Who was Mathew Shepard?

Mathew Shepard was a gay student at University of Whyoming. He was born 12/1/76 and was totured Oct. 6-7 and died of his injuries 10/12/98. Because the crime was hate based it brought nationall attention to the plight of the LGBT community often targeted specifically because they are of the LGBT community. On October 22, 2009, the United States Congress passed the Mathew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. (Mathew Shepard Act for short)