Judy Shepard, LGBT-rights activist and mother of hate-crime victim Matthew Shepard, spoke at the Center on Halsted on March 10, touting a message of acceptance and education.
Shepard's talk was the opening event for H.E.R. Day, an afternoon of workshops dedicated to women's health, education and recreation.
Matthew was a Wyoming man who, in 1998, was tied to a fence, beaten and left for dead because he was gay. Since her son's death, Judy set up a foundation in Matthew's name, spreading a message of acceptance and successfully advocating for LGBT people to be included in federal hate crimes legislation.
"I want to do something beyond his death. I want to do something for his friends that are still here," said Shepard.
Because she established the foundation and was outspoken about Matthew's death, Shepard said she lost some friends who thought her "actions were inappropriate for a grieving mother."
"The prejudice I feel now is people who won't let me move on from being a grieving mother to an activist," Judy said.
Because H.E.R. day was a women's event, she also addressed the issue of including transgender females in women's-only spaces.
"As individuals, we should be accepted as who we are and express our femininity in any way we want," Judy said.
When speaking of the fight for full federal LGBT equality, Shepard lamented the lack of progress overall, especially for transgender people.
"Transgender [ people ] will probably be the last ones to see progress because a lot of people just don't know about them and most don't want to. It breaks my heart," she said.
Shepard highlighted infighting among members of the LGBT community, calling for individuals to unify and fight for each other, not with each other. This led Shepard into the crux of her message: End hatred toward all people.
"Ignorance is a huge factor in hate. We hate what we don't trust or understand," said Shepard.
Representatives of the Matthew Shepard Foundation passed out purple bracelets with "Erase hate" printed on them to remind attendees to remove the word "hate" from their vocabularies.
"We use the word 'hate' so freely that we don't remember the impact it has," said Greg Greenhalge, development director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation. "Your story is the most powerful tool in erasing hate. What you say has a huge impact."
