The Washington Blade has learned Judy Shepard will testify in support of a bill that would ban the so-called LGBTQ panic defense in Virginia.
The measure — House Bill 2132 that state Del. Danica Roem (D-Manassas) introduced — will go before a House of Delegates subcommittee on Wednesday.
Shepard’s son, Matthew, died on Oct. 12, 1998, after two men brutally beat him and left him tied to a fence outside of Laramie, Wyo.
One of the men convicted of murdering Matthew Shepard claimed he became after he made a sexual advance towards him. Eleven states and D.C.