The Laramie Project Essay

Lisamarie Esposito

Laramie

                                          Throughout the reading of The Laramie Project which was a play about the brutal beating and eventual death of a young gay man named Matthew Shepard who used to live in Laramie Wyoming; I found two people with very different views on what happened to the Mathew. The two people I found to have two difference attitudes on Mathew Shepard’s death, were Father Roger Schmitt and the Baptist Minister. Father Roger Schmitt seemed to be more on the Mathew Shepard side when he talks about how violence is not only the act committed when the two accused boys hurt Mathew but when you call other people names.  The Baptist Minister on the other hand seems to be against Mathew even though he does not think what the two boys did was “Right” he still did not condone Mathew Shepard being gay and goes on to say that he should have thought about his “wrongness” while he slowly died. These two to me seemed to be on totally different sides of the spectrum on the topic.

Father Roger Schmitt to me was on Mathew’s side not only because he talks about the horror of the violence against Mathew but because he spoke about all violence generally against gay or lesbian people. Father Roger called name calling “The seed of violence.” (Moises Kaufman, pg. 66.) While talking about people calling other people dyke, les, or faggot because of their homosexuality. He was telling how he was strongly against any form of violence against any person or gay person even if it is something as little as name calling when he says “To somehow cultivate that kind of violence… I would resent it immensely.” (Moises Kaufman, pg. 66.).By saying all of this he is showing me that he was on Mathew shepherds side.

The Baptist Minister to me was against Mathew even when he says the two boys that were accused have “Forfeited their lives.” And “Now I think they deserve the death penalty…” (Moises Kaufman, pg. 68.) because he still is negative towards Mathew. He had gone on to say “I hope that when Matthew Shepard as he was tied to that fence, that he had time to reflect… and that before he slipped into that coma he had a chance to reflect on his lifestyle.” (Moises Kaufman, pg. 69.) This shows me that he was indeed against Matthew. He went by his faith to say that the two boys that killed him were wrong in what they did to Matthew was worse than the two boy’s because he was gay, that is at least how it showed me as I read.

Both the, The Baptist Minister and Father Roger Schmitt have inherited their views two different ways. Father Roger Schmitt seemed to have his views innate and for The Baptist Minister he has to me developed his outlook through cultural development. I believe this because both of them have same knowledge of the bible yet they both have their own views on the subject. Father Roger Schmitt still didn’t hate Mathew for the way he was even though he studied the bible the same as The Baptist Minister. I believe that is because his views were innate while The Baptist Minister kept his view strictly on what he was taught and not how he felt.