59. Poster boy: When is homophobia a hate crime?

Bad People

BBC

True Crime

4.4 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2022

⏱️ 36 minutes

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Summary

In 1998 Matthew Shepard, becomes the victim of radical homophobia in Wyoming. Two suspects, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson are almost immediately taken into custody and charged. The “gay panic” defense is used in court. But, does it work? Shepard becomes the poster boy for the horrific consequences of anti-gay hate, and his case helps to re-define hate crimes in the US. Celebrities get involved, marches are held, and a decade later, in 2009, the United States Congress passes the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. In this episode Sofie Hagen and Dr Julia Shaw discuss research on the seven shades of homophobia, what defines a hate crime, and explain the flawed logic behind the “gay panic” defense, also called the LGBTQ+ panic defense. Warning: This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence and homophobia, including homophobic slurs. CREDITS Presenters: Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen Producer: Caroline Steel Assistant Producer: Simona Rata Music: Matt Chandler Editor: Rami Tzabar Academic Consultants for The Open University: Lara Frumkin and James Munro #BadPeople_BBC Commissioning Assistant Producer: Adam Eland Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins Bad People is produced in partnership with The Open University and is a BBC Audio Science Production for BBC Sounds.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to tell you why I love podcasting.
0:04.5	I'm Sasha Johansson, I'm an Assistant Commissioner for the BBC and I work on making podcasts.
0:11.1	My real passion is discovering unbelievable on her stories and working with the biggest
0:16.9	stars who can really bring those stories to life.
0:20.1	I love the whole process of making podcasts from the spark of an idea to hearing the final
0:26.0	edit.
0:27.0	There's nothing like it.
0:28.0	What makes BBC podcast special is that we're working for you, so whatever we commission
0:32.6	has to reflect the things that you care about and love, wherever you are in the UK.
0:37.0	So if you like this BBC podcast, there's so much more to discover.
0:40.6	Have a listen on BBC Sounds.
0:42.6	Three, two, one.
0:46.1	Sophie, have you ever had queer phobic comments directed at you?
0:52.2	I mean, yes, not that much about me being queer as in bisexual, the pansexual, but I do
0:59.9	get quite a lot of transphobia due to me being non-binary and one of the ones I get the
1:06.1	most often are comments from people saying that I am sexist, that I'm a misogynist because
1:13.7	what they say is that I am not non-binary, I just hate women.
1:17.5	So when I quote unquote reject my womanhood, that is because I hate women, I hate being
1:26.8	a woman, and I'd rather be neutral or be a man, which is something that is so odd to
1:34.2	be told because my instinct is to always dive into it, right, and be like, is there any
1:39.1	truth to this?
1:40.1	Like, is this just internalized misogyny?
	...

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