Matthew Shepard: Last News

Here There Are Blueberries, by Moisés Kaufman and Amanda Gronich, the photo album, which researchers determined belonged to SS Officer Karl Hoecker, forms the crux of an investigation into what roles the seemingly “good,” normal-looking people in the photos might also have played in the atrocities that took place at the camp.That investigation, in turn, reflects how fragile truth can be, how history can be preserved, or disposed of, revealed, or permanently obscured, depending on who’s left holding the evidence.“I think that the reason why I wanted to write the play is because I saw those people eating blueberries,” says Kaufman, noting a photo, projected onstage during the play, of a smiling Hoecker gleefully enjoying downtime alongside the camp’s corps of young, female secretaries and switchboard operators. “They were eating blueberries in a vacation resort in Auschwitz.”Artistic director of the Tectonic Theater Project, Kaufman, who conceived and directs Here There Are Blueberries, approached this story with the same investigative rigor the company applied to its landmark play The Laramie Project, which recounted the anti-gay murder of Matthew Shepard.

convicted on hate crime charges in February following a four-day trial for the murder of then-24-year-old Dime Doe, also known as Pebbles “LaDime” Doe, a Black transgender woman from Allendale, South Carolina.Ritter’s conviction was the first guilty verdict for violent acts committed against a transgender person under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.Passed in 2009, the act expanded federal hate crime laws to include incidents of violence against people based on their gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability status.While other individuals had been prosecuted for crimes motivated by anti-transgender animus, none ever went to trial.At trial, prosecutors presented evidence showing that Ritter had been involved in a sexual relationship with Doe, and became upset after rumors of their affair began to circulate around their hometown of Allendale, South Carolina.Ritter’s girlfriend discovered his infidelity to her, and his relationship with Doe.

found Ritter guilty on hate crime charges, a firearms charge, and obstruction of justice in relation to Doe’s murder, marking the first-ever conviction under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act for violence directed at a transgender person.At Ritter’s trial, prosecutors argued that he had been involved in a sexual relationship with Doe, and became upset after rumors of their affair began to circulate around their hometown of Allendale, South Carolina.While Doe’s transgender identity was publicly known to many, Ritter sought to keep their relationship covert, demanding that she delete text messages they had exchanged from her phone.After Ritter’s main girlfriend learned of the ongoing relationship between him and Doe, Ritter allegedly became more anxious and desperate to conceal the affair from others.

New York’s Tectonic Theater Project and its founding artistic director Moisés Kaufman are speaking out against a recent decision by a Texas high school board to cancel a student production of Tectonic’s widely performed The Laramie Project.

EXCLUSIVE: Luchina Fisher, the filmmaker behind Netflix’s forthcoming documentary short The Dads, has signed with CAA for representation.

Earlier this month marked the 25th anniversary of the death of Matthew Shepard. On October 6, 1998, Shepard was beaten, tortured and left to die, bound to a fence in a remote Wyoming field, not far from the small town of Laramie. He was found and taken to a hospital where he died from his wounds six days later.

U.S. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) introduced legislation on Monday that would prohibit all U.S. federal courts from allowing use of the LGBTQ panic defense, a legal tactic that has been banned in 16 states and D.C.

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix on Friday announced its acquisition of The Dads, a documentary short billed as a quiet meditation on fatherhood, brotherhood and manhood that counts 13-time NBA All-Star Dwyane Wade amongst its EPs.

LARAMIE – Twenty-two years ago today a University of Wyoming freshman left the Fireside Bar in downtown Laramie just after midnight and was found hours later tied to a fence outside of town badly beaten and left to die. The reason for the attack was simply because he was gay.