"If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them." Leviticus 20:13

Did you hear about the fag in Wyoming? Matthew Shepard was lured from a cam

pus bar by two men who told him they were gay. They tied him to a post and beat his head in. He died in the hospital after doctors decided that his skull was so fractured that surgery was not an option. Public reaction reminds me of a scene in the film Heathers.

Two jocks (Kurt and Ram) are killed but their deaths are made to look like a double suicide. A fake note and a bottle of mineral water is placed by their dead bodies saying: 'We realised we could never reveal our forbidden love to an uncaring and ununderstanding world.'

At the funeral, the father of one of the boys places a football into the coffin and says 'I don't care that you really were some pansy, My son's a homosexual and I love him. I love my dead gay son. Christian Slater, their killer, sitting in the audience whispers to Wynona Ryder, 'How do you think he'd react to a son that had a limp wrist and a pulse?' How would you react to a healthy, living Matthew Shepard holding hands, smiling with his boyfriend and demanding equality?

The Globe and Mail reports that in Toronto, more than 30 gay-bashing incidents have been reported to the 519 Church St. Community Centre's assault line from July to September. Two of them narrowly escaped death: one was stabbed, the other beaten with a baseball bat. A beaten and pistol-whipped gay man lying

in the cold, his head cracked open lashed to a fence post is the end result of a society that doesn't speak up against homophobia.

American President Bill Clinton this week called for passage of new hate-crimes legislation in his country. This would increase the jail time for anyone convicted of crimes motivated by hatted of a particular group (ie., people of colour, women, homosexuals). But spending more, time locked up with other criminals will not help teach compassion and tolerance nor will its threat deter bashing. Its just bullshit band-aid legislation for politicians afraid of laws that lead to real change and real equality.

What about same-sex marriage or adoption rights?

Like the gun they used to break his head open, the two men that killed Matthew were simply tools of a much darker force. Have a closer look and Matthew's real killer comes into focus.

The killer looks like the father of one of the accused. While admitting there was no excuse for the violence that had taken place, he said that Matthew had 'pushed himself onto him (his son) and that he had embarrassed him and Russ in front of all their friends and everybody at the Fireside.' He also said, 'Had this been a heterosexual these two boys decided to take out and rob, this never would have made the national news. Now my son is guilty before he's even had a trial.'

Or the killer looks like the students at Shepard's school. While Matthew, lay dying in the hospital, down the street at a homecoming parade a float, sponsored by, a fraternity and a sorority, carried a scarecrow with the message 'I'm gay' spray-painted on the face and 'Up my ass' painted on the back of the shirt. Because the badly beaten Shepard had been tethered to a fence, the bicyclists who found him said at first they mistook him for a scarecrow.

Sometimes the killer looks like political lobbying organizations that disguise themselves as Christians. Matthew's murder follows a campaign by an evangelical organization called Exodus International and other 'ex-gay' ministries that claim to be able to 'cure' homosexuality through a "reparative therapy" that includes conversion to their own particular brand of Christianity.

They've taken full page ads in large American newspapers and were featured on the cover of Newsweek (the two men who founded Exodus have since left the organization-they fell in love with each other). Many queer groups in the US have blamed Matthew's murder on the climate of intolerance created by these ads. Focus on the Family leader James Dobson responded to these accusations last week. "Just as Hillary Clinton's 'vast right-wing conspiracy' theory regarding her husband's dalliances were fantasy, so too is the idea that the Biblical standard on homosexuality leads to murder.'

At times the killer even looks like our planets most influential high priest, Pope John Paul II. He calls homosexuality an 'intrinsic moral evil.' Would that make Shepard's killers eligible for sainthood?

If you've ever said anything homophobic or sat quietly while someone else did, then you and I will need some strong antiseptic to remove Matthews blood from our hands.