Matthew Shepard died last Monday morning.
A gay young man in the prime of his life brutally and horribly murdered.
The insanity of it demands that a question be asked by every sensitive
human being in America.
Who must assume responsibility for creating an environment that
stimulates and promotes such ignorant and brutal violence?
Republican 'leaders' Trent Lott and Dick Armey proclaim on national
television that they 'believe in their bible and homosexuality is a sin
against God'. Where is their responsibility?
Fundamentalist preachers degrade their pulpits with inflammatory
language about gays and lesbians. Television fundamentalist preachers
even produce 'special' shows on homosexuality that lead directly and
indirectly to violence and to depression, self hatred, and suicide for
sensitive young gay and lesbian human beings. They are the victims of
this avalanche of hatred from 'Christian' pulpits and 'Christian'
television.
The inflammatory and hysterical rhetoric spewed out by these television
preachers feeds and fuels the ignorant, the violent, the unstable and
the lunatic fringe of society.
Where is their responsibility in the death of Matthew Shepard?
They use the bible like it has been used in the past to support slavery
from the pulpits and to discriminate against women. They aim isolated
passages now at gays, even as Martin Luther and Hitler used the bible
against Jews.
To be an 'accomplice' or 'accessories after the fact' in a murder is a
crime as I understand it.
The Secretary of Health under President Bush did a national study on
'Gay and Lesbian Youth Suicide' and they said this:
"Gay youth are three times more likely to attempt suicide than other
young people. Suicide is the leading cause of death among gay and
lesbian youth. Gay and Lesbian youth are strongly affected by the
hostile elements of society against them. Tens of thousands of others
fail at suicide attempts and will go on living lives of quiet, lonely,
closeted desperation."
This is not just a Wyoming problem. It is a cancer growing all through
the bible belt, the political and religious right wing, as well as
fundamentalists everywhere in America.
What heinous support are our national Republican leaders contributing
to this insanity?
Matthew Shepard died last Monday. It is a truth, do with it what you will, that those who must assume some responsibility for this murder extend far, far beyond the two thugs who pounded his head into mush and left him in the freezing night tied to a fence like a scarecrow.... to die.