Matthew Shepard

Joseph and Georgia Silva assaulted another couple on a public beach. While the Silva’s were assaulting the couple, they repeated racial slurs towards them. Another recently prevalent hate crime includes a person’s sexuality. In October of 1998, Matthew Shepard was robbed and beaten for being gay. He eventually died in the hospital for injuries sustained (“Hate Crime Laws”). Nearly every one of these…

Gay Hate Crimes in America Jordan Schaeffer was just at the ripe age of 25 when his life was almost taken from him. On a trip to Miami, also known as one of the many safe havens for gays, his life turned around. Jordan and his boyfriend had just shared a kiss in Burger King when Jordan was taken from his comfortable life. Coming from California where he was accepted and homosexuality was okay, he had never been face to face with a hate crime. As he was slammed into the ground and being kicked,…

On October 6, 1998 two men took Matthew Shepard, a gay college student, about a mile outside of Laramie, Wyoming, after being lured away from a bar. These men took him out to a split-rail fence, bust his skull open with a .375 Magnum, then left him for dead. He was found later the next day by two bikers, only eighteen hours after the being brutally assaulted just because of his sexuality. When the bikers first saw Matthew tied to the fence, they thought that he was a scarecrow, but sooner…

Dear Homophobic Citizens of the United States of America, Many people in the U.S. are ridiculously unaware of how America’s majorly-homophobic climate affects LGBT people, or more importantly, the LGBT youth. Although studies show that public opinions on LGBT citizens have drastically improved over the years, this so-called ‘issue’ is still a sharply divided topic, especially with newer generations. That being said, an overwhelming ninety-two percent of LGBT students report hearing…

The Westboro Baptist church became infamous in 1998 when they protested at the funeral of Matthew Shepard who was killed due to his sextual orientation. They originated long before this controversial protest, and they have continued to protest at funerals of: public figures, children, and soldiers. The Westboro Baptist Church claims to have taken part in over 40,000 protest since 1991, portraying an image of a huge enterprise; when in reality there is less than 100 members, primarily members…

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, LGBT, citizens of Laramie. It was in Laramie that a hateful crime occurred where two men killed Matt Shepard. Before the murder the citizens of Laramie did not see their city as being unwelcoming to the LGBT citizens. Neither did they think twice about the hate laws in their state of Wyoming. It was not until the murder of Matt Shepard that made them go from being desensitized citizens to seeing that there was a problem and something needed to change. The…

Interest Groups LGBT The LGBT, or “lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender” group is a faction acting to define and support distinct categories in gay culture (LGBT Helpline, n.d.). For almost a century, LGBT interest groups have fought an uphill battle for equal rights. However, with support from the Obama Administration, this group has managed to achieve great milestones. During Obama’s first term at around 2008, same-sex marriage was considered an exceedingly controversial topic. Although…

The riot at the Stonewall Inn on June 28, 1969 was an event that had a massive impact on the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual (LGB) rights movement. The riot started because of a police raid on the bar, due to it being illegal to be a LGB person at that time, the people in the bar had grown tired of the raids and fought against the police. The people involved with the riot did this through its effects on the movement by creating advocacy groups and made changing how LGB people were treated by police.…

“I think we need more love in the world. We need more kindness, more compassion, more joy, more laughter. I definitely want to contribute to that.” Ellen Degeneres is a very influential person in our world today because she is compassionate, caring and generous; a gifted comedian, author and hostess; and is a strong supporter of equality in America. Ellen Degeneres has spent many years using her time and talents doing comedy and sharing her generosity. One of the big ways Ellen shares her love…

patterns in our fellow beings, and form opinions about those people that shape how we treat them. Such patterns in these people are called stereotypes, and they are more prominent when the patterns are uncommon. In The Laramie Project, a true story, Matthew Shepard was a bright and vibrant young adult. Sadly, he was targeted and beaten to death due to the fact that he was a homosexual. Homosexuality is a fairly rare trait in comparison to heterosexuals, so the stereotypes against this sexuality…