WATCH: Right-Wing Leader: Shepard Murder Not a Hate Crime

Speaking at the Values Voter Summit, Sandy Rios contends that LGBT activists and the media created a myth around Matthew Shepard's death.

Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.

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Trudy Ring

October 12 2013 2:01 PM EST

November 17 2015 5:28 AM EST

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Antigay activist Sandy Rios Friday joined the chorus of those claiming Matthew Shepard's murder was not a hate-motivated crime, saying LGBT leaders and the media have built a "fairy tale" around it.

At the Values Voter Summit, a gathering of right-wing activists being held in Washington, D.C., Rios said Shepard's 1998 murder was motivated by a drug deal gone bad and that the killers had had sex with him.

"The story was that they murdered him because he was gay, and he became a martyr for the gay movement," Rios said. "In fact, the hate-crimes bill was passed with his name attached to it. ... "Except, wait a second, it wasn't true."

She cited a new book covered by The Advocate,The Book of Matt by Stephen Jimenez, that claims Shepard was a drug user and dealer and that he had been involved sexually with one of his killers, Aaron McKinney. (For a different take on these assertions, see Advocate staffer Neal Broverman's commentary.)

Rios, a radio host and a Fox News contributor, also decried society's acceptance of LGBT people in general and the characterization of certain antigay organizations as hate groups. These include some of the summit's sponsors, such as the American Family Association and the Family Research Council. Watch her remarks on Shepard below.