Matthew Shepard Will Be Interred at the Washington National Cathedral, 20 Years after His Death
The New York Times’s Jacey Fortin reports that Matthew Shepard, who was murdered in Wyoming in 1998, will be buried on October 26 at the Washington National Cathedral. Shepard’s death became a symbol of violence against gay people, and his family has been looking for a place to bury his ashes; they worried a grave would be desecrated. Mariann Edgar Budde, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington who will preside over the burial event, said, “It felt really important for us to say that we believe L.G.B.T.Q. people are beloved children of God, not in spite of their identities but because of who they are – who God created them to be.”