ANY HYPED “HATE CRIME” IS NOW PRESUMPTIVELY FALSE: What If the Most Notorious Murder of a Gay Man Wasn’t a Hate Crime? “Was the story we heard true? And what would it mean if Matthew Shepard wasn’t murdered for being gay, but rather for something more common—though equally as tragic? And why, when some investigative journalists discovered a more complicated truth, did so many people refuse to believe it? . . . A cynic might note that a great deal of money has been invested in the Matthew Shepard story. And, as it turns out, the truth of the Shepard murder is indeed more complicated—and less politically palatable—than a story about a gay boy beaten to death by a couple of homophobic thugs.”

The cynics aren’t always right. But that’s the way to bet.