Judy Shepard event cancelled due to weather

An event tonight on campus featuring GLBT rights activist Judy Shepard has been cancelled due to a snow storm in Wyoming, Shepard's home.

Matt Hutchison, volunteer coordinator at GLBT Student Support Services, said the office was just notified this morning about the severe weather and cancellation. He added that her talk will hopefully be rescheduled for the fall.

Shepard, a champion of hate-crime legislation, was supposed to speak to the IU community tonight in the Whittenberger Auditorium at the Indiana Memorial Union.

Matthew Shepard, Judy's son, was beaten to death in 1998 in Laramie, Wyo., on account of his sexuality. The hate crime garnered national attention and has since led to the Matthew Shepard Act of 2009, which expanded federal hate crime law to include crimes motivated by actual or perceived gender or sexual identity. 

- Matthew Glowicki