Matthew Shepard Memorial Bench

Matthew Shepard was a 21-year-old political science student at the University of Wyoming when, in October 1998, he was attacked near Laramie because he was gay. He died of his injuries on October 12, 1998. His murder became a national reckoning — vigils across the country, The Laramie Project on stages worldwide, and, in 2009, the federal Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the first federal law extending hate-crime protections to sexual orientation and gender identity. On September 27, 2008, during the tenth-anniversary commemorations, the university dedicated a memorial bench outside the east entrance of the Arts & Sciences Building, at the west end of the central campus green known as Prexy's Pasture. Supported by the Matthew Shepard Foundation — founded by his parents, Judy and Dennis Shepard, who turned their loss into two decades of advocacy — the bench was designed to honor his life rather than dwell on his death. Its small plaque reads: "Matthew Wayne Shepard, Dec. 1, 1976 - Oct. 12, 1998. Beloved son, brother, and friend. He continues to make a difference. Peace be with him and all who sit here." What you see today: a simple bench on an open campus, freely accessible. The site where Shepard was found is on private land, unmarked and not visitable; the bench is Laramie's place of remembrance. Sit for a moment. That is the whole visit, and it is enough.