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The Causes Of Hate Crime

Decent Essays

The murder of Matthew Shepard in October of 1998 sparked a movement against the seemingly new “gay hate crime.” Before the crime there was all sorts of laws and bills that were being decided upon that affected the LGBTQ community, but the murder of Matthew Shepard really brought LGBTQ rights into the light. Hate crimes oriented towards LGBTQ persons are not new, and have not decreased in frequency in the recent years despite the inclusion of anti-hate crime laws that were brought into place. Being educated on the topic and my role as a citizen in this country, I know that there is still a lot of growing that needs to take place in order to let the United States be one hundred percent accepting of the LGBTQ community and prevent more hate-crimes from arising. There is a systematic denial of rights in the United States currently that reflects the time period surrounding Matthew Shepard’s death. In order to successfully combat the denial of rights and the oppression the group faces that leads to murders like Shepard’s, it is important to take a look at what exactly is the cause of this inherent hatred of difference and start from there. One of the best approaches I can think of is to look at the issue from the standpoint of a justice-oriented citizen. As a justice-oriented citizen, the response to this issue would be to look at the stigma surrounding the LGBTQ community. LGBTQ discrimination can be considered a political issue, what with recent happenings like the

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