The Laramie project opened my eyes to a story I vaguely had remembered from when I was a child, though I did not really understand what the big deal was, I was eight and ignorant. Watching the Laramie Project, I saw and heard many things I could have gone through life without hearing. Not because they were gruesome or cruel, but people did this, people who at the time were a year older then I am now, people who grew up in Small Town USA, a postcard community for the West. But from this evil, rose good.
The people of Laramie in the film kept saying they were a “live and let live” community, which as time went on became more obvious they were really saying they were a “don’t ask, don’t tell” community.” Thinking about it as the movie went on, I thought about this summer, working at Fenway Park during the Paul McCartney concert, and when Paul sang, “You used to say live and let live…/But in this ever changing world in which we live in/Makes you give in and cry/Say live and let die.” I realized this is what happens at the end of the film, from Matthew’s death rose courage, like a phoenix from its ashes, only instead of one, hundreds of people from across the nation and around the world rose up, and announced their sexuality with pride.
They said they were going to live, and let the terror die, the terror of what would happen to me if I “came out.” In the 11 years that have passed, hate crime legislation has finally passed, but is that what we as a nation have been striving to reach for so long? Does it hold true to other fights people have had for so many years?
In the almost 234 years since the Declaration of Independence has been written, we as a nation have made strides towards the statement “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Granted when the Declaration was drafted “men” only included white males, but since then “men” now includes people of all genders, races, creeds, religions, etc. There are exceptions now though, because of legislations past, we are equal in politics, but our lives now have different values placed upon them. Hate crime legislation, though logical in installment and passing of bills and laws, creates an imbalance in how equal we are as people.
National Defense Authorization Act states those found guilty of a hate crime “shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years, fined in accordance with this title, or both” or “shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life, fined in accordance with this title, or both, if; death results from the offense; or the offense includes kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill.“ The second half of the sentencing is a restatement of current law for the crimes listed, not matter what the motivation for the crime was. What creates an inequality in the population is the first section of the sentencing. What this is saying is, if someone has a crime committed against them, and someone else has the same crime committed against them because of their race, religion, sexuality, etc, while one criminal could walk free, the other criminal may go away for 1o years more then the original sentence. For within the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the act gives authority to the Attorney General to supply communities with extra manpower and priority in federal labs to prosecute the alleged offender. This also raises the question in my mind of the investigators, prosecutors and lab technicians developing “tunnel vision.”
In my first year seminar (Introduction to Forensic Science and Real Life CSI), we were taught about the Cameron Todd Willingham case, a Texas man who is thought to have been wrongfully convicted and executed due to invalid forensic evidence. What if this happens to a person who is tried for a hate crime and put to death instead of life in prison? What if this happens because of the extra, advanced technology that happens to have a flaw? Expectations are created when extra money is added, people want answers, and sometimes human nature takes over and lawyers miss these wrongs until it is too late. Timothy Masters was a more local case we learned about, a man who spent 10 years in jail after being wrongfully convicted, what if he had been charged with a hate crime and convicted, what if he was given the needle? The police were so certain it was him, there were no doubts in their mind. Well they were wrong, A hypothetical situation now, a man sets fire to the home of a Jewish family for personal reasons, another man walking along the street is spotted by police matching the criminals description. The police bring the man to the station, find out he is a member of the Arian Brotherhood, and they are convinced they have their man. For arson and murder the innocent man is put on death row because it is a hate crime, and though he may have committed countless crimes, justice is not served because a guilty man walks.
Hate crimes do cause terror in populations, but when doesn’t crime cause terror in a population. According to a November 16, 2006 article in the Seattle Times, 15.4% of the population of San Francisco is gay. Though depending on the area there may be higher or lower percentages, however, should someone commit a crime in San Fran, there is a 3-in-20 chance it was committed against someone who is homosexual or bisexual. Is this automatically a hate crime? No. Say the crime was robbery, and it happened in a neighborhood with approximately half homes homo- or bisexual and the other half heterosexual. And say this is a very nice neighborhood in San Francisco, and the robber comes back and happens to hit the home of a gay couple. This all happens by chance, but going to sleep the night after the second robbery the heterosexual families aren’t going to bed with their doors unlocked. The same criminal terrifies the population of the entire area. With this all going on, is there terror in the entire GLBTQ population across America? No, or at least it shouldn’t be. It’s understandable for people to be afraid when a crime occurs, but until proven beyond a reasonable doubt the crime was committed out of hate, there is no reason to feel a group is targeted. Acts of terrorism are understandable to cause fear through the entire group, but those are not everyday crimes. The value of one life should not supersede the value of another, no matter what their religion, race, sexuality, etc. That is what the Civil Rights movement was all about, equality; in the work place, in credit, in buying homes, so why is there inequality in the court room?
A quote that has found a special place in me, in the realization of life occurred during the end of The Boondock Saints in a courtroom in Boston, Murphy says to the crowd, “Do not kill, do not rape, do not steal, these are principles which every man of every faith can embrace.” And embrace this I do, but one key fact about this quote is it covers all humans, about the entirety of the world, it does not specify who it would be worse to kill, and that is what people need to see and accept.
Being born and raised Irish Catholic in Boston, I have been taught to love my brother and treat others the way I would like to be treated myself. I also have been taught Leviticus 18:22 translated as “Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.” But I also know God loves all of his children, whether they do right or wrong by the Bible, as long as they believe and praise his word. Living in the first state to legalize and practice same-sex marriages, I have seen protests supporting and condemning the decision of the state. From all this, I have learned and decided physical attraction is based on who one is, whether is it to the same or opposite sex, and some argue God made them that way when other are saying they are defying God. I believe the reason is not important, what I do believe is to honor my neighbor.
Scientifically I am a Homo sapien, unique in my own rights, but in the eyes of the nation why should I be any different and represented any differently then another man because he is different racially, religiously, etc. I do not believe Hate Crime Legislation is fair and equal, which is what the nation has been striving for since the abolition of slavery, and continued within the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
What is fair and equal we pre hate crime legislation. I do not condone beatings or murders based on bias, but murder is murder. At the end of the investigation, someone’s life was wrongfully ended and someone should pay. But they should pay the same price for killing one man as they do for another, that is what is fair and equal, and it is what we should return our nation to.
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