Matthew Shepard is the tip of the iceberg. This young gay man, brutally murdered a few weeks ago, has been the fodder for a public relations frenzy. For the uninitiated, Shepard brings a jolting wake-up call to the unflinching reality of a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered person's existence. For members of the queer community, it's just Tuesday.

Queers face the violence-and-discrimination limelight every day. Every time they talk about their weekend, family issues, religion and a million other things, they make a decision about how vulnerable, how out they want to be. Casually mentioning the details of a weekend date with a same-sex partner can elicit acceptance, icy ignorance, sexual harassment or in some cases, physical violence and/or death.

Talking about your day should not be a punishable offense. The First Amendment, if not our common sense, tells us that. Despite religious differences of opinion, many anti-queer attitudes are merely the product of our culture's ideology. Thus, transmission and replication of the homophobic element in our cultural values - the socialization process by which we all learn about our society - can be changed.

Homophobia often develops simply from a lack of queers willing to being out (and justifiably so) in their everyday. With real, positive images of queers in the media and--even better--in the everyday lives of us all, the public (and private) perception of queers could begin ringing true.

Working toward that goal is a Palo Alto based group called Artemis Volunteers. Artemis, comprised primarily of lesbians (with a few heterosexuals for good measure - anyone can join), has a goal of achieving positive lesbian visibility by providing help to the community. Some organizations Artemis has worked with include Habitat for Humanity, Walk for AIDS, Wildlands Restoration Team, and several local food banks.

Artemis Volunteers founder, Karen Wecker, says she had always wanted to do volunteer work but ''shyness had always won over my desire to participate.'' She later led a successful recycling team at her work that let her see ''the synergy that's achieved by having a group of people working towards a common goal.''

Wecker came up with the idea for Artemis after a friend told her about Meeting for Good, a heterosexual dating and community service organization. ''It dawned on me that the lesbian community already had many organized groups that could easily reach people.'' Even though Wecker's main focus was ''organizing people to do community service, by its nature [Artemis would] have the added benefits of building a positive lesbian image, and would also have a social aspect to it,'' Wecker said.

Artemis primarily focuses on humanitarian and environmental projects in the general Bay Area. ''We try to do a variety of projects so that we will hit upon different interests,'' said Wecker, although Artemis ''avoids projects that are overtly political.''

Wecker has been encouraged by the response that Artemis has received in the community, ''all of which has been positive,'' she added. Also, many project hosts ''have expressed a willingness to have us return in the future,'' Wecker said.

Artemis is often part of a larger team effort for the community, which means ''we often work side by side with other organizations, often religious ones.'' Wecker ''hopes our presence at least shows them that we are not only the decadent people shown on 'pride parades'...we are a diverse group of people with different racial and socioeconomic groups. We are, in fact, members of their community,'' Wecker said.

Could Matthew Shepard's death have been avoided? Suppose the boys who murdered Matthew had grown up in a Wyoming where their teacher was transgendered, the Prom King was gay and their sister was a lesbian. These boys wouldn't have thought twice about torturing a young gay man to death; they wouldn't have thought of it at all.

''Changing people's perception of one another is difficult, but I feel it can often happen...[and]...I personally have to say yes, I believe Artemis is creating a positive lesbian presence in local communities,'' said Wecker.

When people work together, it can change them from strangers to neighbors, which ''brings a sense of connection to the many communities of which I am a part,'' said Wecker. This ''helps overcome the sense of helplessness that comes when looking at the overwhelming problems in our society and environment,'' she said, concluding ''my actions may not save the world, but at least I know I'm doing my part to make things better.''