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Judy Shepard speaks out against Trump’s hate-based electoral campaign for President.

Matthew was murdered in the horrific 1998 Laramie, Wyoming hate crime which brought anti-LGBT violence to the attention of the nation.

Matt Shepard

The advert, which will run in Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Florida, Nevada, Iowa, Colorado and New Hampshire, features Matthew Shepard’s mother, linking the “hate” that she says Trump shows at events with the anti-gay sentiment that led two men to kill her son because of his sexual orientation.

In a powerful video, she says: “I’ve seen what can happen as the result of hate. My son Matt was murdered in 1998. He was befriended by two men in a bar, who pretended to be gay.

“They offered him a ride home, and when he was in their car, they robbed him and beat him. They drove Matt out to the prarie and tied him to a split-rail fence, beat him some more, then left him for dead.
“In the aftermath of Matt’s death, my family saw the best of America in the love and support we were shown.

“So when I see the hate that Donald Trump brings to his campaign for president, it terrifies me.
“Words have an influence. Violence causes pain. Hate can rip us apart. I know what can happen as the result of hate, and Donald Trump should never be our president.”

After their son’s death, Judy and her husband, Dennis, worked tirelessly to get federal hate crimes legislation passed in the U.S.

They founded the Matthew Shepard Foundation and have also travelled to 18 counties in recent years for the US State Department to talk about equal rights and bullying and discrimination.

Watch the video below:

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