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Discriminations and Hate Crimes in The LGBT Community
Discriminations and Hate Crimes in The LGBT Community
Discriminations and Hate Crimes in The LGBT Community
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Edward Acosta
Ms.Maloney
6 October 2017
Informational Research Essay
On October 12th 1998, six days after he was tied to a split-rail fence and brutally attacked, Matthew Shepard was pronounced dead at Poudre Valley Hospital, in Fort Collins, Colorado. At the time, Matthew Shepard was a twenty-one-year-old, openly gay man, studying political science and international relations at the University of Wyoming. Shepard had been pursuing a foreign service career at the time of his death. This horrendous tragedy made nationwide news and sparked a huge debate regarding what should be considered the proper definition of a hate crime. As well as bringing attention to other important lgbt issues. His death has made way for many new pro-lgbt organizations,
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His face had been covered in blood, aside from the two tear tracks he had running down the sides of his cheeks .“The only thing I could see was partially somebody’s feet and I got out of my vehicle and raced over...I seen what appeared to be to a young man, 13, 14 years old, because he was so tiny, laying on his back, and he was tied to the bottom end of a pole. I did the best I could…” said Officer Reggie Fluty when she arrived at the scene. Shepard was then immediately rushed to the hospital while in a …show more content…
Matthews friends and family were convinced that shepard was targeted and beaten because of his sexual orientation. The national press quickly arrived at Shepards hospital room. "We knew in the newsroom the day it happened, this is going to be a huge story, this is going to attract international interest," said Jason Marsden of "The Casper Star-Tribune."
Police later found the bloodied gun and Shepards lost wallet and shoes in Mckinney's truck. Once these key pieces of evidence were found, it was simple for the authorities to be able connect the beating of Matthew Shepard to both McKinney and Henderson. Finally they were brought to trial, and the pair was charged with felony murder and kidnapping. Both received two consecutive life life terms for their crimes against Matthew Shepard, yet they were unable to be charged with a hate crime because of Wyoming's criminal law at the time of the
Dupree’s case. Through DNA testing they were able to clear him and get him released on parole in 2010 because the rape and robbery in which he was convicted occurred in the same incident. I believe that there was sufficient evidence during the initial trial to provide Mr. Dupree due process and be exonerated of these crimes. However, the systemic nature of discrimination and racism prevailed in the case. The system has always been flawed, and justice has not always been a priority for some, especially when it concerns minorities. The attitude is usually that all Blacks are the same, and if they didn’t do the crime at hand, they have done something they were not caught for, so it doesn’t matter. Even though Mr. Dupree was innocent at the time, the fact that Massingill had a weapon on him, and was also a suspect of another rape which he was committed for, in the eyes of the police, I believe that they overlooked the facts of this particular case, simply because he was with Mr. Dupree, and the two assailants were two Black
The two murderers had beaten him nearly to death, “gouged out his eye, shot him in the head,” and then disposed of his body into the river (History.com Staff). Three days later, his body was found, but his “face had been mutilated beyond recognition” and his body was only distinguishable because of a ring he wore on his finger (Biography.com Editors). Two weeks after Emmett’s body was buried, the two men were tried for murder and “an all-white jury acquitted the defendants” (Latson, Jennifer). Thereafter, the two confessed in an interview with Look magazine claiming that they had not intended to kill him. However, the two men had already been tried for Emmett’s murder once, so “public confession did not yield more charges” (Latson, Jennifer). So, in spite of the murderers confessing their outrageous deed, they managed to be declared as innocent and will die with Emmett’s blood on their
Shepard was a homosexual man, and his murder was labeled as a hate crime, a murder which, in the late 90's, dominated the airwaves: “Matthew Shepard” was the name at the tip of everyone's tongue, but what made his murder special? JoAnn Wypilewski points out in her essay “A Boy's Life” that, “Gay men are killed horribly everywhere in this country, more than thirty just since Shepard – one of them in Richmond, Virginia, beheaded” (609). When so many men are killed in a similar context why do we specifically care about Matthew Shepard – or why don't we? Searching simply the name “Matthew Shepard” in the Google database yields thousands of results in the form of articles, news periodicals, and videos. The media exposure of the Matthew Shepard case is overwhelming. The overload of information can leave us clueless. As college students of the twenty-teens who are fifteen years removed from the incident how do we care about Matthew Shepard?
The Emmett Till murder shined a light on the horrors of segregation and racism on the United States. Emmett Till, a young Chicago teenager, was visiting family in Mississippi during the month of August in 1955, but he was entering a state that was far more different than his hometown. Dominated by segregation, Mississippi enforced a strict leash on its African American population. After apparently flirting with a white woman, which was deeply frowned upon at this time in history, young Till was brutally murdered. Emmett Till’s murder became an icon for the Civil Rights Movement, and it helped start the demand of equal rights for all nationalities and races in the United States.
The primary thing that persuaded my current viewpoint on race relations was the George Zimmerman trial for the homicide of Trayvon Martin. This was a case that took place when I was relatively young, around the age of ten, so I feel that the event has shaped the way that I view racism today. My mother studied racism for her degree, so I was never particularly ignorant about the topic of race. However, the Trayvon Martin case was the first time in my life that I could remember a blatant and publicized act of racial injustice. Hence, it provided evidence and validation for all the things that I had been taught about race up until this point. However, it further influenced the way I viewed race because it allowed me to see specifically see the
At approximately 0230 hours on February 16, 2016, a male subject was struck on the left side of his face by a pistol. Rashaun Grant, victim of the assault, was struck by the suspect, Rashaun Grant, after an argument occurred. Rashaun was transported to Hampton Regional Medical Center by his mother. The suspect fled the scene before Law Enforcement arrival.
A hate crime is defined as “a crime motivated by racial, sexual, or other prejudice, typically one involving violence” (Oxford Dictionaries). Matthew Shepard’s death caused great disorder in Laramie despite the fact that it was originally an unknown town. In a sense, Laramie itself has changed due to the media attention of this event. Hate was originally “not a Laramie value” (Kaufman 15), but after this hate crime, the public has great sympathy for Matthew Shepard and distrust towards Laramie’s people. Even with all the support as well as the parade for Shepard, it is quite disappointing that there weren’t any regulations or protection offered to homosexuals, bisexuals, or transgender, after this crime. The media only showcased the event and
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 have dedicated themselves in fighting for
In 1954, Sam Sheppard was accused of allegedly killing his wife, Marilyn. During this time, the media went absolutely wild. The way they obtained their stories was completely unlike any way they had gone about getting stories before. They completely invaded Sheppard's privacy to obtain "good" stories for their papers and television newscasts. Also, more stories were written about the case than any other event that had been covered in the past. Even the way stories were written was different than the usual style of writing used for that time period. Ethics were completely disregarded during the case. Because of this, Sheppard was released from prison, with the reason that the media had influenced the case so that the jury found him guilty based on the news stories. This had never happened before. Due to the unethical practices displayed by the media, the field of journalism instituted practices, which limited the power of the press.
In The Laramie Project, Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney both commit a crime, but Russell Henderson has a guilty conscience. During the trial for Matthew Shepard’s murder Henderson says:
On October 12, 1998 Matthew Shepard, an openly gay student at the University of Wyoming was beaten, tormented, tied to a fence, and left to die in freezing temperatures. The two men were sentenced to life in jail, only after the media had covered the trial and the whole world knew of the attack (HRC 2).... ... middle of paper ... ...
Hate crimes are not a new concept for society, because hate crimes have always been around. While the study of hate crimes and the laws that have been passed because of hate crimes is relatively new, hate crimes have always been around. Hate crimes were committed as far back as the 1800’s and even back to The Civil War. Hate crimes are prevalent in society today just like they were in the past; because whether the crimes are aimed towards Muslims, the gay community, or any other minority group; they are fueled by something that every person has come into contact with- prejudice. Prejudice is defined as a preconceived thought or opinion about someone. While prejudice can be positive, in the concept of hate crimes they are negative feelings, thoughts, or opinions that are aimed towards a certain religious, ethnic, race, or even sexual orientation group. The typical definition of hate crime is that a crime has been committed by a majority member against a minority member simply because the victim was a minority. However, as of recent the definition has been expanded to allow for any crime committed by bias towards the victim’s social group such as anti-gay or anti-lesbian. Hate crimes are an extreme, potential effect due to prejudice and discrimination towards someone based on ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. These crimes are committed against an individual or a group of individuals based solely on the fact that they are part of a group that the offender doesn’t approve of whether it is because they are a different race or following an alternative lifestyle. While the hate crimes are not something that is new in society because prejudice has always been around, the concept of a bias-crime and the legal precedent that it ha...
Hate crimes has become an increasing problem here in the united states ranging from racial hatred to gender discrimination but what are hate crimes? According to Dr. Jack McDevitt, a criminologist at Northeastern University in Boston Hate crimes are message crimes, Hate crimes are defined as crimes that are violent act against people, property, or organizations because of the group to which they belong or identify with. The coined term “hate crimes” was first used No matter how many different definitions there are for hate crimes but we all can agree that hate crimes are wrong and immoral. But within hate crimes they are many different types of hate crimes. One of the main reasons that people commit hate crimes would have to be because of racial hatred. Racial Hatred is a major factor in hate crimes with African Americans being the main target. According to the FBI database in 1996, 4,831 out of the 7,947 such crimes reported to the FBI, or 60%, were promulgated because of race, with close to two-thirds (62%) targeting African Americans.
Matthew Sheppard is one of the thousands of victims who have suffered from the form of violence known as hate crimes.
When one hears the words “LGBT” and “Homosexuality” it often conjures up a mental picture of people fighting for their rights, which were unjustly taken away or even the social emergence of gay culture in the world in the1980s and the discovery of AIDS. However, many people do not know that the history of LGBT people stretches as far back in humanity’s history, and continues in this day and age. Nevertheless, the LGBT community today faces much discrimination and adversity. Many think the problem lies within society itself, and often enough that may be the case. Society holds preconceptions and prejudice of the LGBT community, though not always due to actual hatred of the LGBT community, but rather through lack of knowledge and poor media portrayal.