Analyzing Matthew Shepard's The Laramie Project

The Laramie Project is a book and play motivated by the savage attack and murder of a young gay man in Laramie, Wyoming. After the homicide, the members of the Tectonic Theater Project and it's creator Moises Kaufman went to the city of Laramie. They interviewed the townspeople for their memories of the crime and the mid-western city they lived in. The residents disclosed different viewpoints regarding the brutal attack and offered their own explanations to the motivation. The story is a narrative the theater group felt essential to unmask the bias against gays. Their play opened in the year Two-Thousand, examining what occurred back on that cold evening in 1998. What triggered the killers? What are the people like in the community? The book

One evening while at the Fireside Bar, he left for unknown reasons with two other male patrons. Later on in the shadows of night Matt was robbed and trussed to a split rail cattle fence. His face and head pummeled at least twenty times with the butt of a 357 Smith and Wesson revolver. The only area on his face where there was no blood was from a tear drop that had slid down his face. Discovered 18 hours later by a bicyclist the next morning. He never recovered from the vicious attack and passed away in a coma five days later. A defense of Gay panic was used by the defendants. They felt that Matthew had made a pass at them and their only action was to viciously attack and leave him to die. Two accused men, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson were guilty of the murder and the sentence will never allow them to be free

There were protests at Matthew's funeral screaming vicious words to the friends and family that attended. Banners were written with wording that justified the attack on the victim, and that his death was justified. There were also supporters that wore white sheets to represent angels, to counter the demonstrations. The frenzy attracted the media, and revealed to the world the barbaric and compassionate in the story as people expressed their emotions. The accused had no prior history committing violence, it was just that Matthew Shepard was gay. Was sexual orientation a factor in the brutal beating? Prejudice is disclosed throughout the book, even though many people of Laramie express they are open minded liberals that accept