They marched to the sound of drumbeats, chanting and holding their hands high in the air as a sign of unity. Then they heard Judy Shepard speak about losing her son to a violent hate crime.

Some participants held signs reading "Another voice for peace" and "War is not a long-term solution." Others carried rainbow flags.

This weekend's "Freedom: Now More than Ever" rally and conference was organized to raise awareness of domestic terrorism.

Several hundred participants marched from the HUB-Robeson Center along Shortlidge Road and College Avenue. The roads were closed to vehicles during the march. The procession continued to the Allen Street Gates and ended at Old Main, where Shepard, the mother of Matthew Shepard, a gay man who was murdered in 1998, took the podium.

"He was my reminder of how good life was and how hurtful it could be," Shepard said after describing her son as "loving, vibrant and kind."

After being attacked, her son was in a coma. She wondered what would drive someone to hurt another person in such a manner.

"How could anyone feel so threatened by this sweet young man?" she said.

Shepard cautioned the group not to ignore hate crimes.

"What happens when hate goes unchecked is -- as I said before -- what happened to Matthew," Shepard said. "Silence is your permission for it to continue."

Though event organizers expected several other nationally known speakers, the only other speaker who attended was Mauri Saalakhan, director of operations for the Peace and Justice Foundation. Several student speakers took the opportunity to address the crowd.

Jennifer Storm, coordinator of the Statewide Pennsylvania Rights Coalition and former political co-director of Penn State's Lambda Student Alliance, spoke about the need for groups to fight domestic terrorism for all victims, rather than a specific group of victims.

"Hate does not discriminate, so why do we?" Storm said.

She spoke about a proposed amendment to the Ethnic Intimidation Act, which currently does not protect victims of hate crimes perpetrated against people for their sexual orientation, gender or gender identity. The proposed amendment would include hate crimes against these issues. Storm said only four states currently have inclusion policies for all hate crimes.

"It's got to be about true equality for all people," Storm said.

Jillian Poznick (freshman-division of undergraduate studies) participated in the march. She said she thought the rally could inspire students to become more active in the fight against terror.

"It's just a matter of getting everyone involved," Poznick said.