On the night of October 6, 1998, Matthew Shepard was kidnapped, robbed, brutally beaten, and tied to a fence left to die by Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson. The book takes place in the drive-through town of Laramie, Wyoming in 1998. The members of the Tectonic Theater Project investigate and conduct over two hundred interviews in order to get more first-hand information about the murder. The author uses literary elements to discuss political and social issues when interviewing Jedadiah Schultz, Marge Murray, and when someone sent an email to Philip Dubois, the President of the University of Wyoming. Social issues are first discussed when interviewing Jedadiah Schultz, a 19-year-old university student. He discusses a moment in his life …show more content…
Her daughter, Reggie Fluty, was the officer who was at the scene first and found Matthew. In the interview, she explains that her daughter is connected to the case before discussing her views homosexuality. “As far as the gay issue, I don’t give a damn one way or the other as long as they don’t bother me. And even if they did, I’d just say no thank you. And that’s the attitude of most of the Laramie population” (29-30). She goes on to say that some people in Laramie may be more aggressive towards gays if they were drunk and the Laramie is live and let live. This means that many people in Laramie really don’t care about anyone else’s sexual …show more content…
The people of Laramie, Wyoming have many different opinions about homosexuality. Many people do not care about whether someone is gay or not while others believe it is morally wrong. Some people strongly believe that the straight people or Laramie and Wyoming are also to blame for this tragedy just as the Germans were to blame for the Holocaust. Whether one cares or not the murder of Matthew Shepard was a tragic event that sparked outrage for equal rights for the LGBT+ community and everyone who supported