“Matthew’s Legacy: The Struggle for Equality and Acceptance Featuring Judy Shepard” May 17, 2010

Facing History and Ourselves and The Allstate Foundation will host a Community Conversation entitled “Matthew’s Legacy: The Struggle for Equality and Acceptance Featuring Judy Shepard.” The event is presented in partnership with the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District, Santa Monica College, and the Santa Monica Bay Area Human Relations Council.

In 1998, Judy Shepard lost her son Matthew to a murder motivated by anti-gay hate. Turning tragedy into a crusade for justice, and determined to prevent Matthew's fate from befalling others, she established the Matthew Shepard Foundation. Shepard is the author of the New York Times best-selling book, The Meaning of Matthew: My Son's Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed, a moving intimate look at how her life, and the entire fight for equal rights, changed when her son was killed.

The event, which is free to the public, is the tenth in Facing History’s Community Conversations series in Los Angeles, which brings prominent authors, filmmakers and policy leaders into communities to discuss topics of civic participation, individual and collective responsibility and diversity.