On the other hand, Loffreda notices the problem that is practically neglected by the media and the public, which the LGBT people’s position in the community are rather hard and the problem of hate and intolerance towards minorities are not yet solved. From the university president Phil Dubois, “nothing could match the sorrow and revulsion we feel for this attack on Matt. It is almost as sad, however, to see individuals and groups around the country react to this event by stereotyping an entire community, if not an entire state” (Loffreda, 244). The media is categorizing everyone in Laramie as the same, full of hate and prejudice, not because they are just generalizing the problem, but they want to feel superior and tries to show that they have more progressive mindset compared to the citizens in Laramie. …show more content…
She identifies the different types of people in the town after the occurrence of Matt Shepard: the people who change perspectives, who remain neutral, who are still anti-gay, who are pro-gay, and who Loffreda claims as hypocritical. Loffreda values Laramie differently compared to the outsiders and she senses what are the important circumstances in the event instead of just simply giving a
The LGBTQ community is one that faces an ongoing storm of stereotyping and stigmas and the media is no relief from it. One major factor in this is the common trope of the violent and aggressive transgender woman, which is often shown through
The accused had no prior history committing violence, it was just that Matthew Shepard was gay. Was sexual orientation a factor in the brutal beating? Prejudice is disclosed throughout the book, even though many people of Laramie express they are open minded liberals that accept
In Moises Kaufman’s play The Laramie Project , a group of people travel to Laramie, Wyoming to conduct interviews about Matthew Shepard’s horrendous death. These people go into Laramie with the pre-determined notion that it was motivated by Shepards sexual orientation. , therefore they are very biased in this way. The media immediatly jumped on this case and made it a hate crime, and ignored all other evidence in the case. By doing this they stayed away from the problems that Shepard had, such as prostitution and Methamphetamine.
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
They viewed the community as sinful, but in feeling reality it wasn't sinful at all. When going into the problems the community faced we must look at Religions, as they affected a lot of the community. Marsha grew up Christian and her church often discriminated against and hated the LGBTQ+ community for being who they are because they thought it was sinful “Johnson had a faith-based background and retained her belief in Christianity despite the churches shunning of Queer people”(Marsha P. Johnson). Religion is a big part of people's lives and is a big issue when their religion turns on them for who they are. Marsha isn't believed what she and her people were doing was wrong and kept her religion to get back at the curches to
The sentiment towards same-sex relationships is mixed in Laramie, and these views shape each resident’s interpretation and reaction to the incident. Pro-LGBT people in the community hold the firm belief that Shepard’s murder was a hate crime motivated by his sexuality. However, many more townspeople vehemently denied any homophobic motivation in the crime, stating that the sole motivation for the crime was to rob Shepard. These feelings are influenced by the political climate of Wyoming at the time. 1998 was years before the legalization of same-sex marriage in America, and Wyoming is a particularly conservative state, as evident by the statement given by governor Jim Geringer when confronted by his lack of hate crime legislation.
Harvey Milk, the first openly gay politician shook the people of the United States by going against the social norms and working as a gay rights activist. He gained his political popularity starting with the vibrant community on Castro Street in San Francisco, where he lived with others who shared his views on gay rights. Milk should not have been assassinated because while he may have made people uncomfortable with his new ideas regarding equality, he continued to use his political power and popularity to stand up to the status quo by showing people that it is okay to be open about your sexuality and he made it known that being openly gay should not affect your way of life. Harvey Milk used his political power and popularity to stand up to the status quo by representing the LGBTQ community, who have been “silenced and ignored,” as a non-violent activist making him a nationally known figure and symbol of this communities emergence as a political force (Cummings, 1). Throughout his life, he continued standing up for gay rights by publicly speaking and advocating for people to “Hope, hope for a better tomorrow (Milk),” that there will be a better future if they continue to work
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.
Aaron McKinney was raised in a manner that had little acceptance towards people, who they deemed as “different.” Aaron felt shameful to be “different.” Despite people’s beliefs that the murder may have solely been regarding meth, Matthew Shepard’s death resembled much more. It symbolized the biased views of the entire town of Laramie towards people of the LGBT community, to the extent in which it made people within the LGBT community feel shameful about who they
With all the publicity around the Matthew Shepard case it is hard to avoid stereotypes, even more so because of the controversy of this crime. Laramie was not a well known part of Wyoming but after the Shepard case it is stained with the remembrance of a young gay man being brutally murdered. Newsperson1 says ;"Laramie, Wyoming--often called the 'Gem City of the Plains '-- is now at the eye of the storm"(pg44). A place usually known for its beauty is now and forever known for this repulsive crime. Because Shepard was gay, it brought to light what it may be like living in Wyoming as a gay man or woman.
On October 7, 1998, another hate crime occurred. Matthew Shepard, an openly gay student in Laramie, Wyoming, was beaten, tied to a fence, and later dies from his severe injuries. This hate crime and another one, committed against James Byrd, Jr., ended up establishing the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act of
The people of Laramie, Wyoming have many different opinions about homosexuality. Many people do not care about whether someone is gay or not while others believe it is morally wrong. Some people strongly believe that the straight people or Laramie and Wyoming are also to blame for this tragedy just as the Germans were to blame for the Holocaust. Whether one cares or not the murder of Matthew Shepard was a tragic event that sparked outrage for equal rights for the LGBT+ community and everyone who supported
Zinn talks about the discrimination against gays and lesbians. He finds that “to combat discrimination against them, to give themselves a sense of community, to overcome shame and isolation”(Zinn Online). Community was completely necessary to get what their agenda passed in the country. Community gives people strength and Harvey Milk realized this. This is why Harvey emphasized smaller elections closer to the people.
People once used to enslaved people and abused people who simply had different skin tones; they were not conceived as human under the law. Now as history has shown us, that wasn’t justice. In every civil rights conflict we are only able to recognize the just point of view years after the fact and when the next conflict comes along we are blind once again. (Amanda) As I’m writing down this paper we are repeating history once in for all. LGBT communities are just HUMANS who are
Substitute the word “gay” in any of those cases, and the terms suddenly become far less loaded, so that the ring of disapproval and judgment evaporates. Some gay rights advocates have declared the term off limits. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance against slander, or Glad, has put “homosexual” on its list of offensive terms and in 2006 persuaded The Associated Press, whose stylebook is the widely used by many news organizations, to restrict use of the word. Miss Suhashini a, lecturer of Phycology Department at UTAR who was currently doing research about LGBT has looked at the way the term is used by those who try to portray gays and lesbians as deviant. What is most telling about substituting it for gay or lesbian are the images that homosexual tends to activate in the brain, she said.