The Laramie Project - "Why Laramie?"
Why Laramie?
The town of Laramie, Wyoming is not in itself unique. The events which transpired on October 12, 1998 in Laramie, however, are. In the wake of tragic events, people often ask themselves, “why here?” The truth is that Matthew Shepard’s murder, while unprecedented at the time, could’ve happened just about anywhere. Wyoming is an average town, and the comments of its citizens reflect a fairly common perception of the LGBTQ community. Are the members of the community who shared close-minded views toward the LGBTQ community complicit in Matthew’s murder, or should his killers be viewed as outliers?
In 1998, 13 year old Matthew Shepard was robbed, tortured, beaten, and left for dead in the seemingly quiet town of Laramie, Wyoming. His attackers, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, were later shown to have been motivated by homophobia. In the Laramie Project, the Tectonic Theater Company interviews Laramie locals in order to better understand and give context to Matthew’s death. Many of the interviews illustrate a shared belief system within the town.
Even in the wake of Matthew Shepard’s murder, and knowing their words will be immortalized in The Laramie Project, many of the play’s interview subjects express homophobic opinions without shame. It’s entirely possible that their views are so normalized in Laramie that they don’t even notice when the things they say fit textbook definitions of homophobia. In act one, Marge Murray is quoted as saying “As far as the gay issue, I don’t give a damn one way or the other as long as they don’t bother me. And even if they did, I’d just say no thank you. And that’s the attitude of most of the Laramie population. They might poke one, if they were in a bar situation, you know, they had been drinking, they might actually smack one in the mouth, but then they’d just walk away...Laramie is live and let live” (Kaufman, 17). By the last line, Marge seems to think she’s painting Laramie in a good light. However, she is admitting that LGBTQ peoples are so othered in Laramie as to invoke “poking” as if they’re members of a circus troupe. While “live and let live” may sound tolerant, it doesn’t mean that the Laramie community is all inclusive. Rather, they seem to believe in something akin to: “don’t ask, don’t tell, and if you do tell, we may feel obligated to smack you in the mouth.”
There are interview subjects within the play who come across much more open minded than Marge, and some of them are even willing to admit that they were essentially homophobic before the introspection that followed Matthew’s murder. While their changes in mindset are certainly appreciated, their stories only exemplify the dangerous mentality shared by most of the town. Father Roger Schmidt, resident Catholic priest, recalls, “I was very vocal in this community when this happened – and I thought, “You know, should we, uh, should we call the bishop and ask him permission to do the vigil?” And I was like, “Hell, no, I’m not going to do that. His permission doesn’t make it correct” (Kaufman, 65). Father Schmidt’s statement shows his knowledge of the fact that there are many in the community who would think the sin of Matthew’s sexuality essentially justifies his death. They would refuse to remember and respect Matthew’s life lost, essentially validating the motivation behind his murder. There are some interviewees who outright give their support to Matthew’s murderers on the condition that Matthew had made a pass at one of them that night. That fits the textbook definition for “gay panic”, wherein violent crimes were committed against gay people and justified in court by claims of “violent temporary insanity”. Those who would support such a defense are an integral part of the problem that led to Matthew’s murder.
The people of Laramie often define their identities not with their words, but by the implication of their words. I feel that by allowing their community to define them and their behavior toward those they view as outsiders, anybody not outspoken in support of the LGBTQ community has played at least a tiny part in his murder. It can be argued that they aren’t to blame for the teachings of their community, but people do have a choice to define themselves outside of the people around them. Those who didn’t make that choice are the answer to “why Laramie?”, but will hopefully use what they’ve learned to educate and improve their community so that nothing like the events of October 12, 1998 ever happens again.
Works Cited:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_panic_defense