Watch: Matthew Shepard's Parents to Amy Coney Barrett: Don't Target LGBTQ Rights

Asked by MSNBC whether they were concerned that the Supreme Court would "take a hammer" to the rights and protections that LGBTQ citizens have gained in the past two decades, the parents of Matthew Shepard said that "there is certainly a fear" that is "justified" that once Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed to the bench, those gains will be sharply rolled back.

Interviewed the day before the 22nd anniversary of their son Matthew's death after being beaten and left in a Wyoming field, Judy and Dennis Shepard expressed deep concern for the civil rights and safety of LGBTQ Americans.

"If we have a court that is so set on not helping marginalized communities achieve equality, I think we're all in trouble," Judy Shepard said.

Judy Shepard also offered her advice to Amy Barrett Coney. "Parent to parent, mom to mom, I would say, 'Amy, if your child comes out as gay, I hope you understand that that's who they are. It's not their choice. It's nothing you did. It's just who they are.

"People are people," Judy Shepard added. "And I would hate to think that you would reject one of your children because they happen to be gay."

Dennis Shepard spoke to the way in which "the LGBTQ community has been living out in the public eye for years now, and people are starting to realize they're just ordinary boring people, too, just like the straight community."

Barrett – a Trump appointee to the federal bench – has raised concerns due to her membership in a charismatic Catholic faith community that demands its members to vow absolute loyalty to the group. Barrett also signed on to a 2015 letter addressed to Catholic "Synod Fathers" from "Catholic Women" that said, in part, that "marriage and family [are] founded on the indissoluble commitment of a man and a woman."

Current justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito did not wait for Barrett's confirmation before inviting a challenge to the Supreme Court's 2015 finding that gay and lesbian Americans have a right to marriage, just as their heterosexual compatriots do.

With Barrett almost certain to be confirmed, creating a conservative super-majority in the Supreme Court, Judy Shepard opined that, "There's certainly a fear, and it's justified, based on the Senate's hypocrisy," and added that "we should let the people decide" in the upcoming election who the president will be who nominates Ginsburg's replacement.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused in 2016 to allow any consideration of then-President Barack Obama's nominee to replace the late Antonin Scalia, saying that it was too close to the election – which was nine months away – and the winner of the 2016 election should name Scalia's successor.

But when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg died only six weeks before this year's election, McConnell vowed to press ahead in order to confirm President Trump's nominee in record time.

Judy Shepard took note of the fact that a solid majority of Americans favor full legal equality for LGBTQ people. "Do what they want to do, not what your previous thoughts were," she said. "It's a new world, so get with the program."

Watch the MSNBC news clip below.