Beth Loffreda, author of “Losing Matt Shepard,” accentuates the bewilderment that raged through America following the death of Matt Shepard. Matthew Shepard was a twenty-one year old, University of Laramie student in Wyoming when his life was ripped from him. Shepard, described as a small barely over a hundred pound young man, “In dramatic and widely reported testimony, Fluty [ the biker who found Shepard] would later state that at first she thought Matt would have been no older than thirteen, he was so small( Matt was only five feet two inches, barely over one hundred pounds),” ( Loffreda 371) was out alone on a Tuesday night when he picked up Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson. The two men led him to their car and drove to the edge of …show more content…
Loffreda follows the reaction of the media and people in the community as they pounced at the scene, gathering any information possible. America was for the first time mourning and acknowledging together the death someone who was homosexual. In a way, everyone needed to know what happened; they were desperate to understand the savageness of the crime. Wyoming had become a civil rights ground, it didn’t matter that the case wasn’t labeled as a hate crime, thousands wanted their rights and pain heard; Matt Shepard’s case just happened to be the stepping stone. It is said that something as small as a flutter of a butterfly 's wing can cause a tsunami half across the world; much like the butterflies wing human bitterness can cause the same destruction. Our hatred and selfishness for one another threatens to destroy our fundamental morals and dignity. For centuries discrimination and abuse due to ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation wrecked our world as dehumanizing crimes, later classified as hate crimes, increased. Although, as our central government solidified and bills were introduced to control such acts our views were further …show more content…
Loffreda quotes Walt Bolden, a friend of Matt, who refused to lose a friend in vein and called upon legislature’s to consider the threat that now seemed so apparent: “Boulden [...] legislature’s failure to pass a hate crimes bill: he told reporters that “they said nothing like that happens in Wyoming because someone is gay, but we’ve always known someone would have to get killed or beaten before they finally listened. I just can’t believe it happened to someone I care about.’” (371) The problem with society isn’t the overwhelming number of loathe toward one another, but the lack of consideration and empathy. Loffreda’s essay not only draws awareness to the LGBT community, but also emphasizes the amount of support they are gaining. Everdeen Mason, author of “The dramatic rise in state efforts to limit LGBT rights,” draws to light that although the LGBT community have gained support they are still facing discrimination, “ While the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community has become more visible [...] state lawmakers have increased attempts to pass legislation that could restrict civil rights for LGBT people. Since 2013, legislatures have introduced 254 bills, 20 of which became law.” From same-sex marriage to the bathroom bill the LGBT community fought, and continue to fight, to achieve equality. Equaity, a
In his article ‘Movements before Stonewall need to be remembered, too’, Adam Dupuis discusses the fact that while the Stonewall Uprising was an important event in LGBT history, the events before it should not be dismissed as lesser. The author emphasizes the Annual Reminders, seminal protests which took place in Philadelphia every Fourth of July from 1965 to 1969. Not only were the Annual Reminders the first sustained LGBT demonstrations, but they were the first gay rights protests to have members from multiple cities, with forty activists from Washington, D.C., New York, and Pennsylvania participating. However, these events were discontinued upon the occurrence of the Stonewall Riot in 1969, when the organizers of the Reminders made the decision
There are several perspectives shared from gay and straight people. The book describes how isolated gay people can feel, but how different organizations are helping to connect some of these people. The middle of the book also describes the trial of Russel Henderson. Outside the Albandy County Courthouse Fred Phelps was leading an anti-gay demonstration. Blocking Phelps and his supporters from view were a dozen people dressed as angels.
The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman depicts the story of Matthew Shepard's murder, and the struggle to overcome hatred versus homosexuals in a town where it was common practice, encouraged, and then eventually overcame. The people of Laramie had forever lived by the simple rule of “live and let live.” While common and seeming harmless, this simple rule led
The fact that hate crime is deemed a major problem for a nation makes the Mathew Sheppard and James Byrd act to be implemented at all levels. This act is implemented at the local, state and federal level within a nation. This because the federal. Local, federal and state authorities join forces during investigations and prosecution of these hate crimes to protect the entire nation from violence evolving due to hate among people. Therefore, to mitigate expansion of hate crimes in the nation all authorities are given the power by Mathew Sheppard’s act to prevent hate crimes and prosecuting
Loffreda's essay title "Losing Matt Shepard" itself speaks great volumes. Her emphasis on "Losing" perhaps shows us a great amount of sorrow felt in the "loss" of Matt. Furthermore, in regard to her emphasis on "losing" she quite clearly shows us how we are losing to value life, which is why these hate crimes occur. Matt had not done any crime, his only crime was being gay. A crime which itself isn't even a crime.
Hommosexuaity was a concept that was well knwon throughout the country yet no one spoke of it because of the ideas that had been formed towards it. But in the 1960s those who identified as gay or lesbian were so inspired by all the civil rights movements happening around them that they also decided to stand up for their cause. Homosexuals were far more free in the late 1900s than they were at anytime of their lives but that didn’t stop the hate crimes that came their way even from police. An infamous night on June 27, 1969 was when police officers that belonged to a village in New York city raided a gay nightclub arresting people whom they believed were regulars, but these kinds of raids were far from unusual, because if police got a wiff
LGBTQ activists can utilize numerous approaches for achieving civil rights, and most fall under one of two categories: single-issue approach and intersectional activism. Every political organization, whether it is Lamda Legal or allgo, is associated with either the classic mainstream gay rights movement or the modern workings of queer liberation. While both forms of political activism are somewhat similar regarding their goals and focus on LGBTQ issues, they are actually incredibly different from one another. The overall focus, the method used to promote equality, and the consequences of each all differ greatly depending on whether a group uses the single-issue approach or the intersectional approach. Often associated with the mainstream gay
The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in the United States has been fighting for acceptance, as well as for the social,
Hate crimes are crimes that are typically provoked by certain individuals who are biased against others race, religion or sexual orientation. These incidents are usually committed with a great deal of violence such as physical assault, property damage and bullying. Although many strategies of how to prevent such crimes from occurring have developed, not much has been completed to test these theories. Hate crimes are frequently caused by a mixture of emotions that are extremely complicated to identify. However, according to the National Crime Prevention Council many of those who partake in such crimes are those who lack self-respect for themselves and find a need to put other individuals down in order to balance their feelings.
Charles Colson argues, in his essay “Gay Marriage: Societal Suicide”, that the legalization of Gay Marriage would break the traditional institution of marriage and lead to an increase in crime. Though, the way Charles Colson structures his argument is ineffective and does nothing to advance his crusade. First, Charles argues that the imposition of gay marriage would, essentially be, an act of “judicial tyranny”, and that it be an overreach of American jurisprudence. However, this is an historically inaccurate argument, because not only American jurisprudence has always been accused of overstepping its boundaries, but by crossing these boundaries that it’s critics say it has, allows for social progress to be advanced in America. It was the
Therefore, mankind’s passage through time seems to progress backwards from innovation and compassion when it comes to crimes of hatred, bias and prejudice. In fact, the sheer number of hate crimes that victims still continue to experience today demonstrates society’s obstinate intolerance against religion, race, origin or colour, and sexual orientation. The deliberate act of partaking in bias-motivated
Hate crimes are a consistent problem in the growth of our society. These are crimes that happen because of a certain hatred toward a specific group of people. Continuing prejudice and violence are two important reasons which make hate crimes are such a big problem. Since the United States has become increasingly diversified over the years, so has the number people that hate it’s increased diversity. Which is why we see so many reports regarding hate crimes nowadays.
One year ago today, June 26th, Obama passed legislation that legalized same-sex marriage all across the United States. I am not queer, I am straight, cis-gender, very privileged woman. I will never begin to understand the struggles of the LGBT community but that day I woke up with the confirmed hope that the world was moving a little bit into a direction of kindness, acceptance and empathy. I live in New York City, I go to art school, a majority of my friends are gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgender, it is sufficient to say I live in a bubble of some sorts. A bubble of progressive kids that have been educated to know better than to judge someone’s character based on their skin color or sexual preference.
Many people think the battle for LGBTQA+ rights in the United States ends with our achievement of marriage equality. Unfortunately, it does not end there. In an article written by Jody L. Herman, Christy Mallory, and Bianca D.M. Wilson in March 2016, they state,”Nearly 300,000 transgender youth and adults may be negatively impacted by legislation introduced in 15 states. These bills would limit access to single-sex restrooms and locker rooms at schools and in public places; limit protections based on gender identity; permit individuals and businesses to discriminate against transgender people based on religious and moral beliefs; and limit the ability to change certain vital records documents, such as birth certificates, or enforce the use
Ask just about any random person on the street if they believe in granting equal rights for homosexuals, and they will say yes. They will agree that homosexuals, or “gays,” should have the same rights that heterosexuals do such as housing, government benefits, jobs, and equal protection of the law. Then the conversation turns to the debate of gay marriage, and all talk of equality stops dead in its tracks. Why is there so much passion and hate against the legalization of same-sex marriage? After the movement for equal rights kicked off in the 1970’s, the gay community created pride festivals and PFLAG conventions, bringing more and more attention to the cause.