Nothing has influenced my life as strongly as Loyola’s production of “The Laramie Project.” I have spent the last two months emerged in the story of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old college student who was brutally beaten and left to die, tied to a fence outside of Laramie, Wyo., because he was gay. However, this play is not solely about Shepard. No, this play is about hate and the damage it does to everyone. Shepard’s story is one that symbolizes how ignorance and hatred can cause so much pain. By turning this incident into a play, Moises Kaufman and the Tectonic Theatre Company have provided us with an opportunity to continuously spread this important message. On Oct. 12, 1998, the whole nation felt the loss of Shepard’s death. The other thing the nation lost was blindness. This incident forced Americans to see that we’re not all free to live as we choose, and that certain Americans must live in constant fear because they are different. This pains me so much.
Why is this? I ask myself repeatedly. Why? Why is it so difficult for people to see that differences should not be feared, that ignorance and hatred are horrible things, and that we are all equal no matter how different we are? I want so badly to shake people into seeing these truths. But I don’t. Instead I pray. I pray with all my heart that we will change.
Sadly, though, I find myself muttering the same thoughts as King David in Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Then, in the same breath, I realize I am wrong. God hasn’t forsaken me. He loves me, and I feel his presence even as I stumble through this turmoil. I’m not among the blind, and I am very thankful for that. My question turns into “Why have you forsaken them, God?”
When I turn the mirror back into the society in which we live, I find part of my answer. One of the great aspects of this play is that it incorporates different religious perspectives on homosexuality. Many characters, who are all real life people, describe their views on homosexuality. Some even seem to believe it was a greater sin for Shepard to be gay, than for Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson to murder him. Religion isn’t something I’m against. What I’m against is religion being misused to spread hate. It is preached that homosexuality is wrong, when it should be preached that loving one another no matter what is the most important value of all. You may find yourself saying right now, “I don’t agree with homosexuality.” Ask yourself why. Your answer probably relates to your religion or how you were raised. Let’s turn back the clock about 50 years. Now you might be finding yourself saying, “I don’t agree with people being black, they are not the same as you and I.” Can we get any more backwards than that? Wake up, people. Please, wake up.
This type of hatred is internalized in our society and always has been. Please do your part in stopping it. I beg you. Each time you or your friends use that popular phrase, “That’s gay,” you are participating in the internalization of hatred in our society. You are spreading violence even in this small form. Each time you bash gay people using your religion as your primary reason, you’re planting seeds in others that hating these people is okay. As more and more hate seeds are spread, the oppression of your fellow man is increased. We all suffer from this violence and pain. I only ask that you take a moment out of your busy day to reflect on this. Thank you.
And thank you to everyone who brought this play to our campus.
Tracy Cochran is psychology
sophomore from Arabi, La.
