The Laramie Project Page #5

McKinney's head off.

And I think about Henderson...

You know, two absolutely...

...human beings caused so much grief

for so many people.

They wanna start me

on these AZT drugs immediately.

If you...

...if you start them within 36 hours...

...maybe that can stop you

from getting the disease.

This has been just terrible

for my whole family...

...but mostly for her and her kids.

Those drugs, the AZT drugs.

She throws up every day.

She cries so much,

she's afraid to touch her Kids.

I just hope she doesn't go before me.

No matter how you dice it,

I did have the opportunity.

If I had had amazing 20-20 hindsight...

...I had the opportunity to stop what

occurred that night. I could have.

I should have Known these guys

shouldn't be talKing to him.

I shouldn't have had my head down...

...while I was washing dishes

for those 20 seconds.

All those little things I could've done,

and I could've stopped this.

So what the hell was I thinking?

And I Keep seeing that picture in my head...

...of when I found him.

And it is not pleasant whatsoever.

I wanna get it out. I don't want it in there.

That's a big part of it for me,

having to see that picture...

...in my head. I just don't want it in there.

Matthew Shepard's

the first gay person I ever saw.

It's Kind of unbelievable to me that

I was the person that found him...

...because the big question

with my religion is:

Why did God want me to find him?

"Let your light shine

"In the darKness

"Before the dawn

"No more sorrow

"In the nighttime

"let it shine

"Oh, lord, let it shine"

Candlelight vigils were held

around the country last night.

Denver, Fort Collins, Detroit, Chicago...

...Washington DC, Atlanta...

All expressing hopes for

Matthew's full recovery.

I can't stop crying.

This is what I was trying to stop.

This is what I was trying to stop.

We must do more to deal...

...with violent bigotry, hate crimes...

I hope that in the grief of this moment

and in the shared outrage across America...

...Americans will once again

search their hearts...

...and do what they can to reduce

their own fear and anxiety...

...and anger at people who are different.

And I hope that Congress will pass

the hate crimes legislation.

I thinK the gay community

is taKing this as an advantage:

"This is a good time for us to exploit this."

They made it sound like

it was ten murders instead of one.

They're accusing the ranchers of being

unreasonable and unsympathetic...

...because of how he was...

And what his persuasions were.

Well, he would certainly

be welcome in our home.

We'd visit, sit down, have a cup of coffee.

What did you think when you heard

two boys from your town did this?

I certainly don't approve of homosexuals...

...but I don't think anybody has a right

to do what those two boys did.

Where do you think that comes from,

their hatred towards homosexuals?

I think what most people fear

in the gay community...

...is that sexuality is

their number one concern.

Not many people condone it...

When you wear it on your sleeve

like a banner...

There's this whole idea,

"You leave me alone, I leave you alone."

It's even in some of the western literature.

"Live and let live."

That is such crap.

Basically, what it boils down to...

...if I don't tell you I'm a fag,

you won't beat the crap out of me.

What's so great about that?

That's a great philosophy?

I'll sit in church and the reverend

will tell you flat out...

...he does not agree

with homosexuality, right?

I don't feel like I know enough

about certain things...

...just to be able to say

that homosexuality is right...

...when I've been raised my whole life

that homosexuality is wrong.

My parents brought me up Catholic.

I was brought up

to love the sinner, hate the sin.

Iove the person for who they are,

but condemn them...

...for what they do. Condemn the lifestyle.

I would have to say now

I don't agree with it.

I don't agree, and maybe that's just

because I couldn't do it...

...but I don't hate them,

I won't persecute them.

I'm not gonna let this get in between

me and the other person at all...

...or in between you and I.

Not at all.

It's preached in schools

that being gay is okay.

If my kids asked me,

I'd set them down and I'd tell them:

"This is what gay people do."

"This is what animals do, okay?"

I'd tell them, "This is the life.

This is the lifestyle. This is what they do."

And I'd say,

"This is why I believe it's wrong."

Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame!

In New YorK, the protests for

Matthew Shepard turned into a near riot.

Police on horses were pushing

into the crowds.

The whole world is watching!

As of (:
00 a.m. Today, Matthew Shepard

remains in critical condition...

...with severe head injuries in the

surgical neuro intensive care unit.

As I told you before,

it's not a lifestyle with which I agree.

You still feel that way?

Yes.

The family continues to emphasize...

...that the media respect their privacy.

The family also wants to thank

the American public...

...for their concern

and kind thoughts for Matthew.

We went to the candle vigil and...

...it was so good to be with people

who felt liKe sh*t.

I Kept feeling liKe

I don't deserve to feel this bad.

Somebody got up and said, "Come on...

"...let's show the world that laramie

is not this kind of a town."

But it is this kind of a town.

If it wasn't, then why did this happen here?

I mean, that's a lie,

because it happened here.

So how could it not be a town

where this Kind of thing happens?

How can you even say that?

We have to mourn this, and

we have to be sad, but we live in a town...

...a state, a country

where sh*t like this happens.

People are trying to distance

themselves from this crime...

...and we need to own this crime, I feel.

Everyone needs to own it.

We are like this.

We are like this. We are like this.

Not having to deal that much with

the gay community here in laramie...

...once we started working

into the case and actually...

...talking to people that were gay, realizing

what their underlying fears were...

...that's when it sort of hit home.

This is America.

You don't have the right to feel that fear.

Do you think a lot of people

in laramie feel the same way?

We're always gonna have people

that hold up the old ideals...

...and I was probably one of them

14 months ago.

But I'm not gonna put up with it anymore

or listen to it.

And if they don't like my views on it, fine.

The door goes both ways.

I've already lost a couple of buddies,

but I don't care.

I feel more comfortable...

...and I can sleep at night now.

- I really wanna thanK you for having us.

- Sure, it's our pleasure.

These gatherings,

this is a recent thing for us.

This really only happened since Matthew.

And there's a relief

in that we finally connected.

It's nice to see

there are a lot of us in laramie.

Is everybody in the company gay?

No, just the three of us.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes