Here's a poignant look back, 25 years later, at the brutal murder of young Matthew Shepard just for being gay and how his assassination by two homophobes changed America's view on LGBT rights, widened the debate about the issue and then a hate crime legislation was signed in 2009.

Almost everything anything I needed to know about the Shepard case I got through the great HBO film "The Laramie Project" which had a stellar cast and it was a very special movie even though the story presented about the details of the crime and then afterwards with the WBC homophobic protests on his funeral makes for a harsh experience to be seen and I never went back to see anything related with, except reading on the internet.

I don't usually shy away from movies of any topic but for a little while I almost decided to not see it. But I got myself into it just to see what more could be added to Matthew's story and it was worth seeing it since it puts into a wider context of our current times and everything that happened, of good and bad, 25 years later after his killing.

And it turned out to be a really great, informative documentary.

For the generation that came after him or haven't heard about the murder in 1998, this is a really important and well-made TV special that presents a little about who was Matthew, as a son and as a friend, moves to the night of the attack and his death a couple of days later. It also covers the media frenzy in covering this murder in Wyoming and how people reacted to it, the whole commotion in showing that LGBT people matter and they don't have to be murdered just because of who they are and whom they love.

But a lot more than the violent act, it's also a story of hope for change, to address issues that weren't fully discussed before and how gay people fought for respect and visibilty, and when it comes to show Shepard's mom Judy creating the foundation on his name to take a legislation to congress against hate crime is that the film finds a great heart in how courageous she was and patient as well, since the bill was introduced in 1999 but only got passed in 2009, after a whole decade being tossed around, vetoed and shut down.

The final minutes is one of those things that you have to brace yourself for a while since it deals with the many challenges faced by the LGBT community after Matthew's death, with the countless political debates over gender discrimination, the local governments introduction of anti-gay legislations, and even hate crimes as well such as the massacre at Pulse nightclub.

It's hard watch, quite sad in many ways but one that is necessary to understand that the long good fight for equal rights isn't over yet, and there's plenty more to be done despite some good progresses that came in the past 25 years. And we came a long way after Matthew's death, we learned a lot, and it's fundamental that people out there hear his story even though as dark and sad as it is. 10/10

In Memoriam Matthew Shepard (1976-1998)