about being a lesbian which was very taboo then. Judy responds by telling Ellen how proud Matthew was of her for doing that.
Judy talks about her new book and says for the first time Matthew wasn't alone that evening. There was a doe (female deer) nesting in the brush right next to Matthew all night, The deer ran off in the morning when police officer Reggie Fluty showed up on the scene. After finding this out it made Judy feel more at ease knowing Matthew wasn't alone all night.
For 21 years now Judy has been going around the country speaking about trying to stop the hate. Also, speaking about her experiences and how she is dealing with everything. She and Ellen were wearing a purple bracelet with the phrase "erasehate" on the inside and on the outside matthewshepard.org.
Things may not be perfect and probably will never be perfect. But things have come along way since this has happened.