Save Matthew's Legacy: Protest ABC's 20/20 (11/26/04)

[nikraye]

http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/33855.htm

Does anyone else find it odd that this ABC "press release" was run in only one mainstream newspaper, namely, Ruppert Murdoch's NY Post? Yes, it's true the story's been picked up by a handful of GLBT sites (advocate, 365gay, digital spy) but the only mainstream media I've seen it in is the Post.

The Post is the equivalent of FOX News, both owned by Murdoch, and both known for spinning, even distorting, facts to suit the conservative agenda.

That the Post printed this "press release" a good two weeks before the segment's airtime, gives plenty of notice and time for controversy to stir, increasing its viewership. Reminds me of the Sinclair Broadcasting "press release" announcing the controversial airing of the anti-Kerry propaganda film, "Stolen Honor." Again, I can't help but feel this 6 y.o. "news" story is plant by Rove, intended to further divide this already split nation.

There's also a very likely political motive behind this: Conservatives, fundamentalists, and BUSH himself oppose adding "sexual orienttion" to the existing Federal hate crimes law. They believe, in fact, that ALL crimes are "hate" crimes; thus "hate crime" laws are unfair as they "treat similar crimes unequally."

But I had to ask myself, "Would ABC knowingly air this anti-Gay, anti-hate crime piece?"

I did some googling. Here's what I found:

--Disney owns ABC. Disney's 2nd largest shareholder (Euro Disney) is the Saudi Royal Family, long time cronies of the Bush Crime Family. (http://www.bupipedream.com/012704/wire/w2.htm )

--Since 2000, there have been several changes to Disney's board of directors. One is Aylwin B. Lewis, who also sits on the board of Halliburton, Dickhead Cheney's corrupt war-for-profit company. (http://corporate.disney.go.com/corporate/bios/aylwin_le... )

--The other Disney board director is John Bryson, a director of The Boeing Company, another war-for-profit US contractor ($100B) currently under federal criminal investigation ala Halliburton. Even more interesting, he is the Chairman of the Board and President/CEO of Edison International, the parent company of Southern California Edison, an electric utility, since 1990. Bryson wrote the deregulation legislation which gave Enron the greenlight to rob Californians of billions during the artificially created Enron-induced California energy crisis. Bryson also founded NRDC, a former front organization for Enron, funded in part by the neoconservative Pew Foundation. (http://corporate.disney.go.com/corporate/bios/john_brys... )

So let's sum it up:

ABC is owned by Disney who's board members are tied to Boeing, Halliburton and Enron.

We know that Rove was instrumental in getting the anti-gay measures on 11 states ballots...

We know that Rove was behind the media saturation of anti-gay rhetoric and blame in the days immediately following Nov. 2nd.

We know, too, that Rove, in Bush's 2000 campaign, hired Ralph Reed, the former executive director of the anti-Gay Christian Coalition, who was paid between $10,000 and $20,000 per month by Enron while he "volunteered" his full-time work on the Bush campaign. Rove’s alleged deal permitted Bush to solidify his political position among anti-Gay, radical-right groups of voters and simultaneously appeal to centrist voters with a moderate public image. http://www.sgn.org/2002/02/01/enron.htm

We also know, or most of us suspect, that Rove was behind the leak of the forged Killian docs that humiliated Rather and CBS, and simultaneously boosted Bush's ratings AND quashed CBS's airing of the REAL forged docs, the Niger docs, which would have exposed Bush's "WMD" justification for the Iraq War as the lie we all now know it to be.

Okay, I'm almost done here...bear with me...

Rove puts pressure on cronies sitting on the Disney board to direct ABC to tell 20/20 to run this "breaking" news story (six years "new"): Matthew Shepard wasn't a victim of a hate crime after all! Rove then gets his surrogate Ruppert Murdoch to print this two weeks before air date. Murdoch includes just enough info about the segment to cause a stir among the gays and...voila! By the time the segment airs, there will be so much controversy a-swirl that EVERYONE will watch-- wingnuts, lefties, and gays--and once again, we gays we'll be backed up against the wall, fighting like hell to defend our right for hate crime protection. Of course, we'll be alone because by now the Democrats and Leftwingers are all wanting to appear a little closer to the center due to Rove's phony polling result of "moral values."

And here comes the best part: When the repubs start to abolish all and any hate crime legislation, at the federal and state levels, the Dems won't put up even the hint of a fight for fear of looking like "gay sympathizers", which does not keep with Bush's mandate of "moral values". With the blink of an eye, states red and blue will be revoking what hate crime laws there are, and the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act that the Dems for years have been trying to pass through Congress will die a quick, silent death...never to be mentioned again.

To my GLBT brothers and sisters: Do not let this happen. Do not let BushCo and Rove get away with this. We've fought too hard, too long, to get hate crime laws passed in the few states they're in.

To my straight cousins--Dems, Indies, and moderate Repubs--please, please, please don't let the RW, the neocons, and BushCo steamroll you into abolishing hate crime laws or dismissing that which Matthew Shepard died for. Matthew's murder was hate-motivated, without question, because he was Gay. Please don't let anyone, through the despicable act of rewriting history, force you to believe otherwise.

Remember, this isn't just about Gays. When Bush, as governor of Texas, said, ""I think all crime is hate...I think the way to get rid of hate in people's hearts, the best course I know is religion," he wasn't talking about a GAY hate crime, but about the truck-dragging murder of James Byrd Jr., who was Black. If hate crime laws go away, it affects ALL minorities--gay, black, hispanic, asian, muslim, disabled, transgendered--all of us.

Write to ABC, Disney, 20/20, Oprah, Rosie, Ted Kennedy...ANYONE who'll listen, anyone who can help. We must STOP Bush, Rove, Disney, and ABC from running this anti-gay propaganda piece, fight it just as hard as we fought Sinclair.

Save Matthew's legacy. Don't let his death have been in vain.

****************************

ABC: [email protected]
ABC News: [email protected]

20/20:
Online Form: http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=123566&page=1 (Warning: copy your message before hitting submit; some people have reported it can take 2 or 3 times before the page successfully submits.)
OR EMAIL: [email protected]

Local Affiliates: click on your state in the map for a list of local affiliates and call, email, or fax them as well.
http://abc.go.com/abc/utility/localstations.html

GLAAD (Gays & Lesbians Against Anti-Defamation)--so far GLAAD has taken no action on this; perhaps if they get copied on *enough* emails, they'll get off their asses and take a stand against ABC:

Joan Garry, Exec. Director(mentioned in article): [email protected]
and/or use the website form to report media irresponsibility: http://www.glaad.org/contact.php

The Matthew Shepard Foundation:

The Matthew Shepard Foundation
Judy Shepard, Foundation Executive Director
Tina Nations, Programs Manager, Grants Administrator
301 Thelma #512
Casper, WY 82609
307-237-6167
fax [phone]
[email protected]

[Modem Butterfly]

1. What a load of bullshit

If it was a "mugging gone wrong", why use a "gay panic" defense?

Fucking ABC. Next week they'll air a special about how Brandon Tina was asking for it.

:mad:

[FM Arouet666]

2. What exactly is the episode about and what is their proof?

Sorry, I am half asleep and a little buzzed. I zeroed on this portion of your post

"run this "breaking" news story (six years "new"): Matthew Shepard wasn't a victim of a hate crime after all!"

What absolute rubbish. If they are trying to refute the reality of what happened to Matthew, we are, again, witnessing historical revisionism by the GOP to fit modern policy. USA turning into NAZI Germany. What are they going to have, interviews with Fred Phelps.

[hraka]

3. I wrote 20/20 after reading the article...

but I don't know if they got my email. After I clicked submit, I got an error message telling me the site I requested wasn't availale. Will let you know if I hear from anyone.

hraka

[seaj11]

4. Wow! What an exhaustive effort!

I commend you on that. I wrote 20/20 (I used email) with the help of some of the information you provided. Thanks.

[justin899]

5. First ABC, now the Washington Post

BTW, a site has been set up if anyone wants to participate in a boycott against ABC advertisers:

http://www.boycott4matthew.org/


Now onto the despicable thing the Wasington Post (yes that's the Washington Post, not the Washington Times which one would more expect to do something this horrible)..

Read the filthy bigoted homophobic flyer the Post allwed to be inserted:
http://rawstory.com/images/pdf/BothSidesSmall.pdf

Explanation here:
http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=439
http://americablog.blogspot.com/

This filthy ad was presented as a news magazine (kind of like Parade magazine) and included fake "science" from Paul Cameron and James Dobson.

The mainstream media in this country has declared an all out war on GLBT Americans.

[Nicky Scarfo]

11. Worse than the 20/20 story in my opinion. At least one could play off

the 20/20 story as sensationalist journalism. This pamphlet might as well be titled "Why Christian Blacks Should Hate Queers"

[nikraye]

6. kick

[Nicky Scarfo]

7. I read something similar here:

http://kevxml2adsl.verizon.net/_1_4MWTO104ION8HB__vzn.dsl/apnws/story.htm?kcfg=apart&sin=D86J4L9O1&qcat=usnews&ran=30906&passqi=&feed=ap&top=1

My question for those who strongly believe this was a "hate crime" not a "mugging gone wrong":

Could you please provide a detailed analysis of the case as to why this was primarily a hate crime, not a robbery, complete with evidence (including anything introduced as evidence at trial)? Please be detailed and not offer only viscerally-based presuppositions and speculation.

I'm asking because I don't know enough about the case to make an informed judgement as to what the primary motivation of the murderers was.

[justin899]

8. There was a confession and they used the 'gay panic' defense

The AP story in your link is one of the most lopsided reports I've ever seen. After reading that story one would be have to conclude his sexuality played no part whatsoever in his attack and murder. But that is completely wrong and I can just see anti-gay groups use this to attack proposals to include sexual orientation in hate crimes statutes.

For detailed information about items ABC and this AP story left out, click Here

For a critique of the ABC story, click here

[Nicky Scarfo]

10. This was helpful, especially the Advocate article which postulated

an upcoming federal review of the case as a possible motivation for why McKinney changed his story.

But I was looking more for a synopsis of the original trial, complete with evidence of Matthew Sheppard's murder being a hate crime, rather than simply reactions to the 20/20 story. I understand there was, as you stated, a confession and "gay panic" defense, but I was hoping for some more details.

I don't know much about the details of the case other than two guys robbed and brutally murdered Sheppard in Laramie, WY, presumably because he was gay. That's when I heard about the new "theory" of the case, I figured this would be a good forum to get some details.

Can anyone else help me out here with a synopsis of the case/trial, espcially including details of the confession and "gay panic" defense? Thanks.

[nikraye]

12. Hate Crime, it was...

"Can anyone else help me out here with a synopsis of the case/trial, espcially including details of the confession and "gay panic" defense?"

1. The extreme savagery of the attack against Shepard is consistent with crimes motivated by hate. That a part of the attack was focused on Shepard's genitalia suggests McKinney's (one of the murderers) anger/rage was directed at Shepard's sexual orientation:

<snip>
An autopsy found that Shepard had been hit 18 times in the head. He was also bruised on the backs of his hands, indicating that he had tried to protect himself, and around the groin, indicating that he had been kicked repeatedly.

<snip>
Shepard was "bruised throughout his groin area, indicating he´d been kicked, and the backs of his hands were bruised as he tried to cover his head," as the Rocky Mountain News reported DeBree´s testimony.

And, bear in mind, Shepard was only 5'2", 105 lb--small, even for a woman--much smaller, and veritably defenseless against the much taller, husky McKinney and Henderson. Pistol-whipping Shepard with a foot-long .357, punching him with their large fists, and kicking him repeatedly in the groin was, in anyone's estimation, a case of "over-kill."

2. Stringing Shepard to a fence, as if to display him, is reminiscent of the lynching of blacks in the segregated South.

<snip>
About 18 hours after the beating, a bicyclist found him still alive, tied to a ranch fence. Reggie Fluty, an Albany County sheriff's deputy, testified Thursday that Shepard's wrists had been so tightly bound that it had been difficult to cut the rope and that his head had been covered in blood except for a clean spot ``where he'd been crying and the tears went down his face.''

3. Statements made by McKinney, Henderson, and their girlfriends corroborate the fact McKinney and Henderson KNEW Shepard was Gay when they targeted him for the robbery at the Fireside Lounge:

<snip>
A Laramie police officer, detective Ben Fritzen, testified that he had interviewed Kristen Price, McKinney's 18-year-old girlfriend. Fritzen said that in explaining the violence, McKinney had told Price, ``Well, you know how I feel about gays.''

<snip>
Shepard had met Aaron McKinney (22), and Russell Henderson (21) of Laramie in a local bar on campus called Fireside Lounge. Henderson had said that he and McKinney had already been drinking beer when they went to the bar and ran into Shepard. Fireside bartender Matthew Galloway later testified at Aaron McKinney’s trial that he served drinks to Henderson and McKinney and said they did not seem drunk (this countered the McKinney defense that liquor and drugs incited the attack on Shepard.) Galloway told the court he watches for intoxication and said McKinney drank very little. “He had no mannerisms or actions that would lead me to believe he was in a state of intoxication.”

The two had led Shepard to believe they were gay. Matthew, believing they wanted to discuss the politics and struggle of the gay movement, followed McKinney and Henderson into their truck. After getting in the truck, Henderson said "McKinney pulled out a gun and told Matthew Shepard to give him his wallet." McKinney said "Guess what. We're not gay. And you're gonna get jacked."

<snip>
"McKinney told investigators the attack began after Shepard placed his right hand on McKinney´s leg as the trio drove on Laramie´s east side. ´Guess what. We´re not gay,´ DeBree quoted McKinney as saying. ´You´re gonna get jacked. It´s Gay Awareness Week.´"

Police detective Ben Fritzen testified that McKinney explained the attack to his girlfriend, Price, by saying, "´Well, you know how I feel about gays.´" DeBree also said McKinney had "repeatedly referred to Shepard as ´queer´ and ´faggot´," AP reported.

4. The revelation that Shepard, in fact, never made a pass at McKinney is not new. Salon wrote about McKinney's recanting of this back in 1999. All this proves is that McKinney's "gay rage defense" was bogus, and that Matthew's murder was, in fact, pre-meditated. That Matthew didn't make a pass at McKinney does not, however, dismiss the motive of hate, based on Shepard's orientation:

<snip>
According to detectives who interviewed both of the convicted murderers, there is no evidence that Shepard made any sexual advances to the pair -- and the detectives dismissed the idea that the murder was the mere result of a robbery gone bad.

"Far from that!" scoffed Sgt. Rob DeBree, the chief investigator in the case. "They knew damn well he was gay ... It started out as a robbery and burglary, and I sincerely believe the other activity was because he was gay."

Salon:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/11/06/witness/

This Salon article was from 1999, so why is 20/20 airing this NOW as "breaking news", unless of course they have an ulterior motive...

[justin899]

9. Here is a more recent incident for the American Bigot Company to spin

3 face trial in gay sex assault
11/15/2004

Three men, one a UT student, charged in early August with assaulting a homosexual man will have their first court appearance Thursday.

The three defendants, along with a juvenile suspect, were charged with aggravated sexual assault and aggravated robbery after they picked up the victim, whose name is being withheld due to the sexual nature of the allegations, from Oil Can Harry's, a gay bar in the Warehouse District, and returned to his apartment, where they alledgedly began assaulting him.
......................................................................

According to the Austin Police Department affidavit, on July 17 when the defendants arrived at the victim's apartment, they began punching and kicking him, bound him with the cord from a vacuum cleaner and held him at knife- and sword-point while forcing him to sodomize himself with a sex toy.

One man recited New Testament verses condemning homosexuality and said the attackers were "passing judgement" on the victim for "being a faggot and a queer," according to the affidavit.
......................................................................

Both Bockman and Gay confessed to beating and robbing the victim and identified the other suspects, but denied that the sexual assault took place, according to the affidavit.

http://www.dailytexanonline.com/news/2004/11/15/TopStories/3.Face.Trial.In.Gay.Sex.Assault-804614.shtml?page=1

AP/ABC would probably call this just a robbery crime as well :eyes:

[dddem]

13. I watched

because I was curious to see how they would present this. I was very upset about the way they presented the "facts". They discussed the drug use and HIV status of Matthew Sheppard, and the addiction problems, childhood abuse and bisexuality of the murderers. I said to my husband "by the end of this segment, they'll be dismissing all charges". It was disgusting, and a little frightening. I pray that this is not the beginning of huge backslide against civil rights.
I am a straight woman who has begun to become very vocal about gay rights. I swear, I don't get why people are working so goddam hard to keep a segment of the population of this country (this WORLD) from enjoying the same freedoms as the rest of us. WTF?!?!
Please, keep fighting the good fight, despite how the media tries to skew these things and tell people what they should think, and believe. Trust me, there are a lot of people on your side. God bless.

[Brian_Expat]

14. I saw this segment too

It was nauseating propaganda. I was reminded of one of those trials where a female victim of rape has her past lovers trotted out as "evidence" that she couldn't have been raped because she was a "slut."

The constant hitting on his HIV status and the fact that he allegedly abused party drugs was that sort of classic treatment -- the suggestion being "he deserved to die" because he was just an AIDS-infected drug-using fag.

Disgusting.

[justin899]

15. GLAAD Has Made A List Of Contacts...

http://glaad.org/action/calls_detail.php?id=3759

It is important to let ABC know this type of revisionist reporting based on lies and half-truths will not be tolerated.

Otherwise they will continue to do this.

[FaerieWizard]

16. Now they are claiming he was killed for buying drugs

Didn't the ABC story say he was killed in a failed robbery attempt?

The American Family Assholes seem to think he was killed while trying to buy drugs.

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/12/afa/62004e.asp

~The FaeirieWizard

[Zep]

17. Matthew was murdered ...

... and the killers were quickly caught and convicted.

The killers would have been sentenced to death, except that Matthew's mother no less, asked for mercy.

So the killers will spend the rest of their lives in prison, without the possibility of parole.

In short, the system worked in this particular case.

WTF is Matthew's "legacy" anyway?

Let's concetrate our energies on other issues, such as marriage or gays in the military.