October 6, 1999
Web posted at: 8:01 p.m. EDT (0001 GMT)

(CNN) -- The vicious attack one year ago that resulted in the death of Matthew Shepard has led to a national campaign to stop violence against lesbians and gays.

An openly gay freshman at the University of Wyoming, Shepard, 21, was found lying on his back October 7, 1998, his hands bound beneath him, his feet tied to a fence, blood streaming from an ear and caked on his face.

Authorities said two young men posed as homosexuals and lured the 5-foot-2-inch, 105-pound Shepard out of a Laramie bar, kidnapped him, pistol-whipped him and stole $20.

VIDEO Correspondent Don Knapp reviews the campaign to toughen hate crime laws since Matthew Shepard's death Windows Media 28K 80K     MESSAGE BOARD Hate crimes

Shepard was left for dead, tied to a fence in the near- freezing temperatures of Wyoming's high plains, 30 miles northwest of Cheyenne.

It was 18 hours before passersby found Shepard, barely alive. The political science major, who never regained consciousness, died five days later at a hospital.

The crime shocked the nation and drew condemnation from President Clinton and Congress and calls for stronger bias crime laws.

Elizabeth Birch of the group Human Rights Campaign likened Shepard's murder to the racial hatred that once led to the lynching of African-Americans. "Like Matthew hanging on that fence, it's meant to intimidate, harass, send people back in fear. That's why there needs to be special handling of these kinds of crimes."

During the past year:

Supporters of legislation that would expand federal civil rights law to cover gay people introduced the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. It has cleared the Senate; the House has yet to vote.

Henderson, left and McKinney

"If even one family can avoid getting that phone call, in the middle of the night, because of this legislation, it would be well worth it," Judy Shepard told a Senate hearing after her son's murder. She also appears in a recently launched public awareness campaign intended to help reduce anti-gay taunting in public schools.

The proposed federal measure would give Washington a stronger hand by adding acts of hatred motivated by sexual orientation, gender and disability to the list of hate crimes already covered by federal law -- acts sparked by prejudice based on race, religion, color or national origin.

The change would allow states and local governments to ask the federal government to help in investigating and prosecuting those crimes. Federal officials also would be able to intervene if they believe that a state or local government is not pursuing a hate crime.