We were there when Matthew Shepard Died… a 20 year remembrance

Twenty years ago a young gay man was beaten and left for dead, tied to a stark and lonely fence in the plains of Wyoming. His name was Matthew Shepard.  Twenty years ago to the day tomorrow, he died.

His death brought shock, horror and grief to millions who did not personally know him. It brought a much more personal effect on our guest tonight, Jim Osborn.

Jim Osborn is University of Wyoming’s Title IX coordinator, where he works to prevent sexual discrimination and misconduct.  Jim was a friend of Matthew Shepard He describes Shepard as someone who believed in “the beauty of people and humanity” in all forms. When Shepard died, Osborn made a promise to him. “I vowed that I would do everything in my power to pick up where he left off and to use my voice in any way that I could because his voice had been silenced,That’s part of the reason that I’m here 20 years later still today, telling his story and sharing his legacy and his way of looking at people.”

Tonight, he tells us that story, as does journalist Brody Levesque who covered the Shepard murder, on the scene, as a young reporter, two decades ago.