(CNN) Mourners gathered Thursday night in Washington's Dupont Circle to remember the gay college student whose murder changed the way we think about hate crimes, and call attention to the battles that remain.

It's been 20 years since Matthew Shepard was robbed, pistol-whipped and tied to a fence by two men he met in a bar in Laramie, Wyoming. He was left in the freezing cold overnight, and a cyclist who thought he was a scarecrow discovered him. He later died in a hospital.

Shepard's ashes will be interred Friday at the Washington National Cathedral -- the only place where his parents felt they would be safe from desecration.

His death galvanized the LGBTQ civil rights movement, leading to the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, also named for a black man who was killed by three white supremacists in Texas.

Speakers at Thursday's candlelight vigil told those in attendance that the fight continues for equal rights and treatment for the LGBTQ community, especially transgender and gender-nonconforming people.

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