Thirteen years ago tonight, on October 6, 1998, Matthew Shepard was brutally attacked and left to die, simply because he was gay. He was found almost a full day later tied to a fence, and died in the hospital on October 12. When he was found, the only parts of his face that were not covered in blood were the small streaks where his tears had fallen. Since that day, Matthew has become a symbol for the hate and discrimination against the LGBTQ community. We have come so far in those thirteen years, but we still have a long way to go.