MATTHEW SHEPARD Arthur Henderson, 21, (left) and Aaron James McKinney, 22, (right) are charged with first degree murder. Chasity Vera Pasley (above) and Kristen Leann Price (not pictured) face accessory after the fact of first-degree murder charges. Related coverage Shepard vigil held in RI EDITORIAL Wyoming's lesson about hate DERRICK JACKSON Homophobia's hardest hearts Calls to expand hate law stir doubt Wyo. killing unleashes other acts against gays Hub gays say Wyo. death hits home Death in Wyoming stirs Clinton plea Anti-gay bias confronted in Wyoming

CASPER, Wyo. - Matthew Shepard, the gay University of Wyoming student beaten and left to die on a split-rail fence, was remembered at his funeral Friday as someone who "struggled to fit into a world not always kind to gentle spirits.''

"Matt was a young man who met the world with eager expectation, who offered trust and friendship easily and lived honestly,'' said the Rev. Anne Kitch, Shepard's cousin from Peekskill, N.Y. "Matt trusted in the good of God's world.''

A wet autumn snow shrouded the 700 mourners as they filed into the brick St. Mark's Episcopal Church, where Shepard was baptized.

Shepard, 21, died Monday, five days after his skull was smashed with a pistol butt and he was lashed to a fence in near-freezing temperatures outside Laramie. Two 21-year-old men have been charged with murder.

Police said that robbery was the primary motive but that Shepard also was singled out because he was gay.

The slaying has put hate crimes legislation on top of the national and state political agenda.

Mourners sang "Amazing Grace,'' cried and wrapped their arms around each other. Shepard's family filled the front of the church. Shepard had been cremated, and his remains were in an urn on the altar.

"He was not always a winner according to the world's standards,'' Kitch said. "He struggled to fit into a world not always kind to gentle spirits. What was important to Matt was to care, to help to nurture, to bring joy to others in his quite, gentle way.''

The service also drew those who identified with Shepard, though they never met him.

"I feel that this could happen to me or this could happen to anyone,'' said Tim Townsend, 30, of Denver. "I'm gay myself and I've gone to bars, and it could have been me.''

In a park nearby, others stood in the snow and listened to the service on a radio.

Across the street from the church, more than a dozen anti-gay protesters waved signs with messages such as "God Hates Fags.'' Standing behind barricades, they shouted anti-gay slogans and engaged passers-by in loud and nasty debates.

"I came to spread some truth in this orgy of lies,'' said James Hockenbarger, who came from a Baptist church in Topeka, Kan., whose members regularly engage in anti-homosexual picketing at funerals.

One protester yelled: "Matthew was wicked!''

Some passers-by stopped to challenge the protesters.

"This isn't what Jesus Christ would do. This isn't what Christians do,'' said David Anderson of Casper.

Anticipating demonstrations, the City Council held an emergency meeting Thursday night and voted unanimously to prohibit protesting on public property within 50 feet of the service. The police presence was heavy outside the service, and bomb-sniffing dogs were used to make sure the church was safe.

Several hours before the service, Shepard's parents stood in a steady rain in front of City Hall to thank the public for its thousands of cards, letters and e-mails of support.

"Matthew was the type of person that if this would have happened to another person, he would have been first on the scene to offer his help, his hope and his heart to the family,'' said his father, Dennis Shepard.

He also asked the public to respect the family's privacy. "We should try to remember that because Matt's last few minutes of consciousness on Earth might have been hell, his family and friends want more than ever to say their farewells to him in a peaceful, dignified and loving manner,'' he said.

As he spoke, his wife, Judy, stood weeping behind him, one hand over her mouth.

Since the slaying, President Clinton has called on Congress to pass hate crime legislation covering offenses based on sexual orientation.

Clinton planned to send two representatives to the funeral: Togo West, the secretary of veterans affairs, and Sean Maloney, deputy staff secretary at the White House. Maloney is the highest ranking openly homosexual man on staff at the White House.