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Question: Where is Matthew's family now?
Answer: Judy Shepard, Matthew's mother, is the Executive Director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation and lives in Wyoming. She travels around the country educating the public about how they can help erase hate in our society. Dennis Shepard, Matthew's father, still works overseas most of the year and his brother Logan is currently finishing up his college education.
Question: How was Matthew Shepard found after the attack?
Answer: He was found almost 18 hours later by a cyclist who initially thought he was a scarecrow. He was immediately taken to Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Question: What were some of the impacts and aftermaths of this crime?
Answer: While Matthew laid dying in hospital, just a few miles away, a group of students from Colorado State University thought it would be funny to ride atop a homecoming float that featured a scarecrow figure designed to resemble Matthew's battered body. The figure was wearing a sign that said "I'm gay." An obscene message was painted across the back of the scarecrow's shirt. However, This tragedy helped the nation wake up to the fact that hate and discrimination still lives in communities, schools and families. The nature of Matthew Shepard's murder led to requests for new legislation addressing hate crime, urged particularly by those who believed that Shepard was targeted on the basis of his sexual orientation. Despite these requests, crimes committed against sexual orientation are still not considered hate crimes under the United States federal law and the Wyoming state law. (Source: http://www.matthewshepard.org)
Question: How does The Laramie Project fit under the category of ethnographic theater?
Answer: Ethnographic theater aims to present and explore a particular culture, in this case the town of Laramie, for analysis. Moises Kaufman and his actors told the story of real people who were the subjects of research and interviews. They avoided taking a particular stance in order to present an unbiased situation to the audience for analysis.
Question: What were the outcomes of Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney's trials, and what was the reaction of the town and the gay and lesbian community?
Answer: Russell Henderson was charged with kidnapping and murder and is currently serving two consecutive life sentences in prison. Aaron McKinney escaped the death penalty through the mercy of the Shepard family, and is currently serving life in prison without chance of parole. Surprisingly, many people of the town did not show up to the trials. The trial was mostly full of the families and reporters. In general, the gay and lesbian community agreed with Henderson and McKinney's punishment, voicing their opinion that the death penalty would not help, but life in prison showed the gravity of the situation.
Question: Why is the "The Laramie Project" the most popular of the movies made about the story of Matthew Shepard? What is the general consensus about the other movies?
Answer: It is hard to say for sure why "The Laramie Project" took off while the others are less recognized, but it is probably because it is the movie that was written and directed by the same person that wrote the widely popular play of the same name. It also gave the most closely unbiased view of the incident. "Anatomy of a Hate Crime", which aired on MTV in 2001, was criticized as being too much of a generic "made for tv movie", and used stereotypical movie elements to appeal to more audiences. "The Matthew Shepard Story" was criticized as being unoriginal and lacking the depth of "The Laramie Project". Matt Rouch of TV guide also stated that using a depiction of Matthew's death for the opening scene of the movie was "grotesque".