I've read an excerpt from the book. I found it almost impossible to read. It left me, quite literally, breathless. It left me with a weight on my throat and a tremor in my hands. Merely two pages of a mother's grief and I was paralyzed. I, who have never met any of the Shepard family (although one day I would like to thank Judy Shepard for her work and her strength) was undone by two pages. I can not imagine what it was, or is, to live it.
I went out today to get the book and I wonder how I'll get through the whole thing.
I'm hoping that the book recounts, graphically and explicitly, the attack that caused Matthew's death. I think it is important to show the level of violence that was perpetrated against Matthew. The violence that is perpetrated against the LGBT community. As well as the grief that violence leaves in its wake.
Why? The question must be, Why?
The answer, I believe, is repetition. Day in and day out. Hammered into our heads. Sinful. Against God. Abomination. Recruitment. Lifestyle. Faggot. Dyke. Dirty. Unnatural.
The words that we hear over and over again on the playground. In the locker room. In the newspapers. Magazines. Television. In debates. These words. Over and over and over.
There is, however, a wide chasm between word and deed. Certainly we have all said things that we would never do. But there is a bridge that easily spans this Grand Canyon of separation. It is traversed one step at time.
How was there a blind eye turned to slavery? Slaves were portrayed as not human. How did the Holocaust occur? Jews (as well as gays, gypsies, intellectuals, political prisoners and others) were portrayed as not human. In order to torture and murder one another we must first distance ourselves from the object of our derision. Make them something "other." Other than good. Other than us. And ultimately, other than human.
This is where the Maggie Gallaghers (listen to what she says here when she's not on good behavior speaking to the world at large, but to a specific religious group during an appearance on "Catholic Answers Live") and the Brian Browns and the Orrin Hatches and the Anita Bryants or any of the other proponents of inequality come in. They beckon their listeners, their followers, to begin crossing that bridge. They can hide behind religious freedom. But they reap what they sow.
To be clear, I've never heard one of them explicitly endorse violence towards the LGBT community (although Pastor Steven Anderson has expressed his views that homosexuals should be killed). But their words, always in opposition to science and human experience, always based on their religion no matter how they might cloak it depending on their audience, are the first steps towards the creation of the "other." Their words, which they repeat and repeat and repeat, are the seeds of separation. Of you and I are different. Of I am right and you are wrong. This message repeated is the precursor to violence.
Their words, legally, can be separated from the violence. But not morally. They are the beginning.
The results are the murder of 21 year old Matthew Shepard, the murder of 15 year old Lawrence King, the recent bombing of a gay bar in Rome, the attack of an LGBT center in Tel Aviv, the torture of gay men in Iraq, the murder of Brandon Teena, the murder of gay Marine August Provost, the nearly deadly beating by the police of Chad Gibson, the murder of Lateisha Green. The list goes on and on and on. These are the ones that are reported and that come to mind easily. One can only wonder at the true number of crimes against us that go unreported for any number of reasons.
The next time you hear someone arguing to deny the LGBT community of our rights as Americans - the next time you hear someone claim to love the sinner while hating the sin - the next time you hear someone making allegations against us that have been proven untrue - the next time you hear someone using God to explain their hate - hear it and understand it for what it is - the first step towards distancing. The first step towards the creation of the other. The first step towards hatred. The first step towards violence. The first step towards Matthew Shepard's murder.
1 comment:
My reaction to "Rogeronimo" today has less to do with the tragedy of Matthew Shepard's death and more to do with the idea of repetition. "We must never forget" has been the mantra of the Jewish people ever since the Holocaust became a known reality and the only way to keep people from forgetting is to repeat and repeat and repeat the story. Tell it over and over again. Tell it at each Seder. Tell it in each history class. Tell it in plays and films. Tell it in your amazing, blazing insanely imaginative storytelling, Tarantino. And the same thing must be done for for the LGBT community. Artists, politicians, ordinary people, we all can speak out. We are going to be blessed with a revival of "Angels in America" Off Broadway next year. There are opportunities for all of us to speak out.
The voices of "The Big Lie" have always been repeating it. We need loud, clear, cogent voices speaking the truth to remember the power of repetition as well.
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