So I was going through different things on my computer and i came acrossed an article i wrote on the gay community. Hope you like it!!!<3
A normal night at the University of Wyoming, Matthew Shepard, a homosexual student, went to the local gay bar where he enjoyed a drink. Not soon after arriving Matthew was approached by two men, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson. Both of these men told Matthew they were gay and asked Matthew if he wanted to go get something to eat with them. Matthew, being known as a charismatic person that loved making new friends, kindly obliged and left with Aaron and Russell. However, Aaron and Russell had other plans for Matthew that night.
Aaron and Russell took Matthew to a remote area in Laramie, where they tied Matthew up and to a split-rail fence and committed the ultimate hate crime. Matthew was beaten to unconsciousness by Aaron and Russell because of his sexual preference. Matthew was found eighteen hours later by a pedestrian who mistook him for a scarecrow, and died in the hospital later that day due to dramatic head trauma.
The Matthew Shepard story took the world by surprise. Gay rights were never brought up by anyone, but what happened to Matthew Shepard forced everyone to look at homosexual discrimination for the first time. However, ten years later, there are still hate crimes and non
acceptance of gay men and women everywhere, especially to teenagers and young adults within their school environments.
A recent study done by Harvard University states that 55% of discrimination acts are towards people based on their sexual orientation; also, 13% of these acts were fatal. Leah Barden, a student at Broome Community College, was surprised by this statistic. “I always thought of discrimination to be a black and white thing, never based on sexual orientation. This just goes to show how blind our society really is,” Barden says.
Our society has experienced many different forms of discrimination; however, they all seem to get over looked by black and white discrimination. Like Barden stated, many people are surprised the find out that the leading form of discrimination is homosexual discrimination. This is because our media over looks all other forms of discrimination and concentrate on skin color. If someone was to say the word “Nigger” to a black person, it would be front page news, but the terms “Fag” “Dyke” or “You’re so gay” goes unrecognized and unpunished in our society. “It’s slang. We all say it. It’s like second nature to everyone,” Morgan Ribar, a student at St Bonaventure University, states. “It really is unfair if you think about it, but we never are really taught about gay people in school, when there are specific classes on black rights.”
Being a gay male at college, I have learned quickly that I am now a minority and get looked at differently in every aspect no matter where I am. I feel that I need to hide myself sometimes just so I get the same fair treatment from all of my fellow students and professors. Trust is a very hard thing for me and so is accepting myself.
I’ve known I was gay since the day I was born and contrary to popular belief; I did not choose this lifestyle and would not wish it on anyone. Society made me feel that being gay was a bad thing, so I struggled with who I was for a long time. I would go into deep depressions and randomly would shake and cry. In school, I felt isolated from my classmates and really hated myself. At one point, I almost turned to suicide to try and solve my problems. If being a teenager wasn’t hard enough, I was different from everyone else and it really killed me inside.
Finally, I couldn’t take the pain anymore and I came out to my friends and family. The day I came out was the first day I can truly say I lived. The simple things in life like washing my hands or waking up seemed so much more amazing than they had before. I could finally allow myself to feel things and not run away from my fears but face them head on.
Coming to college I thought everyone would be open minded about all forms of identity, however, things didn’t go as planned. My roommate and I started out as good friends but after a while things started to change. He grew very distant and didn’t say a word to me when we passed each other in the halls. After a few weeks of this going on, I went to confront him in our room. When I entered I found all of his things packed up in brown boxes and I immediately started to sweat. He shortly came into the room I asked him what was going on. He simply responded with “you’re gay” grabbed his box, and walked out the door. When I heard those simple two words, my stomach dropped to the floor and so did my heart. There I stood, in front of someone I thought was my friend, being discriminated against because of something as small as my sexual orientation.
I feel everyone needs to be more informed about homosexual discrimination because it is a serious topic that often gets over looked. The number one reason as to why teenagers are committing suicide is because of their problems with their sexual identity, and if you ask me, that is a big deal.
Will it take another gay person being found on a fence, and beaten to death to open the eyes of America? Towns, cities, schools, and universities need to take homosexual discrimination into serious account. Who knows, maybe the next Matthew Shepard will be your neighbor, student, friend, son, or daughter.
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
djm.
