Last week, I read the article about the death of Matthew Shepard. I was angered and disturbed by the story and it made me sick to my stomach to read. The fact that two people could do the things they did to an innocent person makes me very uncomfortable. He was brutally beaten, burned, and tied up to a fence to be left for dead. In the reading, Shepard was described as a 5'2, 21 year old, openly gay male. The media made these facts known, but why do they have to mention his sexuality? They also mentioned what type of people the killers were. This gives the general public an opportunity to form their own opinion about Shepard and the two men who killed him. In the article, they discussed how if the nature of his death wasn't as intense, then they the story wouldn't have blown up as it did. For example, if the boy was just shot in the head, then the story would have been much smaller.
I understand and respect everyones opinions about the situation, but this is wrong and things like this need to be controlled. This story was a game changer for the hate crime legislation. 76% of people voted to help the hate crime situation and 19% voted against to help the situation. These numbers are positive, but they are still disappointing to hear that some people don't want to help. It doesn't matter if it is race, gender, or sexuality, brutally murdering someone for the who they are is disturbing. The article was shocking to read and eye opening, but I was very intrigued by how the authors talked about the story.
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