Twenty-five years have passed since gay 21-year-old college student Matthew Shepard died after being beaten and tied to a remote fence.

It has been 25 years since the body of Matthew Shepard was discovered in Laramie, Wyoming.

A U.S. senator is apologizing after getting booed and heckled for remarks she made on sexual identity during a university graduation speech.

South Carolina remains one of only two states without a hate crimes law, and proponents worry that efforts in the Legislature are stalling to increase penalties for crimes committed against minorities and others victimized by prejudice.

A federal lawsuit alleges a high-ranking white sheriff's deputy in Wyoming subjected a Black subordinate to years of racist name-calling and torment and finally “sham” discipline that led him to quit.

A coalition of civil rights groups releasing a report on hate crime laws says the protections against bias-motivated violence are inconsistent and lack uniformity nationally.

President Joe Biden is celebrating Pride Month at the White House, a reflection of the growing stature of the LGBTQ community at the highest level of government.

Albany County Sheriff Aaron Appelhans stands in the county courthouse in Laramie, Wyo. Appelhans took office in January as Wyoming's as the state's first Black sheriff. – As a student at the Wyoming Law Enforcement Academy, Aaron Appelhans used to look at the photos of past graduating classes hanging on the wall. A decade later, Appelhans was appointed Wyoming's first Black sheriff, a post he took months after fury over racist policing roiled U.S. cities. But considering people of color for top law enforcement jobs remains the exception rather than standard practice, said Latham with the Wyoming NAACP.

(Democratic National Convention via AP)NEW YORK An unexpected travelogue connected as a television event during the second night of the Democrats' virtual convention, livening up a show that so far is struggling in the ratings. Four years ago, opening night drew just under 26 million viewers. NBC's telecast drew 2.28 million viewers, down from 4.29 million four years ago, Nielsen said. The left-leaning MSNBC, where Rachel Maddow, Joy Reid and Nicolle Wallace were anchors, led the way Monday with 5.1 million viewers, up from four years ago. Fox News Channel's audience was unimpressed; the 2.1 million viewers it reached for its hour of convention coverage compared poorly with the 3.4 million viewers that time slot occupant Laura Ingraham had on an average July day.

1998: Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, dies at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, five days after he was beaten, robbed and left tied to a wooden fence post outside of Laramie, Wyoming. Police arrested Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson shortly after the attack, finding a bloody gun and Shepard's shoes and wallet in their truck. The two would eventually each be sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. Shepard's murder brought national and international attention to the contention of hate crime legislation at the state and federal levels. Pictured here is Shepard's mother, Judy Shepard, executive director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, standing next to a photograph of the fence where her son was murdered, during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on April 12, 2007, to announce the renaming of hate crime legislation in Matthew Shepard's honor.

1998: Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, is found tied to a fence near Laramie, Wyoming. He was in a coma after being robbed, pistol-whipped and tortured the night before and would die five days later at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado. Police arrested Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson shortly after the attack, finding a bloody gun and Shepard's shoes and wallet in their truck. The two would eventually each be sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. Shepard's murder brought national and international attention to the contention of hate crime legislation at the state and federal levels.