Sassafras Lowrey’s Kicked Out Anthology Shares Stories of LGBTQ Youth Homelessness
February 25, 2010
International award-winning artist, former homeless youth, and former GLAAD Young Adult Media Fellow Sassafras Lowrey releases her anthology of writings from homeless queer youth and their advocates and allies.
Kicked Out is the first book of its kind to bring together the voices of current and former homeless LGBTQ youth and combine them with the nuanced perspectives of national organizations like The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force and The National Alliance Against Homelessness. Kicked Out is more than an anthology. It is a social movement dedicated to supporting homeless youth, building community with survivors and raising awareness about the epidemic of LGBTQ youth homelessness.
“This anthology introduced by Judy Shepard, gives voice to the voiceless and challenges the stereotypical face of homelessness.”
February 5th marked the national release of the work at the 2010 National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change, when Sassafras hosted a signing event and watched the first published copies of her work travel off into the world, where they are bound to draw much needed attention to these often-silenced lives.
Photo Credit: Samantha Box
Published by Homofactus Press, and beautifully illustrated with compelling photography by Samantha Box, this anthology – in Sassafras’ words – is for all those who have “lost their friends, families and homes because of whom they love or how they define their gender.”
Kicked Out has already garnered glowing media attention from a handful of outlets, including a 35-minute segment on “Out Loud,” a queer show on KBOO radio station in Portland, Oregon, featuring interviews with Sassafras, four contributors, and representatives of organizations like the Circus Project, which enable homeless and at-risk youth.
Photo Credit: Samantha Box
To meet the anthology contributors, view resources on youth homelessness, and purchase a copy of Kicked Out, please visit www.kickedoutanthology.com.
Sassafras will continue hosting local release events around the country, including a New York City release on March 19th at The LGBT Community Center and a series of awareness-raising events in Boston in late April. GLAAD is happy to be helping Sassafras pitch her book to mainstream media outlets in hope of bringing these stories into more homes across the country.
We will keep you informed about the progress of this vitally important anthology. We urge all GLAAD supporters to pick up a copy.
Related Posts:The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later
September 29, 2009
The New York-based Tectonic Theatre Project will debut an 80-minute epilogue to its bestselling play ‘The Laramie Project’ on October 12 in more than 130 theatres nationwide.
The Laramie Project is based on more than 200 interviews with residents of Laramie, Wyoming following the death of Matthew Shepard, a 21 year-old University of Wyoming student who was savagely beaten and left for dead in October 1998 after his killers learned that he was gay.
The epilogue, titled The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later, documents how Laramie has changed a decade after Shepard’s death.
The new piece also features a disturbing 11-minute dialogue with one of Shepard’s killers, Aaron McKinney. The Associated Press, which obtained an advance copy of the script, noted McKinney’s alarming reflections on the brutal murder in an article published Tuesday.
McKinney says that he has little remorse for the crime, but none whatsoever for Shepard:
Yeah I got remorse. But probably not the way people want me to. I got remorse that I didn’t live the way my dad taught me to live… As far as Matt is concerned, I don’t have any remorse.
McKinney is also quoted in the script as blasting Matthew’s mother, Judy Shepard, who now devotes her life advocating for the passage of federal hate crimes legislation that would protect LGBT people:
[Of Judy Shepard] Still, she never shuts up about it, and it’s been like 10 years.
The Associated Press article goes on to say that McKinney admits that “he still dislikes gays and that his perceptions about Shepard’s sex life bolstered his belief that the killing was justified.”
The epilogue’s October 12th debut will mark the 11th anniversary of Shepard’s death and will be performed by more than 1,000 actors, both professional and non-professional, across the country.
GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios will take part in a reading of The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later at Boston’s Emerson College on October 12th at 8pm. Tickets are free of charge. For more information, please visit: http://www.maj.org/events/2009/Laramie.cfm
Related Posts:Senate Votes to Advance Hate Crimes Bill
July 17, 2009
As GLAAD reported yesterday, the Senate took up the issue of hate crimes this week. Late Thursday night the Senate voted 63-28 to end debate on the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the Associated Press reports. The act was adopted as an amendment to the Department of Defense authorization bill and broadens hate crimes legislation to include sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, and disabilities.
The Advocate reports that President Obama, who supports the Matthew Shepard Act, has threatened to veto the Department of Defense authorization bill because of the $1.75 billion in funding for F-22 fighter jets. White House spokesperson Shin Inouye said:
“The President has long supported the hate crimes bill and gave his personal commitment to Judy Shepard that we will enact an inclusive bill. Unfortunately, the President will have to veto the Defense Authorization bill if it includes wasteful spending for additional F-22s… A Presidential veto would not indicate any change in President Obama’s commitment to seeing the hate crimes bill enacted.”
A Senate aide said that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is confident that the legislation will pass. The aide said that the vote on the Matthew Shepard Act was good and that “Senator Reid is hopeful that we can keep this language in the final bill.”
The Department of Defense authorization bill could go up for a vote as early as Monday.
GLAAD will continue to monitor media coverage of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
Related Posts:Hate Crimes Bill Attached to Defense Bill; Senate May Vote This Week
July 16, 2009
The New York Times reported early this week that Senate Democrats announced that they had attached the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act to the annual defense authorization bill. The Matthew Shepard Act broadens federal hate crimes law to protect the victims of attacks that are based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disabilities.
The Senate approved inclusive hate crimes legislation last year (also attached to defense bill), but it was not reconciled with a similar House passed bill. According to Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), who is spearheading the bill, the Matthew Shepard Act has been pending in the Senate for more than a decade. At the request of Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and the Republican Members of the Judiciary Committee, Leahy held hearings on the Shepard Act last month.
The House passed a similar hate crimes bill, H.S. 1913, in April with a vote of 249 to 175. The Senate’s bill is likely to be passed but faces a veto from President Obama. The President supports the Matthew Shepard Act, but has been urging the Senate to remove provisions to purchase seven additional F-22 fighter jets from the defense bill.
On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) spoke out in favor of the Hate Crimes Bill. He was joined by Judy Shepard, mother of Matthew Shepard, who said that anti-LGBT hate crimes are on the rise and passing the bill would show “a great message of respect” to victims of these crimes.
The anti-gay Family Research Council has released a video in which Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) & Sen. Jim Demint (R-SC) denounced hate crimes protections, making the false (and often repeated) claim that the Matthew Shepard Act would impede religious liberties.
The Associated Press reports that U.S. Senators took to the floor to debate the issue on Wednesday, which is said to have its best chances in years because of the current political climate. Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Harry Reid got into a brief argument on the Senate floor when McCain said that adding this amendment to the defense bill is an “abuse of power” and called it “extraneous”. Reid asked McCain “where has he been in the past” when the Matthew Shepard Act was attached to the same bill with a Republican President in power.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) confronted questions from Senators who reiterated the anti-gay notions of Tony Perkins and Pat Robertson, who say that this bill will somehow stamp on religious liberties. He said that the bill “does not criminalize speech or hateful thoughts. It seeks only to punish violent action that undermines the core values of our nation.”
Senators could vote on this legislation as early as next week. Organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and the National Center for Transgender Equality are urging people to contact their Senators to tell them to pass this important hate crimes bill.
GLAAD will continue to monitor media coverage of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
Related Posts:FLASHBACK: Channing Awarded for Shepard
October 8, 2008
With The Matthew Shepard Story airing this Sunday on Lifetime Movie Network, let’s look back at the 2002 Emmys when actress Stockard Channing was rewarded for her emotional portrayal of Matthew’s mother, Judy.
Going into the Emmys that year, Tony-winning Channing had been nominated seven times before — twice for her role as first lady on The West Wing — but had never won the golden statuette. Third time was the charm for the actress when she picked up an Emmy for outstanding supporting dramatic actress for the NBC series.
But that wasn’t all for the actress. Channing went on to achieve a rare honor that night by picking up a second acting Emmy (Supporting Actress, Miniseries or Movie) in the same year for her role as Judy Shepard in The Matthew Shepard Story.
“Really, when all is said and done, this award belongs to Dennis and Judy Shepard and to Matthew,” Channing said in accepting the Emmy. “And to all those people that we know who are no longer with us, who have suffered from the inhumanity of their fellow man. May we never forget them.”
The Matthew Shepard Story went on to be nominated for a GLAAD Media Award. Channing herself won GLAAD’s Golden Gate Award in 2003 for her work as a straight ally.
The Matthew Shepard Story
Sunday, Oct. 12, 12pm ET/9am PT, Lifetime Movie Network
CBS News – 10 Years After Matthew Shepard’s Murder
October 6, 2008
CBS News has a segment on their website remembering Matthew Shepard, with a retrospective on his murder, an interview with Judy Shepard and a look into what progress has been made to establish hate crime laws since his death.
From CBS News’ website:
College student Matthew Shepard was beat to death 10 years ago for being gay. Since then there have been outcries for tougher laws, but how much progress has been made? Thalia Assuras reports.
Matthew Shepard – Ten Years Later
October 6, 2008
His story is one that is often told and one that should always be remembered.
It was shortly after midnight on Oct. 7, 1998, when 21-year-old Matthew Shepard, an openly gay University of Wyoming student, was tied to a split-rail fence in Laramie, Wyoming and left for dead in the cold of night. He was found almost 18 hours later by a cyclist who initially mistook him for a scarecrow.
Six days after being discovered, Matthew died from his wounds.
According to a coroner at the trial of his attackers, he “was hit at least 20 times by blows so hard they fractured his skull six times[.]“ The damage was so disturbing that jurors, “winced as they viewed graphic photos of [his] bloodied face[.]”
The brutal murder of Matthew Shepard shocked the nation and in the ten years since has become one of the most covered and discussed anti-gay hate crimes in American history.
Matthew’s mother, Judy Shepard, has devoted this last decade to sharing her son’s story and helping to change hearts and minds across the world. She established the Matthew Shepard Foundation with the goal to “erase hate” and make sure what happened to her son doesn’t continue to happen to others.
According to a USA Today profile on Judy from this past March:
In the past decade she has traveled tens of thousands of miles, slept in more hotel beds than she cares to remember and has given thousands of speeches to more than a million people.
10 years later, however, hate violence is still a pervasive problem. Just from 2006 to 2007, the total number of victims reporting anti-LGBT violence increased by 24 percent, according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP). The number of anti-LGBT murders also doubled during that time period – only five murders less than the year Matthew Shepard lost his life to anti-LGBT violence.
Even with the progress made by the LGBT movement over the past decade, hate crimes continue to happen and yet sexual orientation and gender identity are still not included in any federal hate crimes legislation.
Yes, there is still a long way to go:
Shepard also points out what has and what hasn’t changed in the 10 years since her son was murdered.
What hasn’t is that hate crimes continue. She mentions the recent murder of Lawrence King, a gay 15-year-old junior high student in Oxnard, Calif., who was shot to death by a fellow student.
“This terrible incident underscores the fact that we cannot let hate go unchecked in our schools and communities,” Shepard says. “Our young people need our direction and guidance to prevent this type of crime from happening.”
After Matthew Shepard’s attack, GLAAD went to Laramie to help manage media coverage and assist in organizing student and community press conferences. By channeling the community’s collective grief into action, Matt was not treated as another statistic, but as a life lost too soon – bringing new visibility to the role of hate violence and opening up conversations around the country.
At the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards, we presented the Excellence in Media Award to Judy Shepard for the work she has done to promote full equality for the LGBT community through the Matthew Shepard Foundation. The Excellence in Media Award is presented to individuals who, through their work, have increased the visibility and understanding of the LGBT community in the media.
“When they asked me to receive this award I laughed,” Shepard said in her acceptance speech which you can watch below. “I’m just a mom who does what a mom does when something really means a lot to them. They try to engage their friends and their community and everyone in the same fight. That’s what I did. I appreciate this award so much…[but] I’m no different than anyone else here tonight, or out there in the world, trying to make a difference.”
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By looking back on Matthew Shepard’s death and the countless other tragic incidents that occur every year due to anti-LGBT crimes, the media can play a vital role in determining community and law enforcement response to hate-motivated attacks – from local and state hate crimes legislation to the Matthew Shepard Act and beyond.
This week glaadBLOG will remember Matthew Shepard and his story by highlighting other stories the media continue to overlook, giving a deeper perspective on stories the media have only briefly discussed, and showing you some of the work GLAAD continues to do to help bring visibility to the many affected by anti-LGBT hate crimes every day.
