President Joe Biden acknowledged the 25th anniversary of Matthew Shepard's death, a tragic hate crime that has fueled the LGBTQ+ rights movement since 1998. The Shepard family and activists have worked tirelessly to ensure that Matthew's death was not in vain, and Biden condemned the recent uptick in anti-LGBTQ threats and acts of violence. Progress has been made since 1998, such as the scrapping of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy and the striking down of a Texas law criminalizing consensual gay sex.