In the Life: Ep. 1409, "Setting the Record Straight"

in the Life sets the record straight in news how did this ringer get into the White House Press Corp media and no matter what they cook on what egg they lay Behind Bars it's not going to change the facts and the Animated World of politics I'd like Margaret spellings to look me in the eye and look at my children and tell me how I do harm to America all this and me on the pride edition of In the life in the life is funded in part by the H van amaran Foundation additional support provided by the Ford Foundation the Overbrook Foundation The Pride Foundation Jeff B and the annual support of in the Life members like [Music] you welcome to in the life I'm Janine Galo there is much division over social issues that directly affect the LGBT community and many believe the time has come for an honest dialogue the mission of in the life is to tell the personal stories of LGBT people whose contributions can be felt seen and heard in almost every facet of our culture and we along with many of you often wonder why these stories aren't more well depicted in mainstream America tonight in setting the record straight We examined the cultural bias facing the LGBT community in today's American Media and the potential political Fallout of representation whether it is sensationalized or non-existent before we begin a few messages from in the life's voicemail going to the first message hi I have to tell you we don't hate you we hate the sin I was very upset watching that in the Life go back to the family between one man and one woman they need to stay out of the church you guys going to go to hell I have a right to discriminate and I got will gays and lesbians have often been portrayed as a dangerous influence on America's children recently one animated Bunny's visit to Vermont garnered tremendous attention from Washington and was pulled from National PBS distribution before it even aired the couple and their three children who appeared in the sugar Time episode of postcard from Buster are still trying to figure out why [Music] this is about censorship this is about what we teach our children in terms of decency and common respect homophobia affects us all the Department of Education funds ready to learn which helps fund children's programs on PBS cartoon characters like Buster the rabbit and SpongeBob SquarePants are being attacked for teaching kids basic messages about tolerance acceptance and diversity I think it's fear of difference I mean that's that's what we all felt was the problem sugar time is one of 40 episodes in the series postcards from Buster sugar time was an episode where Buster as he is want to do in every episode travels to meet a new family in a new location where we learn about that corner of the world sugar time I was working on a national project called America 247 and one of the photos that ran in this book was of a lesbian couple and their child WGBH and Boston saw the picture and they wanted to do a segment on lesbians and um or two mom family and they called me and asked me if uh I could introduce them to some families long story short they ended up choosing our family and my daughter Emma in this case he was going to Vermont during uh sugaring season when they get the maple sap from the trees hi Buster I'm Gillian hi Gillian hi you want to come on in hi Buster hi Karen nice to meet you hi Bo hi good to see you you too oh boster look at you you look just like your mom do you have to meet my kids my name's David I'm Emma and my name's James aren't people that we cast into these roles these are real families that buster goes and visits and we're grateful to these families for opening their homes to us and showing us the communities they live in so Gillian's your mom too she's my stepmom boy that's a lot of moms Yep this is Mom and Gillian right here that's a nice picture this is one of my favorite pictures we were very proud to be associated with that kind of production and the kids the idea of being part of a a show that they got to show their family to other children you know like they've been watching on TV this was this was an enormous sense of Pride for them and then to be told that their family is not appropriate enough for a national audience that's quite a hit to take through no fault of their own did they find themselves sort of um immersed in this controversy in January 2005 newly appointed education secretary Margaret spellings sent a controversial letter to PBS president Pat Mitchell asking that the episode be pulled before it aired Margaret spelling said that the lifestyle portrayed in this episode was something that parents of young children might not want them exposed to and we really were appalled especially when we learned the purpose of this video is to have children across across the country learn about different cultures within the US and also learn about language the letter also stated that um the idea of using public funding for this kind of content was inappropriate and Spelling's final statement you can be assured that in the future the department will be more clear as to its expectations for any future programming that it funds has many concerned over the independence of public television let me say a few words about this department one of the first things you notice is that there is no Ivory Tower we're horrified when we see governments in charge of all the message in media that comes out to the public and yet that's exactly what she's saying she needs to do and um she locked that iy Tower up solid because nowhere else would we accept this the funding may only be renewed under conditions that they're going to have to agree I mean this is a huge question for PBS in general forget all the other issues who is funding public television when you look at the original mandate the Carnegie mandate for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting it states that the corporation will serve under serve populations and provide a voice to people who don't have it otherwise obviously Margaret spellings has made that clear that we don't have a voice you know so if she's going to control the content of the one place where we're able to be heard and and seen what what's left what's left Buster has actually visited the Mormons in Utah He's visited Pentecostal Christians he's visited Orthodox Jews all of those segments of the population were fine except gays and lesbians I can't speculate as to the timing or or the why of it um you know I I can say that we've we've never received a letter from a cabinet secretary before um about a particular Pro program anyway every day I hear Margaret spellings say that parents wouldn't want to be exposed to us and um it's crushing because we know that they go to school every day and are exposed to it we know that all the children that see us pick our kids up from school are exposed to it and that there are millions of us all over the country that are being seen so like it or not they're being exposed to it so why can't they be exposed to it pleasantly you know with a with a kind Grace about it they're giving license to everyone else in this country to bully and and be Prejudice and and make gays and lesbians feel like they don't belong I pledge to run an open honest and accessible Department one that operates with integrity at all levels in the Life contacted secretary spellings to ask for an explanation of the letter after originally agreeing to do the interview her office retracted on behalf of not only secretary spellings but the entire Department of Education she's gone into hiding now Pat Mitchell on the other hand then wrote us a letter it was a Bonafide apology dear Karen and Gillian I want to let you know personally how much I regret the effects that PBS's decision not to distribute the sugar Time episode of postcards from Buster must have had on you and your family she was um completely sorry that this had affected us personally as a family and what this had done to our lives however she said we are still clear that we made the responsible decision my responsibility as the CEO of PBS ultimately lies with the PBS stations and the Very Divergent communities across the country that they serve those stations have told us that they want PBS children's programming to be sharply focused on educational objectives and free from the type of controversy that we readily Embrace and pursue in our adult programming Margaret Spelling's letter literally arrived the afternoon of the day that we had decided to not distribute the episode but it came hours after we had made our decision and communicated it to the producers The Producers called us from WGBH they were great they said listen we want you to know know what's going on and the Boston Globe had broke the story the day before saying that they had postponed the the airing date um so that the PBS Affiliates could have a little bit more time to evaluate the tape the next day came the you know the next phone call saying they're not going to run it but we're still going to send it out to anyone who will run it it became clear though as we saw the cut come in and then the kind of the controversy start to surround it that this episode that wasn't about an exploration of different family structures it was about Vermont and sugar time it was getting in the way it was just obscuring what the actual point of the episode was and it just seemed like there was nothing we could do to avoid that well the issue is not it's not focusing on their daughter the issue is again this is a mature theme for children in preschool we are sexualizing our children at a very early age why do children that are that are in preschool need to know about homosexuality uh this is where we went with our conversation on Good Morning America this is you know immediately everybody's talking about the sex act and there's nothing sexual about the episode for tomorrow's dinner I need you to get me some maple syrup for the baked beans okay and cheesecake I'm going to make a maple cheesecake and I need cheddar cheese we're hearing over and over how we are sexualizing our children at too young an age and I completely agree that but it's not by exposing them to to a twom family living in Vermont who sends their kids off to get some cheese for you know our macaroni and cheese dinner and so these are the Shabbat prayers that we do over the candles and the bread and the wine there's nothing any more or less sexual about our making dinner than the Mormon family making dinner I think I'll start off with some chips not yet we have to have the blessing first people are are mixing up Behavior with um with life I mean with who we are this is just not this is too mature for children in preschool I don't think there's hardly any point where we're even seen together you know we're just being moms how am I supposed to tell my daughter that the upper echelons of our government thinks that we are inappropriate and immoral and and invalid and other kids shouldn't know about her life it's the majority of Americans that believe that not just the government well we'll could debate all of this another time but again Andrea laferty executive director of the Traditional Values Coalition an outspoken opponent against equal rights for gays and lesbians was the sole voice of opposition in the Good Morning America segment despite having no direct relationship with the postcards from Buster episode PBS or the Department of Education in an effort to create fair and balanced reporting mainstream media often pit LGBT people against opponents like laferty making the debate about homosexuality rather than the broader issue in this case alleged censorship I that's that's what we all felt was the problem people being afraid of something that was different from what they themselves saw as being real and right Bonnie is a friend of Tracy Harris and Gina dambrosio whose daughter Lily is featured in the sugar Time episode alongside best friend Emma and I think if I didn't know Tracy and Gina on a personal basis I I would have a more distant feeling about it but I mean that was really big for me and and I haven't had a lot of other opportunities to see families in that context and so that's why I think the Buster show was a great show because it shows everybody that they're just families Bonnie a member of the Charlotte Congregational Church was moved to action when the Buster story broke we were having some conversations about becoming an open and affirming Church which is a an official designation that talks about accepting anyone from any path of life regardless of race gender sexual orientation anything everybody is welcome and as we were having our discussions and sort of wondering well how would this go if we brought it up for a vote in the news this issue came up when I found out that one of the families was from right here in Charlotte I said this is what we're talking about this is it and I called called up the head Deacon and I said are we going to do anything about this Bonnie drafted a letter that would be sent to the governor secretary spellings Pat Mitchell and President George W bush our head Deacon Rick kersner brought it up at church on Sunday and and said you know I have signed this letter and the letter will be in the vest during coffee hour for anybody who wants to sign it and 70 people lined right up no step aside please the national office of Bonnie's Church the United Church of Christ has taken on similar issues I don't think so no when we heard about the rejection of the UCC ads we actually contacted standards and practices and corporate Communications at both CBS and NBC calling on them to clarify their statements the United Church of Christ no matter who you are or where you are on life's journey you're welcome here when you look at CBS who rejected the UCC ad they actually wrote back and said that because the president had introduced the federal marriage Amendment the anti-gay piece of legislation that was defining marriage as between a man and a woman because that had been introduced they couldn't run the ad I think everyone in this country needs to be very disturbed by the idea that any broadcaster any national broadcaster would be making decisions about what actually airs based on public policy based on the administration in Washington and what their agenda is we have got to get out there and start doing you know fundraising for public television that does not include our government it's wrong it can't continue I mean public television is everything it's edgy and it's Brave and it's it it's honest and truthful and sometimes it's not what you want to see and I want to see that too I want to see the stuff I don't agree with the only portrayal that most of us saw for gays and lesbians was a lot of promiscuous sex and they were portrayed as aberant or um perverted the media images out there can have an effect on public policy they certainly have an effect on public opinion and that's something that often drives public policy kids are being bullied on this issue more than any other issue in schools today parents watch their children go to school like we do and get bullied and it's not just our issue it's everybody's issue if you live in a right-wing conservative religious home and you are a young man say 15 and you go to school and you are perceived as gay you will be bullied does that not make it that parents issue we try to make our decisions in absence of of what a current climate is what we're trying to do particularly with children's programs is make sure that that when our programs address a sensitive issue for kids that they do it in a way that's really that is that thorough thoughtful approach we're not doing anything up here that's a you know a big scary secret we're raising three kids we're working very hard and we're trying to make our bills every month I mean that's what the rest of the country are doing I think we've done a terrific job in terms of putting a a diverse um sort of face on on public television and in this particular instance um I think we could have done a better job I understand why people are nervous now and I am different in public we just got back from a conference um in Las Vegas and uh it is so unlike me but I was not demonstrative at all I was I was afraid I was afraid to be out in that City walking amongst those thousands of people that are so powerful and Rich and they're throwing their money around and if they didn't like what they saw you know and that really hit me so this has been an education but it's also you know it's been really important for me because of the kids to say if you believe in something this strong then you need to stand up and you need to shout and you need to tell the world that it's not fair you know and somewhere down the line when they grow up that's what I hope they pick out of this more than anything they'll stand up for themselves when they need to when I was growing up in in high school I was uh I was pretty shut down the way the other way that I got through high school was that I made myself invisible there was a boy in my high school who was the identified gay kid and he pretty much got harassed beat up every day what was really painful for me was to stand by and watch it happen part of what has been so gratifying hearing from young people in response to Rainbow Boys and rainbow high has been you know getting this second chance now to speak up for that boy and for you know thousands of other boys and girls you know like him I'm Alex Sanchez and you're watching in the life the art of spin has been described as a necessary evil of contemporary television high production costs and ever growing competition have led many broadcasters to make programming decisions based on good business practice rather than thorough news gathering tonight we go beyond The Sensational headlines to see what forces are at work in creating what has been described as the counterfeit news you have to have an informed people to have a democracy never seen an Administration that has been so comprehensive in the way that they have approached uh controlling information we were asked to look into the use of prepackaged news stories Controller General United States this week said that raises ethical questions one of the things that they're doing uh that the Bush Administration has begun to do now is to produce video news packages that they uh distribute to local news um operations around the country uh they're designed to look like television news reports they'll feature an actress um or an actor pretending to be a reporter and using lines that a reporter would use like from Washington I'm Karen Ryan reporting in Washington I'm Karen Ryan reporting there is no Karen Ryan there is no a journalist it's a it's a PR firm that is packaging and putting this together does it raise ethical questions about the use of government money to produce stories about the government that wind up being aired with no disclosure that they were produced by the government uh there there is a justice department opinion that says these um these pieces are within the law so long as they're based upon facts not advocacy there is an illegal propaganda act that says you cannot use taxpayer monies for purposes of propaganda these segments uh promote Bush Administration policies and now I'm honored and pleased to sign this historic piece of legislation they distribute these video news releases to local television stations that uh in many cases have just aired them without indicating that this was produced by the government you think you're watching your local television news broadcast but what you're really watching is a 2 or three minute ad produced by the White House for decades our legal opinions generally have been complied with by the executive AG uh the government accountability office has actually found that some of these ads have run a foul of the bans on government propaganda and has told the Bush Administration basically to knock it off and the Bush Administration uh has said no that they're going to keep producing them it gives seniors uh better benefits more choices and it's completely voluntary it's important that if you're using taxpayer money to try to influence them they have a right to know that this has been a long-standing practice of the federal government to use these types of videos the law represents the minimum standard of acceptable behavior it's important for people in government as well as the media to do what's right to do what's right not just what's arguably legal second sort of strategy is to pay uh journalists to pay people who are um like Armstrong Williams who got a quarter of a million dollars to plug the uh education no you know No Child Left Behind act your report card as a journalist is on the front page every day or in broadcast you can't can't get away with it the Third Kind of um um part of this Grand strategy is to um uh find people that you can U plug in the media made it out to be that how did this guy a ringer a plant a shill get into the White House Press Corp Jeff gon was able to show up every day at the White House for years and ask these obviously loaded questions uh representing a fake news source using a fake name and nobody cared I'm Jeff Ganon former White House correspondent for Talon news there was a question Ganon asked President Bush at a press conference in uh I guess late January or early February that um included a a false comment about Harry Reid he he made up a quote yes sir thank you uh Senate uh Democratic leaders have painted a very bleak picture of uh the US economy uh Harry Reid was talking about soup lines and Hillary Clinton was talking about uh the economy being on the verge of collapse that got a lot of people's attention um and we sort of looked into who Jeff Ganon was what Talon news was and uh some of his reporting how are you going to work with people who seem to have uh divorced themselves from reality we found that this Talon news was really just a front for a company called gopusa and the GOP USA is uh staffed and run by Texas Republican activists none of them have any journalism background they all have a partisan background um and the more we looked at it the more we found that there was just no reason to consider them a news organization I had uh been a regular participant at the daily briefings with uh arry fler to start with and then Scott mcclelen and I usually got a question not always are you the TV Man TV man but this was the first opportunity that I ever had for the president of the United States to point to me Helen Thomas was a person who for years traditionally was the first to ask a question in in the um news conferences and um they you know they did away with that tradition um because they felt that she would be critical they definitely have sanitized the list of who we should call on and I'm not on the list and because they know I'm going to be ask a tough question Bush so very rarely takes questions in a live formal setting from reporters that to have some of that Wasted by this fake reporter from a fake news organization asking a fake question uh was a real missed opportunity you have one chance in the barrel with the president he should be asked the questions not his spokesperson but the president himself I'm a conservative I'm an independent conservative journalist and that seems to be a concept that's foreign to uh some of these people out there a lot of people wanted to change the discussion from Jeff ganon's uh lack of credentials as a journalist his uh employers obvious partisan affiliations to uh his other activities we'll get to the journalism here in a moment but uh ultimately is it not relevant here is the most relevant thing not the fact that somebody in the government decided that a guy apparently using an alias who may have also run a website called hotm military.com would be allowed into the White House every day none of these things have anything to do with journalism and no one should be subjected to that kind of treatment the whole point of this thing was to chase me from the White House Press Corp a lot of his Defenders I think are doing that to try to head off this discussion of the broader issue of the White House and the conservative movement's manipulation of the media and if they can pretend that the Jeff Ganon incident was about his sexuality or about the fact that he's a conservative in the briefing room then they don't have to have that discussion the gay and lesbian Community are beginning to take a leadership role with regard to questioning some of the larger issues not that the gay and lisbian issues aren't large but they are in fact representative of much larger um concerns that are going on about the ways that that that all lots of people are being marginalized in this country nobody really asked why is this guy here um what does this mean is he an isolated example are there other examples of you know the White House using fake news basically what's happened to me raises questions though that need to be talked about who is a journalist what qu what are the qualifications of be a journalist what is a legitimate news service when is uh when is a a a little bias too much bias and who's going to make those decisions push for the truth wherever it leads us uh that should be the Holy Grail of Journalism really if uh there isn't a great deal of outrage among the American people about the fact that what they're seeing on their Evening News every night is uh may or may not be government propaganda and they have no way of knowing then nobody's going to stop the Bush Administration won't stop doing it Congress won't make them stop local television stations won't stop running these prepackaged news reports because it's easy for them so that's the biggest fear that I have and and the scariest part of all this is that there may not be sufficient outrage out there uh to make them stop I was sued two years ago by a magazine company it was a huge German conglomerate they were allowed to call Kelly my spouse into a deposition for 4 days in a row for 12 hours a day and have her answer questions and make her cry in order to try to force me to settle well I had no right to call the man who was suing me Dan Brewster's wife to the table because they were legally married if they didn't feel that there was a public perception of weakness because I had come out as a lesbian if they didn't see that as a vulnerability I don't think they ever would have filed soon I'm Rosie odonnell and you're watching in the Life his face has been broadcast around the world as the poster child for hate crimes legislation his story had all the elements the small Midwestern town the brutal beating the agonizing 5 days until his death and of course the rest of the men responsible Matthew Shepard was a great news story that galvanized a nation and sparked a national conversation about hate tonight we explore how nearly 7 years later his story is still igniting debate I'm sure he thought nothing was ever going to happen to him for just killing another they were two meth heads looking to get some money that's what it was all about the defendants are now trying to claim they were on methamphetamines ridiculous Aaron McKinny explicitly uh by his own words agreed to never do any media about this case that it was a key part of the sentencing agreement that saved his life tonight startling new information about the Matthew Shephard story secrets of a murder in November 2004 only 2 months after veteran reporter Elizabeth Vargas stepped into a retiring Barbara Walters role ABC's 2020 aired the controversial story Matthew Shepard secrets of a murder the uh the Quick Cuts the editing the stock the Blurred stock footage of the you know uh area around laramy and the the meth culture and the flashing Club lights and club music and it certainly carried you along into the place they wanted to put you so that they could funnel into you the idea that this was some kind of club drug crime the reason why you know editing and imagery and b-roll and music works so well on so many audiences is they're not even aware that these elements are put together the sad thing about it is it completely undermines a lot of the work uh that the people did you know investigating the case all the great work you know in gay lesbian activism and hate crime activism that has happened since the crime I mean what what good does that serve and some people who appear to the story question the timing and the methodology of the production whatever side your documentarian is against is going to be is going to feel that they were misrepresented in the way that they were the way that they were shown yes I am a grieving mother but that's not my role right now I'm trying to advance advance the uh gay cause and and to reduce me to that just was infuriating when enough people feel that they've been um really mishandled um then yeah there's something obviously something suspect the problem with the 2020 piece is that it's not rooted in the facts as we know them I've never seen the amount of physical evidence uh in a case as there was in this particular case they were so dedicated to getting this case exactly right because you couldn't afford not to get it right the investigators in this case did a tremendous job and under the weight of enormous and withering scrutiny from the world in the Life invited 2020 to be part of this segment after declining an on camera interview ABC vice president of media relations Jeffrey Schneider agreed to answer our questions via email and according to Schneider 2020 producers consulted extensive trial transcripts provided by the court reporter there is no transcript of everything that was set at trial there are pieces of it and one of the efforts we're undertaking um on behalf of the foundation is to to preserve and to recreate that trial record because right now it exists only in the stenographic notes and data files of a court reporter in Wyoming after Mr Shepard confided he was gay the subjects deceived Mr Shephard into leaving with them in their vehicle to a remote area and upon arrival at said area both individuals tied the victim to a buck fence and continued to beat and terrorize him while he was begging for his life it's a case that's been solved the people were convicted that were responsible the case is adjudicated it's done with every point was hashed and rehashed before during and after the trials this is nothing has been new has been introduced this thing should have been put to rest a long time ago tonight a 2020 investigation uncovers stunning new information the controversy over this piece centers around 2020 speculation that the crime was a drug induced robbery gone wrong and not fueled by the hate that received so much public attention it's as important to look at what's left out of a new story as what's included you know the the the details people choose not to include um sometimes don't necessarily contradict the facts but um contradict the bias of the story I was concerned about what what the focus of the the piece was going to be but we do the interview and when it gets to the methamphetamine issue I realize what was going on and then the next morning I get up and find the emails on my dining room table that had been left behind which indicated specifically that 2020 was coming in here with with a specific angle and that was the methamphetamine angle draw your own conclusion after hearing it although Dave is a veteran highly skilled investigator who is a key to solving the crime quickly he signed on to the the hate crime motivation of Shepherd's death and our peace will ultimately contradict that flawed Theory and to me it indicates very strongly that they came here with one thing in mind they had a predetermined uh focus on on how this was going to come out and so many pieces of it that were truthful ended up on either not asked or on a cutting room floor the thing to do is to disclose the bias you know to try to at the very beginning come out and say I've been looking at this story and I'm really upset by it here's what I think happened it would be difficult to get into a court uh the kind of case that 2020 assembled because of its heavy Reliance on Anonymous sources or people who only have a first name who openly say that they've been using methamphetamine for years and and heavily um those people's credibility doesn't tend to stand up in a courtroom so um it would be it would be very difficult for them I think that case anywhere but in the media you know if I had to walk into a prosecutor's office with a case based on that kind of information they would they they wouldn't laugh me out of the office they'd throw me out of the office nobody was on drugs when this crime took place the ABC News theory is more subtle it is that it was the after effects of heavy drug use that in somehow LED um to Matthew's murder so that's a theory it's speculative when you ask what's the evidence for that there isn't any and you're not going to find it in this piece if you're in the middle of a meth venge you're going to have uh specific withdrawal symptoms I mean once the the drug is gone they never exhibited any of that while they were incarcerated uh toxicology was negative uh that combined with the statement that uh price gave that they hadn't had any for several days um I'm comfortable that they weren't under the influence of methamphetamine and that was not a motivation for for the beating they gave to m in a piece that talks so much about how being on methamphetamine makes you insane how many of the sources for that story were themselves in fact potentially people exposed to that kind of insanity the voluntary ingestion of either alcohol or drugs is not a defense if that were true everybody at rers would say I was drunk and then all be out on the street two young men are serving life and prison for the murder of Matthew Shephard you will meet them now and hear their story in their own words for the First Time The Killers say they agreed to be interviewed to set the record straight well I think the the exclusivity of interviewing both men was a big draw I'm not sure there's anything else in the story that was big enough to make them do this if they decide it's possible that this guy was trying to do a drug deal then they owe it to themselves and the public to honestly investigate that despite 2020s promise to introduce their story in their own words in the Life recorded how much time The Killers actually spoke Aaron mckin received approximately 1 minute and 45 seconds to tell his story Russell Henderson approximately 2 minutes and 50 seconds in the roughly 43 minutes of content the total time allotted Elizabeth Vargas was approximately 19 minutes and 15 58 seconds we asked 2020 why quote this report featured a balance of key voices in the case 2020 is in a position now of trying to um Elevate some of its second stringers to you know to fill the apron of Barbara Walters but um and Hugh Downs right who left a couple years ago as well so I mean there might be more of a tendency to put these people's faces and voices more front and center so the reason you attacked Matthew Shepard wasn't because he was gay it was because you were strung out on drugs and frustrated very and angry yeah all that stuff builds up on you it don't take much to make you snap completely why was the beating so bad if it was just a couple of guys you have you have direct testimony from Elizabeth Vargas about why this happened I mean that's what you got just there he he says he says all I want to do is beat him up and Rob him and she says so you did this because you were strung out on drugs and frustrated and tired and angry and well he didn't say any of those things she did he said all I wanted to do was beat him up and Rob him I think that's supported by the record some people have in their heads that and it's not a hate crime unless mcken and Henderson left their house that night looking for a gay guy to bash if what you're asking is was it a premeditated hate crime where they said let's go out and find a gay kid and kill him because he's gay that that's the wrong question that's not what the evidence suggests in this case but it suggests that what what changed a robbery into a lethal beating and a murder was anti-gay bias an emotional reaction rage fueled by that bias and hate and nothing in this piece contradicts that we all were under the same opinion that this was a robbery that went bad Ben fritsen who was interviewed for both 2020 in this segment and a detective on the case supports 2020s position the county sheriff at the time went on record saying that apparently we might have a hate crime that we're investigating and it just went chaos from there but lead detective Dave Ali argues that what's lost in the theory offered by fritzen and 2020 are the key questions that have already been answered in mckenney's confession see look like like clear like when did the Panic begin did it begin when Henderson and mckenny went in the bathroom at the fireside and decided to act like they were gay did the Panic begin when they were in the truck uh you know when does this Panic defense start you know Aaron mckin says in his confession he tried he put sign on my leg and he starts grab on my leg and grab my J I don't know what the hell he was trying to do but that I'm not a those are his words did you kill Matthew Shepard because he was gay no for them to rewrite history come on nobody's going to believe them this is clearly a hate crime and was rightfully considered as such and no matter what they cook up what egg they lay Behind Bars it's not going to change the facts someone to help that's God anger now we wouldn't be here in order to write the laramy project we spent uh a little over a year in laramy going in and out conducting interviews uh we conducted interviews with over 200 people our rule of thumb was that when those people saw themselves El that they would say that's not only what I said but that's what I meant because you know it's very easy in the kind of work we do to take one phrase take it out of context and have it mean something completely [Music] different we knew he didn't deliver any of the blows but he was complicit in everything that happened he did nothing to stop it and according to the law that makes him just as guilty Russell Henderson pled guilty accepting two consecutive life sentences but according to 2020 quote mckin committed all the physical violence against Shephard and struck Henderson in the face with the pistol when he tried to stop the beating did you ever once try and stop Aaron from hitting Matthew yeah I did I told him I think he had enough didn't do any good cuz it didn't help Matthew any he looked so innocent and so sympathetic in his uh piece on this news program that you you felt for him Henderson at a much later time said that he was trying to stop mcken but when I went to the autopsy of Matthew Shepard uh one of the things I photographed were a series of bruises on his arms his upper arms which was very indicative of somebody holding him from behind and I think one of the uh one of the hits that mcken did on shepher bounced off and hit Henderson in the face I do know that uh Henderson's attorney is Seeking a sentence reduction and it seemed to me that the program followed every point that his attorney was trying to use for the uh sentence reduction I was fully expecting the death penalty on both of them but that came down to uh Dennis and Judy Shepard's wishes they did not want to pursue the death penalty Aaron mcken explicitly um by his own words agreed to never do any media about this case that it was a key part of the sentencing agreement that saved his life they didn't mention the agreement ever uh they basically broke the law and they enabled hen mckenny to do it so uh you know of course they're not going to mention that they've done this horrible thing I think it's a grave grave mistake to ever bargain away maximum sentence under the law if that case would have gone to the jury mckin would be dead now I knew from the day that they made that agreement that um it would not hold up I'm only concerned with that they don't speak to the Press I don't have any control over Henderson but um I thought I had control over McKenna you want to wake up and see them on Good Morning America espousing more lies well guess what that's exactly what happened 2020 responded mckin was willing to tell us his story and as journalists trying to shed more light on this story it's our job to report that information people are thinking this is not an issue anymore it's a huge issue it's bigger now than it's bigger now than before prior to this case uh came off my tongue as easy as I love you did to my kids I didn't think about it the absolute ignorance and borderline hatred that our uh our national leaders have towards this issue is like it it's absolutely uh astounds me now to think that I was on that side of the fence when your leader is telling you that being gay is wrong in his statements about the federal marriage Amendment uh he's basically telling you that you have no rights that you're not equal to you're less than attitudes overall just take a dive I mean not just in the community but their family and friends as well what is the message that we're putting out there and you know where where is our commitment to this egalitarian society during the ramp up to the marriage debates the president using his bully pull pit to actually call for a constitutional amendment to codify discrimination against this community anti-lgbt violence Rose 26% in those last six months that's dramatic and we haven't seen anything like that and hadn't seen anything like that in quite some time Matthew Shepard's murder fueled the national conversation around hate crimes legislation ironically this case was never actually tried as a hate crime Wyoming still has no hate crime legislation we have legislation that protects our animals but not our people a hate crime is quite simply any crime that is motivated wholly or in part by the perpetrator perception of the race ethnicity sexual orientation in some places gender identity or expression of the victim there is still no federal hate crimes law that includes sexual orientation leaving legal protection of LGBT people to individual states and according to the Human Rights Campaign 29 States and the District of Columbia now recognize sexual orientation under hate crime legislation leaving 21 states without protection what sets hate crimes apart from other crimes specifically is the motivation for the crime the crime itself is no different it's the motivation so the perpetrator gets a greater sentence a sentence enhancement strictly because of the motivation another indicator of hate crimes is often a measure of Overkill and that means that in the course of committing a crime you could have stopped here instead you went all the way to this point in July 1998 3 months before Matthew Shepard was murdered Washington debated the federal hate crimes prevention act many opposed argued that the inclusion of sexual orientation allotted special rights for LGBT people it may seem outlandish to think that at some point in time some straight person might need to utilize a hate crimes bill because a gay person beat them up because they were straight but it does serve to point out that these pieces of legislation are not special rights they're actually for anybody more hate crimes are committed against those perceived to be gay than those who actually are I don't think that the hate crime statute offers special rights to victims what it does is allow prosecutors to seek enhanced sentence on specific CRI crimes the relationship uh between bringing up bias based on gender identity and sexual orientation in a criminal trial is really clear gwyn's family had to sit there day after day and hear that their daughter right who was beaten strangled buried in a shallow grave was responsible for that happening to her every day we live for Gwen every day we remember every day we think about how painful it must have been and how horrible this death was for for Gwen it was horrific how do you murder someone and then bury them and go and have breakfast at McDonald's we're failing our youth in our schools and in our families and in our religious and social organizations by not preparing them to deal with what happened that night I found it insulting to to be uh subjected to the gay Panic defense it indicates a complete lack of respect for the ability of a judge a jury prosecutors the public at large to see what is plainly obvious about the crime the 2020 piece um briefly addressed the gay Panic uh defense and and they indicated that uh that had been concocted after Aon had been appointed an attorney but Aaron brought that out on his own volition during the initial interview before uh he had um consulted an attorney when they were trying out that gay Panic defense one of my co-workers said something to the effect of oh so he made a pass at him so it was his fault well by that logic there wouldn't be a straight man left living in this town because every straight woman in this town has found herself in the position of being the unwelcome recipient of a pass when they were leaving the bar in the truck it that is the time it appears that the robbery took place when Aaron mcken demanded Matthew's wallet and Matthew gave it up pretty easily question then becomes why did the beating turn so Savage what provoked to that Aaron mck's girlfriend Kristen price stated in the original investigation that Matthew's murder had everything to do with sexuality her original statement was she knew absolutely nothing about what happened nothing at all and that she hadn't seen Aaron and she came up with the statement that uh Aaron was was freaked out because this gay guy was hitting on him after they left the bar she had like three different stories um she said that Aaron came home he was all bloody um um he had a head injury he wasn't making any sense and uh I believe that she did tell me that he told her that he thought he'd killed a guy a gay guy now she's telling a different story again so when you told police that the reason Aaron attacked Matthew was because he was gay because he made a pass at him you were lying yes she comes out in the ABC's 2020 piece and says um I pretty much lied six years ago when I told everyone you know that I that I thought that you know Aaron killed Matthew because he was gay okay did you lie in court if the defendant's girlfriend lied under oath she could and should be prosecuted for perjury that is a grave Injustice to our justice system 2020 acknowledges that Kristen price changed her story stating quote she made some choices that allowed her to stay out of jail and tried to take care of her infant son she came forward to set the record straight her on and off camera statements seem sincere do you think Aaron is bisexual um now I do yes in the 2020 piece they try to say well he's bisexual so how can he be a homophobe that is so ridiculous there's so many bisexual people that are homophobic it is always the things that we most dislike about others that turn out to be the things we most dislike about ourselves we all know that in every facet of our society there's a certain degree of self-loathing women hate their bodies men hate going bald just because these guys now have decided that they're gay on metha amphetamines and therefore could not have committed a hate crime is preposterous the majority of the people in larmy that I've heard from were appalled by the story they have no idea where all that information came from they're appalled that the larmy people they interviewed were never their answers were never followed up on after all these years we've finally sort of been able to convince the world that this is a good place and they've just lobbed another grenade in they think it gave laramy an even worse view to the rest of the country than than people already thought and I'd have to agree with that it was very unflattering to lar me I think that we live in a very Savvy culture right now and we can very easily detect bad journalism and when something is not supported by facts or is not supported by by Witnesses or by sources that we deem trustworthy then we don't believe it there's room for reporters to make mistakes there's room for misjudgments to take place um I'm completely understanding of that having been involved in more than one of them where I draw the line is is being misleading or trying to shoehorn evidence into a predetermined theory of the case and that's the line I think that was crossed at least once or twice in that in that 2020 report smart journalism is is about making your stories engaging while telling the truth at the same time and that can still be done you can still go and find out well why is it that there are all these people trying to say this is a drug story instead of a gay story who's saying it and why and how do we evaluate that and why would that happen in America now and that story can be investigated and told um without the moral conclusion that you set out that you set out with if you're open-minded enough to tell the story that that that's actually happening I'm Janine Garo from all of us that in the Life thanks for watching and we'll see you next [Music] month