Although the term "hate crime" doesn’t seem new anymore given the attention it has received in the past several years in America and other countries these types of offenses have been around for many decades. In this paper I’m going to disgust Laramie, WY, a small town which became infamous overnight in the fall of 1998, when Matthew Shepard, a gay college student, was found tied to a fence after being brutally beaten and left to die, setting off a nationwide debate about hate crimes and homophobia. Moisés Kaufman and members of New York's Tectonic Theater Project went to Laramie, Wyoming one month after the after a horrific murder of Matthew Shepard in order to gather in-person interviews from Laramie's town. The idea was to capture the emotions,
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The most notable themes to me are homosexuality, religion, and also class or in other words social structure. The play itself is structured into three acts. The first act is comprised of interviews with townspeople and longtime residents. These interviews are meant to set a tone for the town of Laramie, showing how people saw their town before the murder, and how they now feel after the horrific event happened epically when it came to light that it wasn’t some out of towners who were just passing through but actually to people who grew up in it. It made them feel much closer to the crime personally then it would have if the killers didn’t have any connection to the town. Religious leaders also weighed in on the crime, as it seemed trying to gain more publicity then mourning the crime, most commenting on how God does not condone homosexuality as if the fact that because Matthew was gay this happened to him. A number of townspeople object to his attitude, and protest to the Reverend’s arrival to Matthew’s funeral. The play’s themes also include issues of prejudice and the perpetration of hate crimes, are also meant to highlight the historical context of Matthew Shepard’s murder. Given the long struggle of gay rights and identity/acceptance issues, as well as religion’s often troubling role in the fight for sexual equality and weather they decide if they condone it. The Laramie Project is an important voice in the ongoing debate over gay rights, and rights in general, and how fear and hate can have horrific outcomes. Also in Shepard’s father arguing against a death sentence, the play addresses another hot topic: the death penalty. In other words, whether or not it is justifiable to kill someone because he/she has killed another. Years later in the aftermath of the murder and trail of Matthew death The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr.
The most notable themes to me are homosexuality, religion, and also class or in other words social structure. The play itself is structured into three acts. The first act is comprised of interviews with townspeople and longtime residents. These interviews are meant to set a tone for the town of Laramie, showing how people saw their town before the murder, and how they now feel after the horrific event happened epically when it came to light that it wasn’t some out of towners who were just passing through but actually to people who grew up in it. It made them feel much closer to the crime personally then it would have if the killers didn’t have any connection to the town. Religious leaders also weighed in on the crime, as it seemed trying to gain more publicity then mourning the crime, most commenting on how God does not condone homosexuality as if the fact that because Matthew was gay this happened to him. A number of townspeople object to his attitude, and protest to the Reverend’s arrival to Matthew’s funeral. The play’s themes also include issues of prejudice and the perpetration of hate crimes, are also meant to highlight the historical context of Matthew Shepard’s murder. Given the long struggle of gay rights and identity/acceptance issues, as well as religion’s often troubling role in the fight for sexual equality and weather they decide if they condone it. The Laramie Project is an important voice in the ongoing debate over gay rights, and rights in general, and how fear and hate can have horrific outcomes. Also in Shepard’s father arguing against a death sentence, the play addresses another hot topic: the death penalty. In other words, whether or not it is justifiable to kill someone because he/she has killed another. Years later in the aftermath of the murder and trail of Matthew death The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr.