Date: Tue, 14 Dec 1999 23:08:50 -0500 From: Interfaith Working Group Subject: IWG Boston Globe violence coverage letter December 8, 1999 The Boston Globe Box 2378 Boston, MA 02107 Dear Editors: It is difficult to understand why some stories get national coverage and others don’t. Matthew Shepard was murdered because of who he was. He died right after the national anti-gay ad campaign generated a great deal of media attention on gay-related issues, and his murder illustrated the worst embodiment of fears and prejudices all too common in American culture, as expressed from pulpits, in newspaper ads and columns, and in our schools. Perhaps Matthew Shepard’s death received national attention not because it was remarkable, but because it was an example of the ongoing pattern of hatred and violence directed at sexual minorities, starting at a very young age. Of course, that doesn’t explain why Billy Jack Gaither’s murder in Alabama didn’t get as much coverage as Matthew Shepard’s; or why the attempted murder of transgendered African-American Lynn Vines (who survived multiple gunshot wounds) in Baltimore barely received any media attention there, let alone nationally; or why Anthony McCullough’s murder has gotten no coverage outside of Philadelphia. Jeff Jacoby says Matthew Shepard’s murder was “alarming to gays,” and that Jesse Dirkhising’s murder was “alarming to the parents of young boys.” Matthew Shepard’s murder was in fact extremely alarming to many non-gay people, including the thousands who turned out for rallies and vigils across the country. All murders ought to be alarming to everybody. The implication that they aren’t, or that “the parents of young boys” don’t understand that their own children could become the victims or the victimizers in attacks like those on Matthew Shepard, Billy Jack Gaither, Lynn Vines or Anthony McCullough, is even more alarming. Sincerely, Barbara Lamond Purdom Christopher Purdom Interfaith Working Group Coordinators The above letter was sent on IWG letterhead listing 17 congregations and religious organizations and 62 clergy from 16 religious traditions. For more letters visit http://www.iwgonline.org/letters/ -- Interfaith Working Group PO Box 11706 Philadelphia, PA 19101 http://www.iwgonline.org/ iwg@iwgonline.org voice: 215-235-3050 fax: 215-232-0829