Laramie Is Live And Let Live Summary

Moses Kaufman is the producer of the successful play “The Laramie Project” after a horrific incident that occurred in Laramie. Members of the artistic group of Kaufman 's, traveled to Laramie to find out more about the horrific incidence. The main aim of the whole project was to find the emotions, reactions, and reflections that the people of Laramie manifested concerning the beating and subsequent death of a twenty-three-year-old college student (Gale, 2016). A lot of questions were raised concerning the death as people had different point of views. Some thought it was a hate crime, others thought it was just a brutal assault or a form of robbery. Four hundred interviews were conducted so as to come up with the reasons behind the brutal murder straight from the town folks. The main issue was how homosexuality was defined in the crime. The Laramie Project, questioned the rights of the LGBT+ group. For example, why were Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Transgenders discriminated by the community and the society as a whole even though their rights were constitutional?

This book Pray the Gay Away by Bernadetta C. Barton discusses about certain areas in the United States called Bible Belts were they have made absolutely no progress in securing rights for gay people. They lag behind the rest of nation were people are accepting homosexuality (Pray the Gay Away 15). Barton argues that in small towns were Christian institutions serve as a foundation for both passive and active homophobia in these areas (Pray the Gay Away 19). This article is related to the play because the two dominant religions discussed in the play was Judaism and Mormonism and both religions strongly oppose homosexuality and this lead to homophobic attitudes and themes within the play.

In the two life writing pieces, Mabo and Laramie both share similar and different themes as well as codes and conventions. The film Mabo, directed by Rachael Perkins, revolves around the true story of Eddie Mabo and his decision to continue to fight for his land and peoples rights. The audience is persuaded to side with Eddie throughout the use of point of view and bias. The Laramie project, by Moises Kaufman and the members of the tectonic theatre project, follows the actions and communications of the Laramie people after the horrific manslaughter of Matthew Shepard.

Many people from the United States hold the belief that being gay is something that has always been considered to be okay. They believe that it is just a given. Despite people’s current beliefs on the subject, for a very long time, it was something that was widely believed to be taboo. In the past, people were imprisoned due to their sexuality. Regardless, throughout the decades, people have pushed for the widespread acceptance of people who are part of the LGBT community. Today, homophobia still exists in some parts of the United States, but we have come a long way since the early 1900s.

The Laramie Project is a play written by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project by interviewing the residents of Laramie Wyoming about the murder of a gay student, Matthew Shepard. The play raises controversy revolving around homosexuality, hate crimes and acceptance. In addition to the various themes suggested by the play, the author wanted to present the varying perspectives toward homosexuality in the Laramie Community at the time of Shepard death. The three main perspectives towards homosexuality were hatred, tolerance and acceptance. The author also wanted to explore how these perspectives may have changed as the result of Shepard’s death.

Not all citizens of Laramie conveyed a negative view towards the LGBT community. Marge Murray, together with some of the citizens, gave a notion of live and let live towards homosexuals. Marge explains,

In The Laramie Project, a character name Cathy Connolly claims that gay the people in Laramie feel the oppression from society, and are

Laramie consisted of many other religions that presented the views of many of their citizens towards homosexuality. Reverend Fred Phelps, a minister from Kansas, negatively impacted the gay community as he protested against homosexuals. He believed gays were determined to go to hell because of God’s hatred for them. Reverend Phelps like McKinney was a homophobe, which upset many citizens when he ranted about gays going to hell right after the murder of Matthew Shepard. Many citizens including Romaine Patterson decided to take a stance against such hatred to “show the differences. And [to] think at times like this when we’re talking about hatred as much as the nation is right now, that someone needs to show . . . that there is a better way of

“Prejudice and Homosexuality”, by Richard D. Mohr, is an essay about how gays and lesbians are subject to discrimination because of different beliefs. Mohr says that when we are evaluating the morality of behavior is to be prescriptive, or normative, not descriptive. In this essay, Mohr says that “Gays are discriminated against in several ways, including private-sector employment, housing, public accommodations, insurance of all types, custody, adoption, and zoning regulations that bar ‘singles’ or ‘nonrelated’ couples from living together” (Mackinnon 246). I completely agree with him.

Before judging gay people you should get to know them. The gay rights movement in the US can be traced back to the Stonewall Riots that occurred following a police raid on the Stonewall Inn in New York City at 3 a.m. on June 28th, 1969. Police raids on gay bars were commonplace, but on this occasion the gay and lesbian patrons fought back and sparked days of protests.The Stonewall

In the past decades, the struggle for gay rights in the Unites States has taken many forms. Previously, homosexuality was viewed as immoral. Many people also viewed it as pathologic because the American Psychiatric Association classified it as a psychiatric disorder. As a result, many people remained in ‘the closet’ because they were afraid of losing their jobs or being discriminated against in the society. According to David Allyn, though most gays could pass in the heterosexual world, they tended to live in fear and lies because they could not look towards their families for support. At the same time, openly gay establishments were often shut down to keep openly gay people under close scrutiny (Allyn 146). But since the 1960s, people

Life for most homosexuals during the first half of the Twentieth century was one of hiding, being ever so careful to not give away their true feelings and predilections. Although the 1920s saw a brief moment of openness in American society, that was quickly destroyed with the progress of the Cold War, and by default, that of McCarthyism. The homosexuals of the 50s “felt the heavy weight of medical prejudice, police harassment and church condemnation … [and] were not able to challenge these authorities.” They were constantly battered, both physically and emotionally, by the society that surrounded them. The very mention or rumor of one’s homosexuality could lead to the loss of their family, their livelihood and, in some cases, their

Culturally, this type of behavior had no definite wrong or abnormal connotation strapped to it. As Neil Miller describes, "In the 1870s, a concept of homosexual identity--or of gay and lesbian community--was barely articulated" (Miller xvii). In America, the idea of homosexual love was beyond societal understanding. Prior to the introduction of homosexuality people were free to care about each other on levels without the constraints of any insecurity base on a the possibility of getting a label.

In the 1980’s and 1990’s, society wasn’t the most accepting of places for people who were different from the “social norms”. Now I know, people today still struggle with trying to fit in and be “normal” but it was different. Being a gay man living in San Fransisco at the time, which had a large gay population, Richard Rodriguez had a hard time dealing with the discrimination he faced. Richard Rodriguez was an American journalist who wrote and published a memoir about his life as a gay man. In October of 1990, Rodriguez published his memoir “Late Victorians” in Harper’s Magazine, a critically acclaimed publication of the time. In his memoir, Rodriguez describes what it was like to realize he was gay and watch as the country changed to become a more accepting place. He does this by setting up how things can change and then explaining the actual ways things change for the gay population.

It’s widely known that the LGBT life is spreading. There’s Pride month, same sex marriage is now legal, and more people than ever are starting to show who they really are. Even though it’s starting to be more accepted, I still struggled for months to find a way to tell people. I was scared my mom wouldn’t let me be happy and embrace who I really wanted to be. Then I had to consider how my friends would react, and it was an awful feeling losing some of the people that I thought was my friends through everything. Good definitely came out of the whole process though. Although, there are definitely still people who discriminate and banish people from their lives. All because others cannot accept who people choose to be. According to Morris (2017), in the 1950s, there was an investigation into homosexuals holding government jobs. This in turn, led into the first American demand for equality. In 67 years, we still cannot find a way for the life styles to be nationally accepted. “In 1965, as the civil rights movement won new legislation outlawing racial discrimination, the first gay rights demonstrations took place in Philadelphia and Washington, DC.” Also, in 1970, is when the pride marches started taking place in June every year Morris (2017). Acceptance is a hard pill for many to swallow, and it may even be