It's hard to believe that a full decade has passed since Matthew Shepard became, in death, a symbol for gay rights and the terrible persecution gay men and women still face in all parts of the world.

It was on October 7th, 1998 that Shepard met two men at a bar near Laramie, Wyoming, was offered a ride home, and wound up strapped to a fence, pistol-whipped and tortured so badly as to be put into a coma. He was found 18 hours later by a cyclist, who thought the young man's limp body was a scarecrow.

He was rushed to a hospital, where he remained in intensive care until he died, at 12:53 a.m. on October 12th. He was 21.

We've come a long way since then, but hate still exists, and Matthew Shepard remains a powerful reminder of the need to remain ever-vigilant in the fight against it.

This effective and affecting tribute to Shepard does more to commemorate the young man and his untimely, unfair death than I can.