The Laramie Project and the death of Matthew Shepard probably affected me a bit different than others. When he died in October of 2002 I was still working at New York State Crime Victims Board as an investigator and the only openly gay one they ever had. Across my desk I handled several hundred LGBT crime victims of all kinds including some that were bias attacks and some that ended fatally like Matthew's attack did. In those fatalities any one of those could have become our first national gay martyr. In fact right now as I write this I went back and did some research for an article I wrote on the late Winthrop Bean whose case for a variety of reasons never got the attention it should back in 1983.
So what was it that made Matthew Shepard the first gay bias homicide victim to receive national attention? My belief was the visual of that fence on a lonely road where he was hung like a scarecrow and left to die after a vicious beating just grabbed the media's attention. And the fact that Matthew was as described barely 5' 2" in height and soaking wet might weighed 110 pounds. I was not much heavier than he at that age although a good deal taller. How could a little kid like that hurt anyone, to whom was he a threat?
The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman is based on a series of interviews that the author did and from that wrote his docudrama play and several Hollywood names lent their talents to it. And it was shot on location in Laramie, a town like the other large cities in Wyoming that owned its existence to the Union Pacific railway.
For better or worse Laramie will forever be associated with Matthew Shepard's murder. Just like Harlingen, Texas is associated with the dragging death of James Byrd and Scottsboro, Alabama with the Scottsboro boys and their trial. People there wondered why such a thing can happen, but some of their own answers belied the reasons why.
I remember in 1998 when all the large cities in America had Matthew Shepard vigils. I was in one in Buffalo and a good friend was there had actually gone to the University of Wyoming in Laramie and told me when he went there he never had a problem. Of course he also said he was most discreet while there.
My favorite moment in the play was Camryn Manheim when she declared how happy she was that Aaron McKinney said that it was about homosexual panic, how dare Matthew Shepard come on to him. Poor stupid McKinney, all he had to say is I don't go that way or just push all 5'2" of Matthew away from him if he got physical. But that's how he and Russell Henderson were brought up, it's what you do with gays who have the effrontery to think you're one of them. She was concerned that he'd try to get out of it by saying it was just a robbery gone bad or something else to lessen the bias edge. But McKinney confessed and thought he was justified. Not even in Wyoming when the whole world is watching.
Since 1998 civil rights laws, gay inclusive hate crime laws, and even LGBT marriages in several states have passed. A lot of that is due to the national conscious awakening of anti-gay bias and how it can lead to tragedy. And the fact that LGBT people aren't going away until they've received full legal, economic, and social equality. A fact a lot of our opponents just will not grasp.
Matthew in your short life you accomplished more than you could ever have realized. RIP little one.
As for The Laramie Project this film is a must see for audiences, especially young audiences.
So what was it that made Matthew Shepard the first gay bias homicide victim to receive national attention? My belief was the visual of that fence on a lonely road where he was hung like a scarecrow and left to die after a vicious beating just grabbed the media's attention. And the fact that Matthew was as described barely 5' 2" in height and soaking wet might weighed 110 pounds. I was not much heavier than he at that age although a good deal taller. How could a little kid like that hurt anyone, to whom was he a threat?
The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman is based on a series of interviews that the author did and from that wrote his docudrama play and several Hollywood names lent their talents to it. And it was shot on location in Laramie, a town like the other large cities in Wyoming that owned its existence to the Union Pacific railway.
For better or worse Laramie will forever be associated with Matthew Shepard's murder. Just like Harlingen, Texas is associated with the dragging death of James Byrd and Scottsboro, Alabama with the Scottsboro boys and their trial. People there wondered why such a thing can happen, but some of their own answers belied the reasons why.
I remember in 1998 when all the large cities in America had Matthew Shepard vigils. I was in one in Buffalo and a good friend was there had actually gone to the University of Wyoming in Laramie and told me when he went there he never had a problem. Of course he also said he was most discreet while there.
My favorite moment in the play was Camryn Manheim when she declared how happy she was that Aaron McKinney said that it was about homosexual panic, how dare Matthew Shepard come on to him. Poor stupid McKinney, all he had to say is I don't go that way or just push all 5'2" of Matthew away from him if he got physical. But that's how he and Russell Henderson were brought up, it's what you do with gays who have the effrontery to think you're one of them. She was concerned that he'd try to get out of it by saying it was just a robbery gone bad or something else to lessen the bias edge. But McKinney confessed and thought he was justified. Not even in Wyoming when the whole world is watching.
Since 1998 civil rights laws, gay inclusive hate crime laws, and even LGBT marriages in several states have passed. A lot of that is due to the national conscious awakening of anti-gay bias and how it can lead to tragedy. And the fact that LGBT people aren't going away until they've received full legal, economic, and social equality. A fact a lot of our opponents just will not grasp.
Matthew in your short life you accomplished more than you could ever have realized. RIP little one.
As for The Laramie Project this film is a must see for audiences, especially young audiences.