What Matthew Shepard’s Legacy Means to Me 24 Years Later
by Michael Lockett
How has it been twenty-four years since Matthew died? Then again, time, it seems, is a sorry measure, something impermanent and vast. Twenty-four years is hardly a moment, certainly not a long enough measure for a life; Matthew only had twenty-one. Time fades like ripples in waves, like echoes in the distance, like a breath into a big sky. But a legacy like Matthew’s surpasses time. It is permanent. It shines through the night as the brightest star, lends its own axis in which goodness revolves.
Could Matthew have imagined the past twenty-four years? Once extraordinary things have become part of our ordinary lives- things many of us take for granted. So much of this progress is a credit to Matthew. It wouldn’t have happened had the Shepards not stood in the void of grief and asked themselves, “Out of such tragedy, what good can be done?” When vigil candles faded, they set grief into motion, harnessing Matthew’s legacy into living points of light. It’s a legacy that hangs rainbow flags on porches, pastes TransLivesMatter stickers in windshields of cars, and adorns fairy wings at Pride. It’s a legacy of marriage equality, a legacy with millions of voices chanting, love is love. It’s a legacy of dads playing princess dress-up with their sons, a legacy of moms with gender fluid children unraveling the binary, set on learning proper orientations, names and pronouns. It’s a legacy of queer chat group connecting isolated teens that threads endlessly online. It’s a legacy where two moms, two dads, two trans women of color occupy blankets with their children on sunny lawns in parks…without fear for their lives, without even a second thought. Could Matthew have imagined that? Could he have imagined the depths of his legacy in all that?
It’s a legacy of ordinary things that were once long-suffering! Hopes and dreams realized connecting us in a vast network, like constellations filling up a crisp navy sky. Legacies like Matthew’s prevail, astonish, and ignite people to stand up, stand out, and press onward- reflecting his goodness as living points of light.
About the Author
Michael Lockett holds a B.A. in Communication from Clarion University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Carlow University. He’s a former Peace Corps volunteer who served in Mauritania, West Africa. Originally from Central PA, he now lives in the Northside of Pittsburgh with his partner, cats, and birds. He works as a Mental Health professional. His short stories are published in the Northern Appalachian Review, Prometheus Dreaming, Twisted Vine, Hive Avenue, and Taint Taint Taint.
