In 1998, college student Matthew Shepherd was taken from a bar and beaten nearly to death and hung on a fence in the freezing cold.  He remained in critical condition in the hospital for several days until he died. 

Four youth, ages 18-22 were charged with first-degree murder.

15-year-old Lawrence King was murdered at school on February 12, 2008. On that morning, Lawrence was in the school’s computer lab with 24 other students. Classmate Brandon McInerney walked into the room with a gun and shot Lawrence in the head, then ran from the building. Police officers caught him a few blocks away.

Friends say the reason was his sexual orientation and gender expression. The victim had said publicly that he was gay, classmates said, enduring harassment from a group of schoolmates, including the 14-year-old boy charged in his death.