It is clear throughout that she is both trying to shine a light on who the real Matthew Shepard was, while at the same time hoping to better understand him herself, and to try to make some sense of what happened. The film is directed by Shepard’s close friend, Michele Josue. 28, 2009, creating hate crime protections for LGBT Americans, as well as those with disabilities. Hate Crimes Prevention Act , was signed into law by President Obama on Oct. Neither the state of Wyoming nor the federal government considered crimes committed on the basis of sexual orientation as prosecutable as hate crimes at the time.

His death, and the murder trial of his attackers that followed, drew attention to the need for state and federal hate crime legislation. The documentary “Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine” gives an intensely personal look into the life of Matthew Shepard, who was famously murdered in Laramie, Wyoming in 1998, and whose name is now synonymous with gay rights and anti-gay violence.