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The Homosexuality In The Laramie Project By Moises Kaufman

935 Words4 Pages

Human beings are reactive in nature. Throughout history, this fact had both aided and hurt us. Matthew Shepard was a case in which this tendency hurt us. On the night of October 6th, 1998, Matthew Shepard was kidnapped, brutally beaten, and robbed, tied to a fence and left to die. Once Matthew Shepard was murdered for being gay, the town of Laramie reacted, mostly with love and support. 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 …show more content…

They were forced to live in fear, hiding all signs of affection for each other, and even as Zackie Salmon said fearing for their own safety (Kaufman 58). Religion had a large part to do with this. The Bible says that homosexuality is wrong, and in deeply religious Wyoming this can be taken quite seriously. The demeaning words of different pastors such as the Baptist Minister, planted the seeds of hate in the citizens of Laramie, saying how he “hope he had a moment to reflect as he was tied to that fence” on the lifestyle he chose to live (Kaufman 62). Even after his death, some members of the towns were still blaming Matthew Shepard for his own murder, simply because they did not agree with homosexuality. These leaders of the community planted the seeds of hate in the minds of the people, and it was only a matter of time before something this tragic happened. It is not in human nature to be hateful towards different people. Little kids are accepting of people based not on their sexual orientation or the color of their skin, but by their character. It is these people in positions of power and leadership who shape their followers. In this case, they shaped them in the wrong direction, they shaped them to hate and not accept

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