In our century, and in earlier centuries, members of the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgender community have been persecuted because of their sexual orientation. This has been a colossal dilemma in society for several years. As far back as Sapho and prior, humanity has been ill treated because of how a large portion of society is looked down upon. There are many cases even in the past decade that prove this. Gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender people are the third highest category of hate crimes committed on minorities. The first two are race and religion. The GLBT community is now being treated like African Americans in the late 19th and early 20th century. These are called hate crimes.
The most recent famous gay persecution is that of Matthew Shepard. Mat was murdered on October 12th 1998. That day, the media from all over went to Laramie Wyoming where Mat went to college. His murder prompted unprecedented media coverage and focused the nation's attention on anti-gay hate crimes like never before. Mat's father Dennis can describe Matthew the best. He says:.
"Matt's gift was people. He loved being with people, helping people, and making others feel good. The hope of a better world free of harassment and discrimination because a person was different kept him motivated. All his life, he felt the stabs of discrimination. Because of that, he was sensitive to other people's feelings. He was nave to the extent that, regardless of the wrongs people did to him, he still had faith that they would change and become "nice-. Matt trusted people, perhaps too much. Violence was not a part of his life until his senior year in high school. He would walk into a fight and try to break it up. He was the perfect negotiator. He could get two people talking to each other again as no one else could."".
Not only did the brutal attack effect Matthew and his family and friends, but the whole town of Laramie. Media stormed into the town and stayed for long periods of time while persistently galling all of Laramie.