An episode of ABC’s newsmagazine “20/20” scheduled to air Nov. 26 contains allegations that Matthew Shepard was acquainted with at least one of his attackers before the night of his murder, that he used crystal methamphetamine and that he was HIV-positive.

The hour-long feature also claims that Aaron McKinney, who is currently serving two life sentences for the October 1998 beating death of gay college student Shepard, is bisexual and that his motivation for the murder was robbery and a rage fueled by crystal meth, not anti-gay bias.

The program marks the first time that McKinney and Russell Henderson, also convicted of the murder and serving a double life sentence, spoke to the media about the crime since their convictions.

“We are always interested in following up our own reporting if we feel there are new facts that come to light. That is the definition of responsible journalism,” said Jeffrey Schneider, vice president of media relations for ABC News.

Joan M. Garry, executive director of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, criticized the report and questioned its credibility.

“It’s not tough to illustrate that the piece is journalistically unsound and the argument I would make here, is that you don’t have credible sources,” she said. “There are key people missing; there are key facts missing.”

In the “20/20” report, Thomas “Doc” O’Connor, a limo driver who claimed to be a friend of Shepard’s and McKinney’s, said that McKinney and Shepard met before the night of the murder and partied together in his limo.

A woman only identified as “Jean,” a bartender in Laramie, Wyo., where Shepard was killed, also claims that Shepard and McKinney were acquainted.

Ryan Bopp, a friend of McKinney’s who said he was heavily involved in crystal meth in Laramie, claims during the show that McKinney and Shepard were often at the same parties where crystal meth was being used.

But McKinney tells “20/20” co-anchor Elizabeth Vargas, who hosts the program, that he had not met Shepard before the night of the murder.

Tina LaBrie, a friend of Shepard’s, said that he was increasingly anxious and depressed in the months before his death and that he once told her that he always gets “drawn back into” drugs.

Judy Shepard, Matthew’s mother who has become an outspoken gay civil rights activist in the wake of her son’s death, is also featured in the program.

“He was a young man with issues ... He was not a perfect child,” she said. “He was just a young, 21-year-old college student who happened to be gay.”

Judy and Dennis Shepard, Matthew’s father, could not be reached for comment.

O’Connor, the limo driver, also said that Shepard told him that he was HIV positive. The issue of Shepard’s HIV status is not explored further in the show.

O’Connor, who once rented an apartment to McKinney and Kristen Price, McKinney’s girlfriend and mother of his child, said that he once had sex with McKinney and another woman. But McKinney asserts that he never had any sexual contact with another man.

Price said that, in retrospect, she thinks McKinney might have been bisexual, and that he often asked her to have sex with him and another man, though she told ABC she never did.

McKinney does say that his actions on the night of the beating had nothing to do with Shepard’s sexual orientation, and he said that he sees nothing wrong with homosexuality.

In a taped confession he gave after the attack, McKinney called Shepard a “queer” and a “fag.” Prosecution witnesses testified that McKinney and Henderson pretended to be gay to lure Shepard out of the bar.

During his trial — where he was convicted of felony murder, kidnapping and aggravated robbery, but acquitted of pre-meditated first-degree murder — McKinney’s lawyers tried to use a “gay panic” defense by claiming that McKinney flew into a rage after being hit on by Shepard.

In the “20/20” interview, McKinney said that he and his lawyers concocted the “gay panic” strategy, and that it was not true.

Dion Custis, McKinney’s attorney during the trial, did not respond to interview requests by press time.

Henderson is the only person who seems to show remorse in the program. He apologizes to the Shepard family and then adds, “I’m sorry to the nation, because I know this affects a lot of people.”