[Thom24761]

While murder–no matter who is the victim or the murderer–is horrible, some murders have ‘meaning.’ Some are perpetrated because the acts ‘mean.’ This is the concept behind hate crimes. Yes, both boys end up equally dead. But in one case, the crime carries a message to two groups of people. To gays: ‘We hate all of you; you live at our suffrance; you do not belong to the human community.’ Or, in short, ‘Death to all queers!’ To non-gays: ‘Gay people do not–and will not–belong to our community.’ In the other case, the murder is not a ‘message’ crime. No one was saying: ‘Strait people beware: you live at our suffrance.’ This does not mean the murder is less horrible, any more than it means that the victim is less dead. Nonetheless, the message matters a lot: Many, many murderers have escaped conviction and any punishment by claiming that their victims were gay and therefore deserved to be killed. In fact, upon occasion judges have even praised the murderer for ridding the community of a homosexual. One of the things that made the Shepard case special was how the mistreatment of Matt graphically represented the way that gay people have been abused for centuries. That’s why it was news: it made people realize something that many of them had ignored for their whole lives.

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Name : Thom24761, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, City : Washington, State : DC, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

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