"Losing Matt Shepard" Part 5

As I started to read Losing Matt Shepard, by Beth Loffreda, I went in as an obvious supporter of the gay community. What I enjoyed most about this novel was the sense of pluralism that it portrayed throughout the book’s six chapters. The novel did not openly support equality within the LGBT community, which I thought it would, but rather it focused on the tragedy of Matt Shepard’s murder, and how it affected the town of Laramie and the State of Wyoming.  But overall, it is amazing how much light shines on Laramie and Matt Shepard’s death compared to other gay murders across the country. With plays, films, and books all focusing on Matt’s death, it seems that his tragedy occurred at the perfect time. In 1998, the year of Matt’s death, Vermont and Massachusetts were the only states that legally accepted civil same-sex marriages. The other 48 states either banned gay marriage, or simply did not acknowledge the issue. Due to the timing of Matt’s death, in comparison with America’s acceptance of gays at the time, it makes sense as to why Shepard’s death received so much attention. Although it is unfair that his story is heard far more often compared to America’s other gay deaths, Matt Shepard’s story shook the nation. It proved that Matt Shepard did not simply die because he was a gay man in Laramie, but that he died because he was a gay man in America. Matt Shepard’s death proved that similar crimes could have (and do) happen anywhere in our country. Especially over the past year, there have been numerous suicides and suicide attempts by those who are harassed because they may or may not have been gay.

Many say that we have to be tolerant of gays, and those who are different than us. But tolerance is merely a stepping-stone for Americans. With tolerance, we learn to live with, or not hate, those different than us. But, just because somebody tolerates another, does not mean that he or she accepts or respects that person. A very good friend of mine, who is openly gay, hates the word tolerant because it does not imply that we must accept and respect each other. Tolerance gives us the power to not kill each other. But better than that, acceptance allows us all to move forward. In October of 1998, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, Matt Shepard’s killers, needed to learn to tolerate Matt. But, what Matt needed even more was to be accepted by them. In the end, if we all learn to accept each other, Losing Matt Shepard would never have been published. The youth of America who constantly questions their sexuality, and is harassed because of it, would not question the value of their lives. With acceptance, we will learn to move forward as a nation, leaving words like “fag” and “dyke” behind us. We will advance together, undivided, as we look out for our fellow Americans, and not shove them down simply because they have a different sexual orientation than us. Of course, this will take time. But, I believe that Matt Shepard’s death was a sign in 1998, and it still is today, that our country must move forward and reach universal acceptance.