Newsday

March 21, 1999

Missed Chance to Address Bias? Lack of legislation criticized as trial set to start in Laramie

By Jeff Kass. SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Laramie, Wyo. - When University of Wyoming students went to make yellow ribbons to protest the murder of gay classmate Matthew Shepard last fall, the local Wal-Mart donated the material for free.

University officials say the story symbolizes how this wind-swept college town banded together to promote peace after Shepard was beaten in October, tied to a fencepost like a scarecrow, and left to die. Authorities believe Shepard was targeted in part because he was gay.

But as the death penalty trial for the first murder suspect begins Wednesday, probably the biggest trial in state history, some say Laramie and Wyoming missed out on a chance to make a statement before the eyes of the world by failing to launch tolerance programs and pass hate-crimes legislation.

The Laramie City Council, when presented with a proposed ordinance from a loosely organized citizens' group, declined even to debate the measure. In the state legislature, bills that would have strengthened penalties for bias crimes were killed in committee.

"One would think, if only for public relations purposes, the state and city would have enacted a hate crimes ordinance," said the Rev. Stephen Johnson, who heads the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Laramie.

Wyoming is one of a handful of Western states that many had hoped would pass such legislation in the wake of Shepard's death.

But Laramie Mayor David Williams, an elementary school principal, says laws already provide for slaying suspects such as Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney. And Laramie remains the safe, small town many outsiders would imagine it to be, Williams said.

"We don't want this to become a focus of the city council and the media," he said. "This is an internal thing for the citizens of Laramie."

Some say it is absurd to hold a community responsible for Shepard's killing, saying such a slaying could have happened anywhere.

"Who can explain these things?" asked university president Philip Dubois. "I'm not any more responsible for their [the suspects] behavior than yours."

Laramie might be like any other small town with 27,000 residents. But the state's only four-year university accounts for a mix of yuppie and the Old West here. In the dusty downtown, coffee shops share the streets with cowboy bars. Hair salons and day spas look out onto bustling railroad tracks loaded with boxcars and tankers.

Because many state residents attended the university here, Laramie is known as "Wyoming's Hometown," and the university atmosphere probably makes for Wyoming's most liberal city. But many say it is liberal only by Wyoming standards, and is still infused with small-town conservatism.

Henderson and McKinney, both 21, had difficult upbringings and floated from job to job, according to interviews and press reports. Shepard, 21, was from Casper, Wyo.

"Fair or unfair, Laramie will always be remembered as the town where Matthew Shepard was murdered," Johnson said, but later added, "The city doesn't want to deal with it. The city is still in denial."

Others say the town and state have gotten a bad rap.

"This is not what many people want to portray as a small, provincial, redneck, tobacco-chewing rodeo town," Dubois said. While Wyoming politics may be conservative, "In terms of social issues, it has very much of a live and let live ethos."

University officials cite recent vigils and class discussions as examples of tolerance. Williams said the council may revisit a hate crimes ordinance after the trials, and will study youth issues.

Jim Osborn, 23, a recent university graduate and now co-adviser of the campus Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Association, said he was heartened by those who spoke out against Shepard's murder.

"There's definitely an increased awareness, I think, about all minority issues," he said.

But he also said he doesn't feel completely safe. The murder "also serves as a stark reminder these things happen, and it can happen in Laramie."

Osborn said he favors hate-crimes legislation, but hopes the trial will raise awareness even more.

Councilwoman Trudy McCraken, who was mayor when Shepard died, said she still questions exactly why he was killed and is looking to the trial for answers. Robbery may have been a part of the motivation.

"They were all at the same bar, drinking the same beer, and something happened," McCraken said of the three young men.

Bern Haggerty, who ran unsuccessfully for the city council in November, said Laramie needs a hate-crimes ordinance and more tolerance programs. He said he worries that a guilty verdict would provide a false sense of security.

"People will say, 'See, those kids got the death penalty. The problem is solved,'" he said. "All it does is give us another excuse to deny the problem."