Silence 'deafening' over murder by homosexual

Allie Martin and Jody Brown - OneNewsNow - 12/2/2008 8:00:00 AM

A pro-family activist is questioning why there is no outrage over the murder of a college student by a homosexual.

On November 21, William Smithson, 43, of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to life in prison for the September 2006 strangulation murder of 23-year-old Jason Shephard. Smithson, a homosexual, murdered Shephard after slipping him GHB, a date rape drug, then hid the body in the basement of his home.

Diane Gramley, president of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania, says it is ironic that homosexuals used the murder ten years ago of Matthew Shepherd to push for hate crimes laws -- yet remain largely silent about the murder of Jason Shephard.

"[It's] a true double standard, because Jason Shephard's murder has been under the radar screen -- and basically, unless you're in Pennsylvania monitoring this kind of stuff, you don't hear about it," says Gramley. "But Matthew Shepherd? Everyone in the country knows who Matthew Shepherd is."

Gramley points out homosexual activists claim Matthew Shepherd was targeted because he was homosexual. But ABC News later revealed that Matthew Shepherd was the victim of a botched robbery -- a finding the media has largely ignored.

The Pennsylvania activist wonders where the outrage is from homosexuals over the 2006 murder. In a press release, she describes the silence from that community as "deafening."

"The murders of both Matthew Shepherd and Jason Shephard were tragic, but one murder is being used by homosexual activists to push their agenda of special rights," she states. "Murder is murder and increased penalties for attacking a specially protected group listed in a hate crimes law is a waste of everyone's time and resources. Such a law creates unequal protection under the law."

She cites two other murders committed by homosexual men that met with relative silence in the homosexual community -- the murder of 13-year-old Jesse Dirkhising in Arkansas in 1999, and the 2002 murder of Mary Stachowicz in Chicago.