Today 11 major organizations representing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities announced their joint opposition to the death penalty. The issue came to the forefront in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities with the upcoming trial of those accused of beating Matthew Sheppard to death in Wyoming. The two men, Aaron James McKinney and Russell Arthur Henderson, both 21, were arrested and accused of his murder. On December 28, Prosecutor Cal Rerucha filed notices of intent to seek the death penalty against both men. As a community we must take every opportunity to speak out against violence, including capital punishment.
Mistakes happen and innocent people are sentenced to death.
In those circumstances where the sentence has been carried out, the mistake cannot be reversed. The death penalty is wrong in all cases. With this experience, we oppose the death penalty as a harsh and irreversible use of government power. We consider this a teachable moment. It has been repeatedly demonstrated that rather than deterring violence or curbing crime, the death penalty instead stands as a most extreme example of the race and class bias which pervades much of our society.