October 6, 1998

ned? Was this good or bad?

What influence did this have on the world? A nation? A city? Your existence?

Do you appreciate this event? Do you loathe it?

The date marks the death of Matt Shepard, a student at the University of Wyoming who was found tied to a fence after being beaten and tortured. The reason for such violence was that he was gay. I don't think there needs to be any explanation on whether this was good or bad. As a result of his death, hate crime legislation received more focus in the government. In 2002, an act in the name of Shepard was passed, and was finally signed by Obama in 2009. This event brought our attention to the dispute between the morals of homosexuality. Personally, I believe it is not our business as to what kind of people others are into. This event is tragic; an innocent person lost his life simply because of who he was. What made the situation worse was the Westboro Church's activity at Shepard's funeral, as they held up picket signs protesting the funeral, with quotes such as "No tears for queers" focused prominently in their strikes.

Recently, New York had a gay marriage law passed, which leads us to think that things such as sexuality can be of concern in the government, alongside more important matters such as education and the economy. As such, the morals of our society comes into question. Is all this really that big of a deal?