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CSU concert pays tribute to Matthew Shepard 20 years after his beating, death

Posted at 7:46 AM, Oct 05, 2018
and last updated 2018-10-05 09:54:58-04

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – This weekend marks 20 years since Matthew Shepard was brutally beaten and left for dead near Laramie, Wyoming and a musical event at Colorado State University will pay tribute to the man whose death served as a rallying cry for the gay rights movement in the 1990s.

On the night of Oct. 6, 1998, 21-year-old Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student, met two men at a bar in Laramie who offered him a ride home. They then robbed Shepard, beat him and tied him to a fence and left him for dead.

A passing cyclist found Shepard the next morning, so badly disfigured the man mistook him for a scarecrow at first. Shepard died at the Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins five days later. 

The two men convicted of killing Shepard, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, are serving life sentences in prison. 

CSU’s Conspirare choral ensemble will pay tribute to Shepard on Sunday, Oct. 7 with an event titled, ‘Conspirare: Considering Matthew Shepard.’ The performance is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Griffin Concert Hall.

Tickets are $28 for the general public and $14 for students.

For more information on the event or to buy tickets, click here.