post, Justin Gillis and Patrick Gaines report: 'while the brutality of the Shepard murder has plainly shocked people, it was hardly unique. In recent years, a man in San Diego, Texas, was stabbed 90 times; a man was knifed 20 times at a hotel in Connecticut; and a man in Ulster County, New York, was stabbed and bludgeoned to death, then left for his parents to discover under the tree on Christmas morning." (2) The killings frequently involved torture, cutting, mutilation, and beating, and showed a longing intent to make the person completely disappear from our world because of their sexual preference. This was clearly the intent of the killers of Matthew Shepard. The loss here is a great one, young, talented, smart individuals are losing their chance to live because of a disgusting and blind hatred. Mothers and fathers wake up in the morning and each day they deal with the fact that a child is gone, siblings, friends, relatives, and even just people in their homes mourn the loss of the victim. It is not just homosexuals who lose their lives to hate but also many others. An excerpt from the village voice: "The hatred of others I know best from experience is anti-Semitism. When I was growing up in Boston, it was foolhardy for a Jewish kid to be on the streets of our ghetto after dark. Jew bashing was an ever-popular sport among some Irish teenagers, who came calling whenever they felt an overwhelming urge to teach unforgettable lessons to Christ killers. The worst I got was a split lip one night. But a friend on the next street had a pickax embedded in his skull. From that point on he did not know who or what he w
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