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| Tom and Jeff at the National Cathedral |
Washington, D.C. - It has recently been in the news for 2 reasons. The first reason is the final internment of Matthew Shepard for a very good reason. The second is the ongoing repair of earthquake damage the cathedral experienced in 2011.
WHO WAS MATTHEW SHEPARD? - Matthew Shepherd is a young, gay man from Wyoming (December 1, 1976 – October 12, 1998) who was a student at the University of Wyoming. He was beaten, tortured, and left to die near Laramie on the night of October 6, 1998. He died 6 days later. His death prompted awareness of hate crimes. His murders picked him out simply because he was gay. Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson were arrested shortly after the attack and charged with first-degree murder following Shepard's death.
LAWS PUT INTO EFFECT AS A RESULT - In October 2009, the United States Congress passed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act (commonly the "Matthew Shepard Act" or "Shepard/Byrd Act" for short), and on October 28, 2009, President Barack Obama signed the legislation into law.
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| Matt Shepard |
WHY WAS MATTHEW FINALLY INTERRED IN THE CATHEDRAL 21 YEARS LATER? - The simple answer is hateful, bigoted, people in Wyoming. His family was afraid to bury his ashes for fear that homophobic (nutcases) would desecrate his grave. So they held onto them. It wasn't until the Cathedral reached out to his family and offered a safe place for Matthew's remains, that he was finally put to rest.
INTERNMENT IN THE WASHINGTON NATIONAL CATHEDRAL - On October 26, 2018, Shepard‘s ashes were interred at the crypt of Washington National Cathedral nearly 20 years after his death. shop of Washington Reverend Marianne Edgar Budde, with music from the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington DC, GenOUT, and Conspirare. His was the first interment of the ashes of a national figure at the cathedral since Helen Keller's fifty years earlier. Information: https://cathedral.org/matthewshepard/ **To watch the 2 hour and 42 minute ceremony: https://youtu.be/FSXtHMXuaPI
QUAKE DAMAGE - In August 2011, an earthquake of 5.2 magnitude affected the Washington, D.C. area and caused a lot of damage in the cathedral. Seven years after the 2011 earthquake that rocked the Cathedral, repairs continue as funding becomes available. As we walked around the outside of the Cathedral we saw ornamental concrete pieces on the ground that were being repaired to be restored to their original position. The Cathedral is also being reinforced against future earthquakes. To learn more about the Earthquake repairs, visit their website: https://cathedral.org/earthquake/eq3/
VIDEO OF PART OF THE REPAIRS: https://youtu.be/YGEQ5PRqqNM
