St. Matthew
Newspapers and politicians
are up in arms this week over the murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay student at
the University of Wyoming. Two straight men lured Shepard from a bar, robbed
him, beat him savagely, and left him for dead. In 1996, according to the
Southern Poverty Law Center, 21 Americans were killed for being gay. You've
probably never heard about any of them, but this week you've heard about
Shepard. Consequently, politicians who ignored anti-gay violence for years are
suddenly demanding hate crimes legislation in Shepard's name. How come?
Shepard's
martyrdom is in part a function of timing. He received his fatal beating just
before National Coming Out Day, for which gay rights groups had already planned
rallies and media events. His death gave those events a unifying theme and
icon. Furthermore, after the beating, he lay in a coma for several days,
allowing media interest to build. By the time he died, everyone with a TV set
had heard of him.
But the decisive factor in the explosion of the Shepard
story is the manner of his death. "At first, the passing bicyclist thought the
crumpled form lashed to a ranch fence was a scarecrow," began the initial
New York Times dispatch. The dangling figure turned out to be "the
burned, battered and nearly lifeless body" of Shepard, "who had been tied to
the fence 18 hours earlier." According to the Times , the assailants had
"tied their captive to a post-and-rail fence and pistol-whipped him," then
"stole his wallet and shoes and left him tied to the fence." The Washington
Post reported that Shepard was "strung up on a fence to die in a grotesque
tableau." The Los Angeles Times said he had been "tortured with
cigarette burns." The Chicago Tribune said "he was pistol-whipped,
strung up spread-eagle," and "remained there for 18 hours in near-freezing
weather--looking like a scarecrow."
The image
of Shepard dangling from the fence, still alive and bleeding, evokes two
familiar images. One, played up by the New York Times , is the
"compelling image" of "the black figure at the end of a lynch rope, hanging
from a tree." President Clinton and several liberal columnists have already
likened Shepard's death to that of James Byrd, the black man who was dragged to
his death by three white men in a pickup truck earlier this year.
The other image is that of Jesus on the cross.
"There is incredible symbolism about being tied to a fence," one gay activist
told the Times . "People have likened it to a scarecrow. But it sounded
more like a crucifixion." The media's descriptions of Shepard reinforce this
comparison. "His 105-pound, 5-foot-2 body" was said to be "frail and lifeless."
He was "slight of stature, gentle of demeanor and passionate about human
rights," according to the Post . In life, he had "seemed bright and open
and full of promise." After his death, his parents insisted that he wouldn't
have wanted his Wyoming town to be blamed. A fellow student mused, "I think
about him out there, tied to a fence for 18 or 20 hours--what was going through
his head?"
Shepard's death arrives in
the midst of a battle for public opinion between gays and Christian
conservatives. The conservatives are struggling to defend two arguments. One is
that being gay is different from being black and less worthy of legal
protection. The other is that homosexuality is an affront to morality,
specifically to Christian virtue. As a lynching--and as a
crucifixion--Shepard's death devastates both arguments. "Anti-gay politicians"
such as Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., and House Majority Leader
Dick Armey, R-Texas, are "legitimizing the sort of hate that left Matthew
Shepard tied to a fence and near death, lynched on account of being gay," says
Post columnist Richard Cohen. The Family Research Council, by
"demonizing" gays, contributed to Shepard's death while hypocritically invoking
the name of "Jesus Christ," writes New York Times columnist Frank
Rich.
The day
after Shepard succumbed to his wounds, Terrence McNally's play Corpus
Christi opened on Broadway. Outside the theater, religious activists
assembled to protest the play, which, as the Times noted, revolves
around "a gay Christ-like figure." The protesters are missing the point. The
principal long-term threat that has arisen this week to the stigma against
homosexuality isn't the depiction of Jesus as a gay man. It's the depiction of
a gay man as Jesus.
Recent
"Frame Games"
"Tainted Jury":
Forget tampering, Clinton's impeachment panel would be struck for cause.
(posted Wednesday, Oct. 14, 1998)
"Reverse
Triangulation": How Clinton's immoderation helps the Democrats look
moderate. (posted Wednesday, Oct. 7, 1998)
"The Nixon Analogy":
Why the Flytrap-Watergate comparison will backfire. (posted Friday, Oct. 2,
1998)
