I can tell you first hand living in Miami during the cocaine cowboy era, there were plenty of brutal murders then and now that WERE NOT because the idiots were gay. Far from it!
Mathew Shepherd was in with the wrong people at the wrong time.
A friend of mine, Gary Northrop, yes THAT Northrop family was brutally murdered. His head was caved in by an unspeakable beating with his own tools while in his garage. Gay had a bit of an addiction to cocaine. Seems he may have made a bad drug deal. Sound familiar? No, he wasn’t gay, but the folks he owed money too couldn’t have cared less.
Gary was made an example of to many of the young wealthy people in the area that you don’t mess with the local mafioso dealers.
Gay = Gary
RIP old friend.