Tears~'Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine,' and My Son

[sheshe2]

The film "Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine" is a documentary by Matt's high school friend Michele Josue, focused on sharing the story of "Matt," the person, friend and son that the world didn't have the opportunity to know when a brutal anti-gay hate crime cost him his life and turned him a historical figure in the LGBT civil rights movement.

After Matt's death, Dennis and I started the Matthew Shepard Foundation with the hopes that we could prevent similar tragedies from happening again. By sharing our story, by talking about Matt, maybe we could reach other parents whose children might be questioning their sexuality. We wanted to share the message that it's important they choose to accept and love their kids rather than throw them away.

We felt we needed to make sure we were doing everything we could to stop another parent from losing a child to such hateful violence. As time went on and we shared Matt's story with more people around the world, this also became a way we could keep his memory alive, to humanize our son and remind the world he was so much more than how he died.

snip

I always felt that Matt's story would be more authentic and powerful if his friends told their stories, too. But they needed time, and they needed to be ready. We knew it was only a matter of time before Michele would approach us about telling this story--and the film she's now made is her story of Matt, and his friends' story of the life they knew with him in his short time with us.

Read More http://www.huffingtonpost.com/judy-shepard/matt-shepard-is-a-friend-_b_6566722.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices

[napkinz]

1. ...

[panader0]

2. Matt fence and flowers

I have a very hard time wondering why anyone's sexuality would bother someone else.

[brer cat]

3. That sums up how I feel, panader0.

I would love to see this film make a difference, but I suspect the bigots' minds are slammed shut.

[Cha]

4. Matt Shepard~Such a sweetheart.. So appreciate this being made.. mahalo, she

[sheshe2]

5. This image breaks my heart Cha.

[Cha]

6. I know..

so very heart shattering~

[Behind the Aegis]

7. I met him briefly two months before his murder.

I didn't remember until someone reminded me and showed me a picture of us. We had some common friends who were devastated by his death.

[sheshe2]

9. Sweet child murdered. A hate crime.

So many tears.

When do we stop crying? When does the hate stop?

[sibelian]

10. My god, that's awful.

I think all of us LGBT know of someone personally that was taken from us, but it must be so strange to see the name in the papers and know you spoke to him...

[napkinz]

8. ...