Remembering Matthew Shepard: Violence, Identity, and Queer Counterpublic Memories

Abstract

More than ten years after his death, Matthew Shepard is still remembered prominently in LGBT discourse. This discourse has been used to defy heteronormative characterizations of violence, confirm gay and lesbian identity, and to "queer" rigid notions of community. Tracing Shepard's memory through three contested memory frames, I argue for an expanded perspective of queer counterpublic memories and the strategic use of public memories by counterpublics.

Critical Engagement through Public Sphere Scholarship

“…yet again centering itself and whitewashing the diversity of the actually existing community." 29 These advocates shared in the collective anguish over Shepard's murder, but they called for more diverse representational practices.…”

Memories of Movement in a Postfeminist Context: Conservative Fusion in the Rhetoric of Tammy Bruce and “Dr. Laura” Schlessinger

“…to convince them that an intolerable situation exists and that it warrants urgent action'' (p. 302). Memory also permits social movement members or vernacular communities to write their own history, often against institutionalized histories that may reinforce oppression (see Dunn, 2010).…”

The Gulabi Gang, Violence, and the Articulation of Counterpublicity

“…Fraser questioned the emphasis on rational decision making and asserted that the public sphere could not account for how subordinated groups, such as women, invented and circulated alternative identities (Fraser, ). Counterpublicity has been a popular approach for scholars interested in questioning the patriarchal, heteronormative dimensions of not only the public sphere as a theory but also the political and social ebbs and flows it reflects (see Chávez, ; Dunn, ; Matar, ; Squires, ). Similarly, scholars such as Gerard Hauser () have drawn attention to vernacular voices within public spheres to extend the democratic project further into the rhetorical process of world making.…”