I dont know those of you who are watching or those of you who are acquainted with the story, but here's a quick recap.
For many years the Original story was two guys, Aaron Mckinney and Russell Henderson, killed matthew shepard because he was gay and had made a $exual pass at them. They tied him to a fence and beat him to death, and left his body there to be found. The media pegged the incident as a hate crime, and since then Matthew Shepard's death has awakened lots of gay awareness, and to stop hate and prejudice.
Tonight a 20/20 in depth story was saying that they killed him because they wanted Meth, and that it was accidental. Both guys were interviewed from jail, Russell Henderson claiming all he did was tie matthew to the fence but that he never touched him at all, and that for years in jail he felt as if he was not guilty of his murder, but then he said with time he realized he could have stopped the beating and didnt, so that he was partially guilty. He apologized to Matt's family and to the nation.
Aaron McKinney was said before to "not know matt shepard" but many friends of his said they DID in fact know each other, that Matt and he ran in the same meth circles. Many friends of his even said Aaron McKinney was bi$exual, even Aaron's own wife believes he was bi$exual because he had tried to get her in on some 3ways, with some of his guy friends and she never wanted to. And a man who was friends with both Aaron and Matthew admitted to having had had $ex with Aaron and a lady friend.
Aaron Mckinney hid behind the homosexual abuse he received as a child to use as a defense in the trial, to divert from the fact that he was strung out on meth. Those close to Matthew also had believed that when he was killed that their first thoughts was that his death was probably related to some sort of drug tie.
Hm all I know is that it seems extremely interesting to get so much new information regarding such a public case. It seems as if Matthew and Aaron were friends and possibly had had relations of some sort, and that that night unfortunately when those boys went to rob him knowing he had so much money, it went horribly wrong. By the way one of Aaron's friends had put it, he had seen Aaron go up to matthew at parties in the past they'd go off somewhere and when they'd come back Aaron would have meth. Whether he paid Matthew or exchanged favors for the drugs wont be known, but it almost seems as if Matthew had supplied him with Meth in the past.
Either way the story is tragic, and the bottom line is drugs are DUMB and ruin lives. And whether or not it played a factor, prejudice isnt worth it. Dont judge people because of artificial reasons, get to know someone, and dont be quick to label. Sad that this will be how those boys learn there lesson, but hopefully it will open other peoples eyes to not have hatred for someone based on their $exual orientation.
Ok done ranting
Laura
For many years the Original story was two guys, Aaron Mckinney and Russell Henderson, killed matthew shepard because he was gay and had made a $exual pass at them. They tied him to a fence and beat him to death, and left his body there to be found. The media pegged the incident as a hate crime, and since then Matthew Shepard's death has awakened lots of gay awareness, and to stop hate and prejudice.
Tonight a 20/20 in depth story was saying that they killed him because they wanted Meth, and that it was accidental. Both guys were interviewed from jail, Russell Henderson claiming all he did was tie matthew to the fence but that he never touched him at all, and that for years in jail he felt as if he was not guilty of his murder, but then he said with time he realized he could have stopped the beating and didnt, so that he was partially guilty. He apologized to Matt's family and to the nation.
Aaron McKinney was said before to "not know matt shepard" but many friends of his said they DID in fact know each other, that Matt and he ran in the same meth circles. Many friends of his even said Aaron McKinney was bi$exual, even Aaron's own wife believes he was bi$exual because he had tried to get her in on some 3ways, with some of his guy friends and she never wanted to. And a man who was friends with both Aaron and Matthew admitted to having had had $ex with Aaron and a lady friend.
Aaron Mckinney hid behind the homosexual abuse he received as a child to use as a defense in the trial, to divert from the fact that he was strung out on meth. Those close to Matthew also had believed that when he was killed that their first thoughts was that his death was probably related to some sort of drug tie.
Hm all I know is that it seems extremely interesting to get so much new information regarding such a public case. It seems as if Matthew and Aaron were friends and possibly had had relations of some sort, and that that night unfortunately when those boys went to rob him knowing he had so much money, it went horribly wrong. By the way one of Aaron's friends had put it, he had seen Aaron go up to matthew at parties in the past they'd go off somewhere and when they'd come back Aaron would have meth. Whether he paid Matthew or exchanged favors for the drugs wont be known, but it almost seems as if Matthew had supplied him with Meth in the past.
Either way the story is tragic, and the bottom line is drugs are DUMB and ruin lives. And whether or not it played a factor, prejudice isnt worth it. Dont judge people because of artificial reasons, get to know someone, and dont be quick to label. Sad that this will be how those boys learn there lesson, but hopefully it will open other peoples eyes to not have hatred for someone based on their $exual orientation.
Ok done ranting
Laura
