Essay On The Laramie Project

Introduction:

　　　The Laramie Project considerably contributes to the national dialogue” on the issue of hate and hate crimes against members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community (LGBTQ). “The Laramie Project is a gripping tour through the actual spoken words of Laramie people drawn from hundreds of hours of interviews to show the outrage, the sense of being unfairly singled out, the quiet hope for change among gay and lesbian residents and the sometimes callous behavior of journalists (Marsden).” The Laramie Project somehow contributed in addressing the national issue pertaining to the rights of LGBTQ community.

　　　This essay will first analyze what provoked or encouraged Moisés Kaufman and his team to create

The Laramie Project. It will deeply comprehend the statement of Kaufman; “The idea of The Laramie Project originated in my desire to learn more about why Matthew Shepard was murdered, about what happened that night, about the town of Laramie. The idea of listening to the citizens talk really interested me. How is Laramie different from the rest of the country, and how is it similar?.” This will get some necessary evidences on how The Laramie Project impacted the nation’s value and belief particularly in the human rights aspects of GLBT groups. According to Kaufman, “Shortly after the murder, I posed the question to my company, Tectonic Theater Project. What can we as theater artists do as a response to this incident? And, more concretely, is theater a medium that can contribute to the national dialogue on current events?” Based on this statement, the author had an intention to create that is not just creative but could also convey important messages to the audience and to the society in general to speak up against all kinds of violence not just on the violence against straight people.

The Death of Matthew Shepard

　　Wyoming Laramie before was known as one of the major frontier railroad towns of the early West (Lincoln).

In 1998, the town was shocked to the event that eventually changed the perception of the people of Laramie as well as the places where the gone far. The brutal, senseless murder of Matthew Shepard, who was gay, threw the quiet, laid-back community into the center of a media feeding-frenzy; broadcast and print journalists from across the country seized on the "hate-crime" aspects of Shepard's death (Lincoln). Wyoming, Laramie became a center of attention of many human rights groups particularly the LGBTQ community. According to the crime description, this was a deadly gay-bashing, in a lonesome, rural place, without much of a visible gay community and a political establishment not only opposed to that community’s needs, but even hostile toward its existence (Marsden). The Laramie Project was created to convey the comments of people in Laramie about the crime and how similar these comments are to the point of view of other people from different states or countries. The attack’s historical impact on Wyoming, and Laramie, and those places’ broader public identities to strangers worldwide, were powerfully shaped by the shocking first impressions of this vividly remembered crime; there are not enough laws about this kind of thing, in Wyoming or anywhere (Marsden). The death of Matthew Shepard encourage the creative and media industry to promote the fight against violence and

these steps somehow taken its way to success.

The Purpose of The Laramie Project

A month after Shepard’s death, talented and famous playwright Moises Kaufman brought his group from Tectonic Theater Project to Laramie to conduct more than 200 interviews with the residents of Laramie. Moisés Kaufman and the Tectonic Theater Project’s 2000 play The Laramie Project (which was followed by an epilogue, The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, in 2009) continues to be one of the most performed plays in America and has sparked an amazing online community (Renna). The play has special purpose to serve and that it to help convey that fact that hate and violent crimes are crimes to whoever they are committed into. All of the dialogue in the production comes from tape-recorded interviews with other students and Laramie citizens — ministers, waitresses, people from all walks of life — who saw the identity of their hometown change virtually overnight; their comments provide insights into the crime (Lincoln). The play has gain remarkable attention from its audience and encouraged more LGBTQ groups to take action and fight for their equal rights. Straight people also supported these groups and gave them understanding about the in-depth meaning of human rights and gender equality. The social implications of Shepard’s murder, possible causes, lack of special legislation, and the depiction of mid-West American society was the main focus of the critical responses to the play; yet, none of them has focused on the heteronormative net, upon which society has been rooted. Kaufmann’s play does not attack Laramie for being reactionary (Bollas). The play somewhat empowered the LGBTQ community and the government to do something in order to prevent future violent crimes against the homosexual people. Marginalised voices of people who are attracted to people of the same sex could not have been missing in The Laramie Project (Bollas). According to Kaufman, “Shortly after the murder, I posed the question to my company, Tectonic Theater Project. What can we as theater artists do as a response to this incident? And, more concretely, is theater a medium that can contribute to the national dialogue on current events?” Based on these statements, the author of the play indeed has specific positive purpose to awaken the society and not just perform a creative performance for that has entertainment value. Kaufmann also challenges the irony behind the “live and let live” philosophy through which Laramie residents did not distinguish tolerance from acceptance; the Laramie Project, though, manifests the dominance of heteronormativity upon the whole of society regardless of sexual orientation, gender, or social status (Bollas). The entire production is not just focused in their acting skills but they also ensured that they were able to convey the exact words that the interviewee said during the interview.

Impact of The Laramie Project to the LGBTQ Community

The death of Matthew Shepard itself impacted the willfulness of the LGBTQ community. The Laramie Project boosted these effects by showing that the reaction are perception against the realm of violent crimes and discrimination against homosexual individuals is not limited to certain places and to certain group of people. According to Best, The Laramie Project has become an educational tool to discuss prejudice and tolerance in schools, as LGBT anti-discrimination bills are increasingly being signed into law across the US. The crime attracted critical reactions from different prominent personality and the government of different states was triggered to do something about the occurrence of bigotry especially against the members of LBGTQ community. “It speaks volumes to our society and how little we have changed and how much more could be changed. The Matthew Shepard case had a huge impact on my life. I was friends with a lot of gay people at the time who were just coming out. It was a whole different world.” says Brandy Burre, the actress best known for her role as Theresa D’Agostino on HBO’s “The Wire,” who stars in the CRT production (Best). The Laramie project reminds audiences about the effect that hatred can have on everyday people’s lives whether you’re a direct victim or not; therefore, it isn’t about being gay or straight; it’s about hate and hate crimes (Charingon).

The Laramie Project empowers the participation of everyone to eradicate gender discrimination and help each other protect the life, dignity and rights of one another.

The play’s overwhelming takeaway is that we remember what we want, how we want and all the more intensely when events leave us with impressions we abhor (Marsden). The murder of Shepard became a seminal point in the gay rights movement; a generation later, Laramie, Wyoming, the city where Shepard died, is passing legislation combating LBGT discrimination (Imam). This tragedy still pains most decent people; however, through the tireless efforts of Matthew’s family and human rights activists, some good came of the heartbreak in that it helped spark the passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act signed by President Obama 11 years after Matthew’s murder (Charingon). The actions taken after the death of Shepard sparked more actions that acted as response to the violent crime. The Laramie Non-discrimination Ordinance was passed, it prohibits discrimination against the LGBT community in housing, workplace and public accommodations

(Imam).

The Laramie Projects stood successful with its purposes but the people closest to Matthew spent their next years in fighting against violence to prevent such event from happening again. Judy Shepard, mother and founder of the Denver-based organization that bears her son's name, has continued championing equal rights issues since the 21-year-old's death (Imam). Starting almost immediately after the crime, national LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) organizations renewed their call for a federal hate-crime statute to be extended to crimes motivated by anti-gay bias (Marsden). Even after 16 years the name and story of Matthew Shepard, whose murder, carved into American history, represented a watershed moment that forever changed the conversation about the LGBT experience, not only still resonate but continue to have an impact (Renna). Indeed, no effort was wasted with regard to the actions made after the case of Matthew Shepard was given justice. The efforts which include The Laramie Project have opened the minds of many people about the reality of violence against the LGBTQ and that these should no longer be tolerated in any instances.

The conclusion:

　　　Despite of the relevance of the sources gathered to the thesis, the fact that not everyone was able to watch or understand what the play was all about could weaken the thesis statement. Additionally, the media has flawed reputation which could affect the trust of the audience who were able to watch the play. However, other actions pertaining to the death of Matthew Shepard gained remarkable results just how the play served its purpose of awakening the society into the reality that all sort of hate crimes should not be tolerated in any form and in any reason. The thesis statement was somewhat proven through the available sources and the script of The Laramie Project. However, the journey of the LGBTQ community against discrimination from the society still persists. It somehow influenced the open-mindedness of the society towards homosexuality but there’s still a long journey awaiting in order to finally eradicate the violence and discrimination against the LGBTQ community.