In October 1998, Judy Shepard lost her 21-year-old son to a murder inspired by anti-gay hatred. Matthew Shepard, a student at the University of Wyoming, died five days after his skull was smashed with a pistol butt and he was lashed to a fence outside Laramie, Wyo., in near-freezing temperatures. Two 21-year-old men were charged and later convicted of his murder.

On March 7, Judy Shepard will deliver a lecture titled "The Legacy of Matthew Shepard" at 8 p.m. in Bailey Hall on the Cornell University campus. Tickets for the lecture are free and open to the public and will be available beginning March 2 on campus at the Willard Straight Hall ticket office and the Robert Purcell Community Center and Noyes Community Center service desks and in downtown Ithaca at the Clinton House, 116 N. Cayuga St. A question-and-answer session will follow the lecture. Shepard's appearance is sponsored by the Cornell University Program Board.

Matthew Shepard's death has moved thousands of people across America to attend vigils and rallies in his honor. Determined to help prevent their son's fate from befalling other people, Judy Shepard and her husband, Dennis, established the Matthew Shepard Foundation to help carry on Matthew's legacy by embracing the causes he had championed. These include working for gay and lesbian equality and helping to prevent hate crimes. Judy Shepard says she is determined to use her grief over her son's death to make a difference. She has made the prevention of hate crimes the focus of her efforts, and she is now speaking to audiences across the country about what they can do to make their schools and communities safer for everyone.

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