Hate Crimes

This past weekend my school did four performances of Moises Kaufman's "The Laramie Project". For those of you who don't know, "The Laramie Project" is about the aftermath of the murder of openly gay University of Wyoming Student, Matthew Shepard. He was beaten and pistol whipped by Aaron Mckinney and Russell Henderson. The murder was classified under the terms "gay panic", "gay bashing", and "hate crime". Now, while the performers did a wonderful job and the director Mrs. Grace Stanton did a wonderful job directing it, it got me thinking... Why is that classified as a hate crime? Why are hate crimes based only around sexual orientation, race, and religion? I don't find that very fair... One character in the play makes a reference to a highway patrolman that was killed right around the same time as Matthew... At the time Matthew got world-wide attention and multiple memorial services. What did that highway patrolman get? Maybe a small funeral with his close friends and family? Now don't get me wrong, what happened to Matthew was horrible, but when it comes to it, so was what happened to that highway patrolman... Matthew got world-wide attention because he was gay, which ultimately is a sin... Homosexuality is wrong. Westboro Baptist Church's Pastor Fred Phelps is an extremist who claims "God hates f**s". I wouldn't go as far as to say that, God doesn't hate anyone. God loves everyone with all his heart regardless of their sins, but God does indeed hate sin, and homosexuality is a sin... (For anyone reading this right now who isn't a believer and thinking "Well, if God doesn't hate anyone, why does He send them to hell?" I want you to know that God hasn't sent a single person to hell. They go their by their own choice. God offers the free gift of salvation through His son's blood. And he isn't going to force that gift on anyone. If you don't choose to accept that gift, that isn't His fault)Now that that tangent is over, why is it that people are murdered every day, but one gay man is murdered and he receives acclaim and is regarded as a hero world-wide because of a sinful choice he has made? And its under the term HATE crime. When you think about it, aren't basically all crimes committed based off of hate? You kill someone, no, ANYONE you're basically saying you hate the fact they're alive. You steal something, you're saying you hate the fact that you don't have that thing. The list goes on. But in the end, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson deserve the same punishment as any other murderer, nothing more simply because the victim was gay... Matthew Shepard got world-wide acclaim, a play, a film, a sequel to the play... What did the highway patrolman get? A section of the local Laramie newspaper, a small funeral, and a mention in the play about Shepard (By someone who could quite possibly be portrayed as an antagonist mind you). I don't find that fair... Take away from this blog whatever you want, but that's how I feel...