Most of you likely know the story of Matthew Shepard, the University of Wyoming student brutally murdered in 1998 for being gay. Cathy Renna was working for GLAAD at the time, and was asked by the LGBT student group at the University to help manage the overwhelming media attention in the wake of the attack. She recently gave a TEDx talk on her experience, the impact of Matthew’s death, and the power of stories.
Cathy, now a senior vice president at public relations consultancy Target Cue, explains that the media had ignored LGBT-focused hate crimes for decades, but “for some reason, not only the news media, but also the LGBT community, rose up because of this young man. My job was to help make sure that the stories that got told in the news media were fair, were accurate, represented what was really happening, and were respectful.”
She observes, however, “It wasn’t just about Matt, it was people telling their stories about what happened to them in their towns and the fact that it happened there too, and that had a huge impact…. Telling that story helped get other people’s stories told,” even if they weren’t the media-attractive stories of good-looking, White, college students like Matt. “I think that Matthew Shepard’s story … helped create that climate that we are increasingly seeing because of the power of people’s individual stories,” she says.
Many of us who blog understand on some level the power of stories — but it’s worth reflecting on how many stories only got told because of the tragedy of Matthew Shepard’s death. It shouldn’t be that way, but it is. We honor his memory by continuing to tell them.
I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Cathy (who’s also a mom) for a number of years now through my blogging and journalism work. Watch her whole talk. It’s well worth it.