Euality for All - We Are Not There Yet

“It is as if we are living in two Americas -- one that tunes in to Queer Eye for the Straight Guy but turns a blind eye to the injustices gay and lesbian people still face.” Five years later, progress against gay hatred lags This quote from an article written by Matthew Shepard’s mother, Judy represents the mindset of a large portion of the people living in the United States today. Throughout the history of our country, there has been numerous hate crimes aimed at many different minority groups including African Americans, women, and more recently, homosexuals. Hate crimes are definitely wrong, and should be stopped. Additionally, we need more legislation and harsher punishments against those who act with violence toward minorities. We can change our world through stronger and more legislation, as well as education on a general public level.

The case of Matthew Shepard is one of the more popular of gay hate crimes that have occurred in the United States. Media from around the country came to the small town of Laramie to report on this tragedy. The publicity as well as the play written about the death, The Laramie Project showed one of the intense examples of violence toward homosexuals. The injustices presented in this instance are some of the most graphic and unfair examples of hate. Two young men in Laramie beat Matthew and left him to die. The Laramie Project gave the country a look into this small town, and how some of the citizens decided to act in the face of the unfamiliar, as well as the town’s reactions. Some of the most stirring lines of the film are when one of the women that were interviewed refutes all of the townspeople’s shock and denial that something that horrible could happen in their town, with their people, by stating “we live in a town, a state, a country where shit like this happens...we are like this.” Laramie Project script This is the reality. Hate crimes toward homosexuals and other groups occur all over the country, all the time. This is unacceptable.

Another hate crime dealing with homosexuality that received less media coverage than the case of Matthew Shepard was the death of 23 year-old Charles Howard in 1984. On July 7th, he was attacked as he was walking, minding his own business, by three young men in Bangor, Maine. They harassed him, yelled insults degrading his sexuality, and finally threw him over the State Street Bridge into the Kenduskeag Stream, were he had an asthma attack and drowned. Hate Crimes Against Homosexuality. Horrific examples such as these show that our country is not as peaceful, respectful, or as tolerant as we would like.

Another instance of hate based violence toward homosexuals was the assassination of Harvey Milk in 1978 in San Francisco. Milk was the first openly gay man to be admitted to a legitimate political office. He fought strongly for gay rights and it took three attempts at running for office to finally make it. He was chosen as one of the 20 most influential politicians of the 20th Century by TIME Magazine. On November 27th, he was shot and killed by former city-supervisor Dan White, who had recently quit his position in protest to the city’s gay rights laws. His death was very hard on the people of San Francisco, who had fought so hard and for so long to get Harvey into office, yet the man responsible for his death, White, was only convicted of manslaughter and served five years in prison. Milk. This was such a small sentence for someone who admitted to intentionally trying to kill someone. The tragic deaths of both Matthew Shepard and Charles Howard are just two of the numerous cases of violence based on hate. These crimes should be unacceptable in our country.

There have been glimpses of hope for anti-hate legislation in the United States. The first national hate crime laws were passed in 1968, protecting people against hate crimes as a result of race, religion, or national origin. Additionally, in 2005, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act passed. This act added sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, and disability to the previous list of the traits passed in 1968, yet only on a local stage. This helped the problem on a local level, yet there was no national legislation until very recently. It was not until November of 2009 that President Obama passed the Matthew Shepard & James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The act advanced the previous legislation of 1968, expanding it to include violence based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. It is admirable of the federal government to finally add these to the law, yet it is ridiculous that it took eleven years following the tragedy of Matthew Shepard’s death to put it into effect. Government action should have been immediate. Undoubtably, it is wrong for people to act with violence toward homosexuals as well as any person, and although the government recognized this, there is still more that they can do. The punishment could definitely be harsher.

Although it is definitely the responsibility of the government to come up with proper punishments, it is up to regular people in society to spread the idea of equality and acceptance. “Homophobia” is an unfortunate term that describes the fear or unfamiliarity with two members of the same sex involved in a romantic relationship. Parents should teach their children to be respectful and tolerant of other’s lives, even if homosexuality is not a path they chose to follow or support. Additionally, this idea can be spread in places of education. The more institutions that support the education of children and adults for anti-violent action in the face of inequality will have an undoubtedly positive effect on the world we live in.

Overall, hate crimes in general are horrible ways that people in our society express hatred toward others simply because they are different. It is unfortunate that such crimes are a problem in a country that was founded with the idea of freedom and for all. People should have the freedom to behave how they wish, to act in whatever way they see fit, and we all have the right to be respected and treated with kindness, regardless of sexual orientation. We all have the opportunity and the responsibility to fight for peace and harmony in our country, and we should seize it. Gay hate crimes and violence should not be tolerated. The government needs to create harsher laws to help the problem, yet we as individuals need to take steps in our own lives to ensure that we all get along and make it through alive and happy.