The 1998 death of young Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming, inspired
rage and passion; poetry, plays, and MTV's made-for-TV movie;
pressure for
hate-crime laws and a rallying point for young activists. All necessary,
all good, but mostly beside the point in Beth Loffreda's nicely nuanced
study of his killing in Losing Matt Shepard, which is effectively
three thoughtful books in its compact 190 pages.
First, Loffreda provides a vivid but not overwrought description of the
days leading up to and following Shepard's murder -- her true-crime
account
of what happened, how arrests were made, the reaction in the
broader Laramie community, both gay and nongay. It's a colorful,
gripping
bit of journalism.
Secondly, the author broadens her scope to a more general discussion of
anti-gay intolerance and discrimination, skirting the shrill and the
polemical in favor of the analytical and the measured. She doesn't so
much
preach as provide a polished lecture.
Most useful of all, she has taken the time to capture the voices
and the thoughts of Laramie residents -- some queer, many not, a few who
knew
Shepard, most who did not. It's here, after the facts and the analysis,
that
Loffreda brings to life the meaning of a brutal, horrific death -- a
death that forced a
community, and potentially a broader world, to confront the truth that
there's still hate for gays in the heart of America.
-- Richard Labonté
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