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Tension was so high on the day of Matthew Shepard's funeral in 1998 that his father was wearing a bullet-proof vest under his blue suit. On Friday, the baby-faced young man, who has become the global symbol of the gay rights movement, will be buried in a cathedral in the highest part of the US capital, in front of a crowd of hundreds.
The 60- to 90-minute service at Washington's National Cathedral, which will hold many Presidential Memorial Services, will be structured as an official episcopal burial, with bishops' sermons and choirs, and scripture readings. Shepard's family and friends hope it will celebrate her life, which was not possible at the tumultuous time of her murder, when anti-gay demonstrators screamed after the funeral.
Friday, they say, is a chance to properly put Shepard's ashes in a "safe" place, said his mother, Judy Shepard.
Judy and Dennis Shepard hope to find something wrong with the burial of their son's ashes, at the end of the cathedral crypt, off the chapel of Saint Joseph of Arimathea, named after the man who, according to the Bible, gave Jesus his tomb. Shepard's family and gay equality advocates hope that the site can be an important symbol and even a pilgrimage destination for the movement.
Matthew Shepard is photographed in Rome in 1993. (Courtesy of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History). (Joe Hursey / Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution)
Despite many advances for LGBT people since Shepard's death, the cause of many Americans remains a source of division and this week again reports revealed that the Trump administration was "seriously" considering changing the way it treats transgender people in accordance with the law – a new and straightforward goal on transgender rights.
Judy Shepard told The Post that until a few years ago, they thought they would stop claiming hate crimes to focus on Matthew's memory. But the Trump election has, in a way, placed the movement "at zero," she said.
The service, which starts at 10 am, is open to the public. Doors open at 9 in the morning. The cathedral officials say that they do not know for sure how many of them will come, but they are expecting more than 1,500 people inside the large Gothic nave. The cathedral is the second largest in the country and the national cathedral of the Episcopal Church to which Shepard belonged.
[‘He’s moving away’: Matthew Shepard’s parents prepare to lay their son to rest at Washington National Cathedral]
Officials say a small group of protesters may be in the Westboro Baptist Church, a tiny church in Kansas that often organizes gay rights pickets.
For people old enough to remember Shepard's murder, when he was flogged and left for dead, tied to an isolated fence, the anniversary is a shocking date. Young Americans grow up in a different era of transgender politicians and television show characters.
Some close to Shepard say even with his fame – his assassination is the subject of many books, shows and one of the most produced pieces of the country, "The Laramie Project" – the idea of his burial in the famous cathedral. important. Also this week, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History has received a donation from the family of some of its belongings.
"We are all amazed. It's very moving to see the Smithsonian and the Cathedral recognize the power of Matthew's story all these years, "said Jason Marsden, executive director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, which defends young gay men, including through legislation against hate crimes. Marsden was a friend of Shepard at the time of the murder. "Especially for those who have experienced it, it is both something we never wanted and did not expect." This confirms what we have always thought, that his story is powerful and inspires people. "
[Trump administration considering ‘different concepts’ regarding transgender rights, with some pushing back internally]
The homily will be given by Gene Robinson, the first homosexual open to become bishop in the Episcopal Church. Robinson's ordination in 2003 caused a dramatic split in the current denomination. The bishop of Washington, Mariann Edgar Budde, will also preside.
Members of the Gay Men 's Chorus of Washington D.C .; GenOUT, a choir for LGBT youth; and Conspirare, a Grammy Award-winning choral group currently revolving around "Considering Matthew Shepard," a classic project created as a "compassionate musical response to the assassination of Matthew Shepard," according to the group's website.
Other musics to play include Cat Stevens' Morning Has Broken, which would be a Shepard favorite, John Lennon's' Imagine 'and U2's' MLK'.
There will be a scripture of Romans 8, a passage read at Shepard's funeral 20 years ago. He understands the sentence:
"I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor present things, nor things to come, nor powers, nor pitch, nor depth, nor anything, can be said. other in all creation, can not separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. "
After the service, only the clergy and his family will descend to the area of the columbarium, where dozens of ashes of other personalities are kept for a small burial ceremony. In this area is a public chapel outside the columbarium where the remains of Matthew Wayne Shepard rest.
For some of those who attended Friday's service, the chance to be part of Shepard's funeral was particularly poignant.
Marcus Brown, 42, member of the Gay Men's Chorus and resident of D.C., remembers very well the week of Shepard's death. Brown was a student at Howard University, hoping to escape the rural hometown of South Carolina where he grew up. He remembers thinking about the similarity of his life with Shepard's, "being from places that did not accept and found the best ways to deal with the situation. d & # 39; exist. At the time of Shepard's death, he had not yet come out gay.
While Brown was preparing to sing at the time of the burial, he reflected on the uncertainty and fear he felt at the time, but also on the trust and confidence to the freedom that he had acquired over the past 15 years since he was gay, thanks in part to Shepard.
"It's our responsibility as members of a certain age to convey these stories," said Brown, "to explain that the progress we have made has been the result of many trials and tribulations."
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