Matthew Shepard, The Westboro Baptist Church, and the American Conscience
On a slightly elevated plain just east of Laramie, Wyoming on October 7, 1998, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson beat and tortured Matthew Shepard nearly to death, tied him to a buck fence, and left him for dead. After being discovered by a passing cyclist, Shepard was transported to a Fort Collins, Colorado hospital where he was kept alive by artificial means. The University of Wyoming student died on October 12, 1998 without