Judy Shepard is visiting my school

Mrs. Judy Shepard, mother of slain Matthew Shepard, is visiting my school tomorrow and speaking at an all-school assembly. I don't know what exactly she will speak about, but I and the audience will have a valuable opportunity to ask her questions after her presentation. Afterwards, I and the other members of our GSA will sit down with her and have lunch together, where we are free to converse freely with her and ask more questions.

I know that such a tremendous opportunity such as this does not come to everyone. I just thought I'd let you know that this was happening, because you may have questions yourself/possible discussion topics which I may be able to bring up tomorrow and answer for you later. Personally, I am interested in what she thinks about different forms of protest, including civil disobedience, and how she thinks we could best raise people's consciousness about the improper use of the word "gay."

 

Mrs. Shepard's visit was very inspiring and empowering. The students at my school, for the most part, are very accepting and open-minded, so her message was not received with any resistance. I and several others had questions lined up, but we only had time for four questions during the assembly. Two of them were from GSA members (one of them me), but the other two were from open-minded non-GSA individuals.

The discussion afterwards was multifaceted and included anyone who wanted to join us, so many non-GSA members came of their own accord. Topics ranged from marriage rights/anti-discrimination to difficult family situations, from how to organize the gay community effectively to how one should respond to bigots intelligently.

She was notable to me and many of my friends for her ability to answer questions directly. My school has hosted numerous speakers over the years that have spoken about controversial topics (ethics, global warming, eating disorders, right-wing economics), but many of them didn't answer questions directly; they instead answered them like a politician. Mrs. Shepard was a breath of fresh air because she identified the elephant in the room and was not afraid to answer the questions-- she had nothing to hide.

Hopefully, the few prejudiced students in my school have had a window into our world. I think many of their minds were opened. The audience consisted of the 7th and 8th grades as well as the high school, and the phrase "that's so gay" was well addressed.