The Laramie Project by Matthew Shepard - Term Paper Example

The Way to Live The Laramie Project is a play that analyzes the October 1998 demise of Matthew Shepard, a college named Laramie in the University of Wyoming. Mathew Shepard was viciously murdered because of his openly gay sexual identity (Kaufman 19). His last moment depicted as him leaving a bar with two men, who supposedly beat and abandoned him in a countryside area. He was later discovered comatose the following morning by a cyclist who at first confused him with a scarecrow. Shepard succumbed to his wounds and died five days later after. His story touched the entire nation and saw many people speaking against anti-gay violence. The violent crime against Shepard has become a symbol of violence experienced by bisexual, lesbians, transgender and gay people. Two themes, hate the sin, but love the sinner and live and let live emerges in The Laramie Project. The research herein investigates the incidences and various problems that the gay individuals have undergone overtime. It intends discourage the act through the brutal and unfair acts for the realization of a peaceful society. However, in The Laramie Project, some residents of Laramie, Wyoming repeat two themes, “hate the sin, but show love to the sinner”, live, and let live. The repetition is because of the residents attitudes directed to gay residents. It is imperative to explore the two themes for examining their history and meaning with the current debate concerning the lifestyle of gay individuals in the United States. Let us begin with the theme, “hate the sin, but love the sinner”. “Hate the Sinful acts but Love the offender," it has always been mistaken as Jesus Christ saying it, but the fact is Mahatma Gandhi mentioned it several times. This phrase is what now people famously refer to “hate the sin, but love the sinner” and was quoted many times from Mahatma Gandhi autobiography. Some individuals point out to this theme to provide themselves unlimited permission, or even an obligation, to hate sin in other individuals. In The Laramie Project play, the Reverend’s comment was saying indirectly that Matthew in his lifestyle “sinned” (Kaufman 27) by becoming a gay. The Reverend wrongly believed that Matthew hoped that when he was falling into a state of comatose, he was thinking about how he would change his gay sexual preference or attitude. In addition, the Reverends comment insinuated that Matthews sorry situation was because of the beating he received (Kaufman 65-66). In saying this, he wanted people in Laramie to understand that he loved Matthew Shepard as a person, but his sin of being gay was what caused his death. Religion has played a significant role in Laramie and is considered a major contributing factor in what happened to Matthew. It is obvious that religion is a significant part of numerous individual’s lives in Laramie as a way to enhance moral and general identity. Throughout the entire town, many religious events and churches highlight the significance of the Christian religion. This town was defined by its focus on religion and importance of family values. Before the death of Matthew, the town, it seems, was preaching that being gay was a sin. In such a case, individuals mostly keep away and quiet from those who sin. However, the religion later advice to hate the sin an individual commit, but not the individual. In the Bible, being gay is a sin, in which Laramie Reverend and some residents of the town device to hate discriminatory on those who are gays. This is the reason that resulted in Matthew’s death because he was regarded to have committed a sin that is hated. Religion plays a tremendous role in discriminating against gays because of the Bible regarding gay as a sin. However, other individuals in the Christian faith that adhere to the Bible have learned to accept and tolerate those who are gays. Fred Phelps is one individual in the Christian faith in Laramie that had the view that words should not be misinterpreted and taken to someone’s idea (Kaufman 45). What this means is that Fred does not want people in the Christian faith to interpret “hate the sin” word as a means to murder gay people, rather understand them. “Live and Let Live," it normally implies that an individual should tolerate the behavior and opinion of other individuals even though they may have a different view of life. This way of saying let me live in peace and I will let you live in peace seems perfect, in theory. However, in The Laramie Project play, this theme is what has produced heartless people like Henderson and McKinney in Laramie environment. When we read Marge Murray quotation (Kaufman 29-30), we get a feeling that in Wyoming the theme “live and let live” is what people are. However, in reality, this means that people should not interact if they have a different sexual orientation, such as being gay or lesbian. If people in Wyoming, especially religious people know that an individual is gay, they will completely change their view of that individual. This is one reason Matthew was murdered because of his open individual life of being a gay person. Furthermore, it is through the use of this theme “live and let live” that people are divided. In addition, the theme leads to a community where gays are seen as totally different people, when in truth they are just people. One reason for the divide arises because many people, especially religious people, do not want gays to declare their sexual orientation openly, because it will make them uncomfortable. This is because in knowing their gay sexual orientation, they may totally change their views of those gay people. However, they do not realize those gay people are the very people they knew before they realized they were gay. It is this change of view towards Matthew Shepard that changed Henderson and McKinney attitude and led to his murder. So, the idea of letting individuals be is welcomed, but when it comes to shunning the gay people who are the majority in Laramie, it is extreme (Kaufman 45). The theme “live and let live” has also been refuted as being true in Laramie although some people in the play claimed that people would investigate a person then leave them after knowing everything about them. This means that a person who is gay is likely to be known, and that person could be a target for persecution. For instance, the gay farmer who talked about “live and let live” being a lie, said that he had to watch out for being called a fag or getting beaten (Kaufman 79). Hence, Matthew openly revealing that he was gay is what contributed to Henderson and McKinney killing him. Laramie is not greatly different from the main American towns. However, what allowed Matthew’s crime to take place in Laramie was the absence of acceptance and tolerance towards gays. In the play, we see individuals like the gay farmer and the lesbian teacher living in Laramie keeping their sexual orientation a secret. Whereas the people in Laramie explain that they do not care about people’s sexual orientation, the fact is people have to live hiding who they are. This means that Laramie is a perfect environment to raise murders like Henderson and McKinney where there is no acceptance or tolerance of other people who have different sexual orientation. The first recommendation that can be made is that Laramie should be referred to as a place that is not a “live and let live” place. The recommendation is because, in the play, Laramie is clearly not depicted in that manner. Even though a majority of the people are not killing other people for being different, there is an encouragement especially from the religious group that promotes feelings of hostility directed towards gay people. The “hate the offense but love the offender” theme mainly comes from religion, and this encourages hostility to gays who are regarded to be committing a sin because of their gay sexual orientation. Therefore, the second recommendation is to implement policies that will put religious leaders like the Reverend in check so that they do not entice hatred and hostility towards gay people. Finally, the third recommendation is to have those people who are being oppressed, in particular the gays, leave Laramie. The gays could settle to a state in the United States that recognizes and protects the rights of the gay people. Gay people will continue to have problems with religious groups and the society that do not consent to the idea that people with different sexual orientation can live in the same town together without problems. In fact, the Bible in the discussion has been seen as labeling gay as being a sin, which implies that a person who is gay may be seen as committing a sin against God. This has the consequences of resulting in hostility that may lead to death, like the case involving Matthew Shepard, who got murdered because he was gay. Hence, the idea of “live and let live” should not be taken at face value. The reason is that the moment people realize that a specific person is different, that person will be subjected to hostility as we have seen in the discussion. Gays will continue to have problems until a majority of people accept and tolerate them as part of the community. Work Cited Kaufman, Moisés. The Laramie Project. New York: Vintage Books, 2001. Print. Read More