Promoting tolerance of gays in Russia

NEW YORK - The parents of Matthew Shepard, the gay Wyoming college student tortured and murdered in 1998, are traveling to Russia on Friday to spread their message of tolerance and acceptance in a country where antigay policies and attitudes are widespread.

The centerpiece of their five-day trip is a gay film festival in St. Petersburg at which the documentary film Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine will be shown and discussed. The film's director, Michele Josue, a high school classmate and close friend of Matthew's, will be accompanying the Shepards on the trip.

The Shepards also will visit Moscow, and are hoping to meet with Russian parents who have gay or lesbian children.

"This is about families loving their kids, no matter who they are," Judy Shepard said Thursday. "If families would recognize that, everyone else would recognize it."

The Shepards said they have been briefed about current conditions in Russia, where gay activists often have been attacked or harassed in recent years and where a 2013 law outlawing the dissemination of "gay propaganda" to minors is widely viewed as a warning signal to the gay-rights movement.

Josue and the Shepards said they have been cautioned that disruptions could occur at the film festival, and that the authorities might be monitoring those in attendance.

The Side by Side film festival has been an annual event in St. Petersburg since 2008, when it was held in secrecy after the planned venues were ordered closed. The featured films last year included Milk, the story of pioneering American gay politician Harvey Milk.

Matthew Shepard, at the time of his murder, was a 21-year-old student at the University of Wyoming. His death became a rallying cry for the U.S. gay-rights movement and was a factor in the passage of federal hate-crimes legislation in 2009.

His parents formed a foundation named after their son to promote acceptance and civil rights protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.