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Written by WIG
Jan 18, 2012
Matthew Shepard
The Iliff School of Theology, a Denver graduate school, will host a Stop the Hate Train the Trainer Conference Feb. 22-24.
Co-sponsors of the event include Colorado State University, the University of Denver’s Women’s College and the Matthew Shepard Foundation.
Campus Pride developed the training program in partnership with the Association of College Unions International, the Anti-Defense League, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence, the Wilbron Institute and MSF.
“We see the Stop the Hate Training Conference as an opportunity to advocate needed social change throughout the region on diversity issues that result in hateful actions,” said Iliff associate dean Edward P. Antonio. “Justice and peace has historically been at the core of training compassionate leaders at Iliff, and this conference allows us to join with other campuses to learn how to stop hate in our communities.”
Co-sponsor Colorado State is in Fort Collins, where in October 1998 Matthew Shepard was hospitalized and later died from injuries sustained in an anti-gay beating in nearby Laramie, Wyo. Days after Shepard was found on the outskirts of Laramie, the Colorado State University homecoming parade featured a sorority-fraternity float decorated with anti-gay signs and a scarecrow – the earliest news reports had stated that the biker who found Shepard thought he was a scarecrow.
Dennis and Judy Shepard founded the Matthew Shepard Foundation in memory of their son to “encourage respect for human dignity and difference by raising awareness, opening dialogues, and promoting positive change.”
