Submitted by Charlton Stanley (Otteray Scribe), Guest Blogger
The Laramie Project is a play by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project about the torture-murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student in 1998. Mutilated and almost dead, he was found tied to a barbed wire fence just outside Laramie, Wyoming. That fence was the inspiration for the play’s logo. Matthew Shepard died of his injuries shortly after being taken to a local hospital. The murder was called a hate crime, but in 1998 there were few hate crime laws, and there was none in Wyoming.
Shortly after Matthew Shepard was killed, Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project went to Laramie and interviewed dozens of local people about the murder. The play draws on over 400 hours of interviews with residents of Laramie, as well as company members’ own journal entries and published news reports. The Laramie Project is divided into three acts. Eight actors portray more than sixty characters in a series of short scenes.
The play has been performed all over the US and internationally as well. Venues have included high schools, colleges, and community theaters across the US. As of this writing, The Laramie Project has also been performed at professional playhouses in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. Not surprisingly, Fred Phelps and his merry band of haters have frequently picketed The Laramie Project.
Credit: Department of Theatre Arts at the University of Mississippi
This week, The Laramie Project is on the playbill at the University of Mississippi, known to students and Southeast Conference sports fans as Ole Miss. The play has been well received, and presented without incident until last Tuesday evening. About 20 freshman football players are taking a course in the arts and part of the course requirement is for them to attend a certain number of plays. Tuesday night, the players allegedly instigated a disruption and heckling in the audience. I say “allegedly” because the investigation is still ongoing. Among other things, audience members, allegedly egged on by the players, began yelling homophobic slurs at the cast. Catcalls of “faggot,” “fag,” and worse were heard coming from the group. They encouraged other audience members to join in with the heckling, taking pictures, and generally behaving badly. Play director Rory Ledbetter said the audience reaction was “borderline hate speech.” Cast members and the characters they were portraying were heckled for their body types and sexual orientation, among other things. Ironically, only one member of the cast is gay.
“I am the only gay person on the cast,” Garrison Gibbons said. “I played a gay character in the show, and to be ridiculed like that was something that really made me realize that some people at Ole Miss and in Mississippi still can’t accept me for who I am.”
As soon as theater faculty figured out the heckling had started in the group of football players, House Director Lyda Phillips, who is a theater major and an athletics ambassador, called a coach, who then called Drew Clinton, the Associate Director of Academic Support, asking him to come to the auditorium. According to the person I talked to on campus, he was furious, ordering the student athletes to apologize for their behavior. After the play, the players went backstage to meet with the cast. One of the players acted as spokesman for the group. Some of the cast members cried at the apology.
Ole Miss Theater Department Chair Rene Pulliam was quoted by the Daily Mississippian, the student newspaper, as saying. “…I’m not sure the players truly understood what they were apologizing for.”
Rory Ledbetter told reporters, ““The football players were certainly not the only audience members that were being offensive last night, but they were definitely the ones who seemed to initiate others in the audience to say things, too. It seemed like they didn’t know that they were representing the university when they were doing these things.”
Thursday morning, head football coach Hugh Freeze sent a Tweet that has been picked up by sports media tweeted Thursday morning: “We certainly do not condone any actions that offend or hurt people in any way. We are working with all departments involved to find the facts.”
By way of background, for those who may have seen the movie, The Blind Side, Freeze was Michael Oher’s high school football coach. His real name was not used in the movie; instead, he was called “Coach Cotton.” Freeze has a reputation for being a strong leader who does not tolerate nonsense, and demands his players behave themselves at all times, insisting on excellence both on and off the playing field. As my on-campus informant told me yesterday, “Hugh Freeze is no Joe Paterno.”
The University also issued an open letter to the public and students over the signatures of Chancellor Dan Jones and Athletics Director Ross Bjork. The letter condemns the actions of the group, and makes it clear that such behavior will not be tolerated. The entire letter can be seen here.
The William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation is named after former Governor William Winter. The Institute has been active after other controversial incidents on campus, and I just learned the are now involved with this incident. They are making plans to keep more incidents like this one from happening on campus again. There are plans underway for athletes and students to attend some sort of cultural sensitivity training sessions.
Last spring, the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs created the Bias Incident Response Team (BIRT). Its mission is, “…to support the university’s efforts to establish and sustain the university’s expectations around inclusivity and to provide an atmosphere that supports a healthy curricular and co-curricular experience.” BIRT Co-Chair Merrill Magruder said the cast and crew of The Laramie Project have stressed they did not want to see punitive action, but rather make this an educational opportunity for those who were in attendance.
This morning, University officials investigating the incident say they are having difficulty making positive identification of who was involved. For the individuals who have been identified, officials and faculty are not sure about the degree of involvement. Part of the problem is the fact the theater was dark.
Adding to the University administration concern is the fact that October is LGBTQ month at Ole Miss. Last Thursday there was a reception at Bryant Hall. Chancellor Dan Jones, Athletics Director Ross Bjork, and other campus leaders spoke at the reception. Student cast members and faculty advisers were also at the reception. Next week, during LGBTQ month, the University will host Pride Week. The last thing the University administration and student body leadership want is another incident.
At any rate, there will not be enough time to determine exactly who did what, and what must be done before the Auburn game today. In the body of this story I have provided links to the Daily Mississippian so the reader can follow events as news develops.
It will probably be sometime next week before decisions are made. What do you think is the most appropriate way for this university, or any other school, to handle this situation or one like it?
Oro Lee: Yep, they are legally an adult, but if we mean an individual who is fully cognizant of the risks and consequences of their actions – not quite yet. The portion of the brain that handles those matters will not be fully mature until the age of 24-25, a year or two earlier for females. Kinda explains why the rate of military volunteers drops dramatically after 25.
I have pointed out that medical fact myself frequently on this blog, so the flaw is in the law of making 18 legal adulthood. Until the law is changed, the bright line of 18 in the law should be enforced, particularly rigorously in situations like this, where the punishment need not be life-changing or career ending or freedom restricting or criminal-record creating; where the punishment can be a relatively short month of misery or embarrassment that teaches a valuable lesson, before the juvenile teenage delinquency antics of the past become a rap sheet for a legal adult that keeps them from reaching their academic and economic potential.
Let them clean public toilets for a month, under the supervision of those that have to do it for a living (as I once did). Make their fine 500 pounds of trash collected from public parks and roadways. Punish them now, before their behavior escalates and somebody gets more than their feelings hurt.
David,
There you go spouting off on legal issues you don’t know anything about. The judge ruled correctly because it was a bogus defense and would have wasted the court’s time. Henderson saw the handwriting on the wall and decided to plead guilty to avoid the death penalty. McKinney held out and was found guilty of murder. Shepard’s parents had more compassion than either McKinney or Henderson showed their son, asking the prosecutor to spare him the death penalty. Both men are serving two consecutive life sentences.
Give it up. You don’t know how the legal system works with regard to evidence that may or may not be allowed. If McKinney had been so wronged, his lawyer would have won an appeal.
Over the past forty years I have consulted on something like 500 capital cases. I know how defendants use manipulation, lies, and worse. I also know how lawyers are forever trying novel defenses. I can’t remember a single time when some made up defense like that ever worked. In fact, the few times a judge has allowed it, it usually backfires.
That book is pure conspiracy theory, and as bogus as a three dollar bill.
OS wrote: “If McKinney had been so wronged, his lawyer would have won an appeal.”
Not so, because part of the plea deal to avoid the death penalty was that Aaron McKinney would not appeal his case.
I never argued the judge was wrong not to allow the “gay panic” defense. I consider the “gay panic” defense a ruse and rightly not allowed by the judge. You were the one who falsely claimed the jury heard it and convicted him anyway. You were falsely trying to argue that the jury considered this a hate crime of a straight man who hated gays.
The truth is that the jury acquitted McKinney of first degree murder but convicted him of second degree murder and aggravated kidnapping and robbery.
Despite this, you argue that the jury’s conviction somehow settles the case that this murder was a hate crime by a man who hated homosexuals. I leave you to your fantasies. It is a waste of my time to share information with you because instead of facts, bigotry and prejudice rules your thought processes. The more you write, the more I realize how ignorant you are, and that just sickens me. I guess there is a limit to my patience.
ORO LEE:
BTW, I showed your avatar picture around a local watering hole where only real hunters drink and they are of the opinion, if that is your picture, you are a golden retriever.
TonyC, I didn’t consider your “tough love” unseemly. I mostly agree w/ it. The “take away their scholarships” is over the top.
DavidM:
tolerance is only about whose Ox is being gored.
I think the coach did the right thing by getting angry at the players, that was rude behavior and it disrupted other people’s enjoyment of the play.
It doesnt really matter why they did what they did, that type of display for whatever reason, should not be tolerated.
As far as the wearing of patches, you arent going to change anyone’s mind with a patch.
Is a gay lifestyle as bad as you make it out to be? I know a guy who finally married his partner of a very long time. He is a good man and doesnt he deserve to be who he is? I knew him when he was undercover, I always felt he was hiding something. I saw him for who he truly is the night of his wedding. It also seemed like he was himself, finally.
For me, that would be the worst thing in the world, to not be able to be you in the world. If a person is good, what does it matter?
Bron wrote: “I think the coach did the right thing by getting angry at the players, that was rude behavior and it disrupted other people’s enjoyment of the play.”
Fully agree with you here.
Bron wrote: “As far as the wearing of patches, you arent going to change anyone’s mind with a patch.”
Here I think you underestimate the power of propaganda. As I mentioned, Hitler’s propaganda department started with a patch. I know everybody hates it when someone mentions the name Hitler, but seriously, forget about the rest of what he did, just look at how he got the people on his side, how he went from prison to being made chancellor, and with the support of a nation, he led them down a bad path. We should learn from history.
Bron wrote: “For me, that would be the worst thing in the world, to not be able to be you in the world. If a person is good, what does it matter?”
If a person is good, it does not matter, but what a person becomes is a result of a long series of choices. A person’s character and even personality is based upon choices such as whether to take this drug or not, or to have sex with this person or not, or to go after this opportunity for money or not, or whether to tell a lie or not.
Some people have a propensity to be adulterers, do we therefore encourage them to be themselves? What about people who have a propensity to drink alcoholic drinks? Do we encourage the wino to be himself and drink everyday because that is what he thinks makes him happy? What about the drug addict or the prostitute? The point is that we should encourage people to make behavioral choices that are wholesome and good, choices that better their character and make them good people.
A person being honest with himself and others his entire life is only one aspect of what makes a good person. Everybody should live this way.
Note to Self: Do not get on Oro Lee’s bad side. 😀
“never beyond their shoulders”? lol
David,
I would not read any more than I did in the aisle at the bookstore–I saw enough that it made me want to barf. I would also not donate it to charity or the library. I would throw it out with the rest of the garbage after ran it through the shredder. I saw enough of it to know trash when I see it.
I don’t condone promoting hate, lies, or bigoted propaganda.
OS wrote: “I don’t condone promoting hate, lies, or bigoted propaganda.”
I find something amiss with your characterizing a book this way that you really never read. You admit that you only partially skimmed through it in the bookstore. There is no promotion of hate, lies or bigoted propaganda. The author is gay. He has every reason to be on the side of stopping hate crimes against gays and using Matthew Shepard to help do that.
The gay author basically just gives a biography of his investigation, letting the reader decide for themselves about the veracity of statements made by various people. He exposes problems with the police department being involved with drug trafficking and gives much greater insight into the lives of everyone involved. He candidly describes his own sexual attraction to certain men in the gay bars he went to while looking for people that knew the murderer and Matthew Shepard. Anyone interested in more knowledge about Matthew Shepard should read the book. It is an honest and forthright book. Those like you who have already made up their minds obviously will not read it for fear that the frailty of their precious dogma will be exposed.
My last post was in response to davidm’s comment.
Not at all. My opposition to the suggestion is that it is stupid, and for the same reason that forcing a recalcitrant student to wear a dunce cap is stupid. Public humiliation of a miscreant may provide some cheap emotional satisfaction to those imposing the punishment and their supporters, but it teaches nothing.
David,
Way to go with the false analogy again. Strawman too. There is a major difference between wearing a patch promoting a particular religion and one promoting equality and respect for people who may be different in some way.
You still don’t get it. Did you know the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar was presented at Ole Miss years ago? No one disrupted the performance and it was well received. There were protesters from some fundamentalist church lining the walk leading to the auditorium, but they were ignored by people going in to see the performance. Those protesters were not as obnoxious as the Westboro cult. But even if students made a scene at a religious performance, they could not legally be asked or compelled to wear religious symbols, because that would violate their First Amendment rights. On the other hand, it is perfectly legal to promote civil rights and human rights, as well as memorials via patches or symbols. Many teams wear such patches.
Did you object to the many high school and college teams wearing symbols of the twin towers, or those that simply said FDNY after 9-11? Was that the same as Hitler forcing Jews to wear those “Juden” placards?
My mind has just been boggled
davidm:
Your comments on this thread exhibit the same characteristic that I have observed with all of your opinions regarding homosexuality, the assumption that tolerance and approval are synonymous terms. Thus you regard legal recognition of homosexuality as moral approbation. Nonsense. It makes as much sense for me to argue that tolerance for Southern Baptists entails endorsement of Baptist theology.
Mike Appleton wrote: ” the assumption that tolerance and approval are synonymous terms.”
No, I do not regard them as synonymous.
Decriminalizing homosexuality is tolerance, but creating government sponsored departments of LGBT affairs is promoting approval.
Suppose the Southern Baptists were putting on a play and some atheists in the audience yelled out epithets. Then the administration suggests we make everyone on the football team wearing Southern Baptist patches. Can’t you see how that crosses the line from tolerating Southern Baptist Christians to promoting other to approve of them?
Davidm2575:
BTW, I showed your avatar picture around a local watering hole where only real men drink and they are of the opinion, if that is your picture, you are gay.
Now, I will never directly address you again, and this time I really mean it.
3. “As for . . .being skeptical about sensitivity training, let’s wait and see what the William Winter Institute comes up with.”
Yes, let’s. Amazing things are being revealed by current research and scholarship on the neuroplasticity of the human brain, among them – the ability to increase empathy.
Please see –
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=teaching-people-to-be-nice-13-06-24
Of course much will depend on a person’s willingness to participate in the training. I doubt it would be helpful for a person who wrote such words as follow.
3. “Making the team wear LGBT patches is similar to Hitler’s program of causing the youth to wear swastikas.”
Despite promising myself yesterday after reading davidm2575’s admission against interest that his source of information is Fox News that never again would I read any of his postings in that whatever credibility he might formerly enjoyed had been shot to hell, I nonetheless find that on this Lord’s day I have sinned against myself by having read the words he wrote and are quoted immediately above to the harm of my own good, and to compound my transgression, I will violate yet another of my promises to myself – I will directly address davidm2575 in a not ver nice manner.
David:
Although I respond to comments, i.e., ideas, I rarely directly address other posters on this blog except those I consider kindred souls and always in the spirit of camaraderie – I wish I knew some of them personally as I think we would be friends, although the lot of them are smarter and of a more generous nature than I. Their writings have the ability to not only educate but edify. They make this blog a treasure trove.
There are some others such as you . . . well, I don’t read anything they post; invariably, it is to my chagrin when I transgress that habit. Such as this morning. Some things you can’t unread. Such as your words above.
While your words raise a weighty issue, it does so in a Fox Newsy sort of way – in a very tangential and overly obnoxious manner, to wit: Whether the school administration’s placing LGBTQ patches on the jerseys of the Ole Miss football team violates the individual player’s rights of free speech or religious freedom?
See how easily that could have been accomplished?
Instead you wrote the above and then engaged in an irrelevant comparison.
H___ S___! Are you f______ kidding me? I’ve heard of people shoving their heads up their arses, but never beyond their shoulders! To even attempt to equate the effort of a university administration to publicly and proudly proclaim a policy of non-discrimination by whatever method is in a completely different universe than the holocaustic example you chose. Man, what do you have against individual self-expression, and that of the truest kind? What do you have against your fellow man? Against love? Self-righteous zeal has justified a lot of evil, David. Are you sure you want to go there?
I suggest that the trouble is not in your stars, dear David, but up your arse.
I will never read another of your posts, and this time I really mean it.
And it goes without saying that I will never address you again, but I said it anyway.
Oro Lee wrote: “you wrote the above and then engaged in an irrelevant comparison.”
First of all, I did not start with that statement. That statement was in response to someone claiming that nobody was forcing anybody to do anything. When the Nazi movement started, it was not about killing people. It was about nationalism and socialism. There was a huge movement to involve the youth, and putting the swastika on jerseys was a first step toward getting everyone on board with the propaganda machinery. At the time that was happening, many people, including many Americans, supported the Nazi movement. I think the comparison is entirely appropriate. The motivation for the wearing of such patches is the same in the game of propaganda to persuade and involve an entire nation in a political movement to promote advantage to a particular class of people.
The dialogue about this issue should not involve forcing people to wear LGBT patches if they play for the team. That is not the American way.
Good morning. Some thoughts on a couple of postings —
1. “Personally, I am opposed to sports in high school or college, I find it a corrosive and corrupting influence among students and faculty.”
I think there is some merit in competitive sports including team sports, especially in High School – but it should end with district play and no play-offs. Emphasis must be on the class room. The only drawback – makes it hard for colleges to recruit.
Same with colleges — no bowl games. Should also prohibit coaches from voting in any poll for best team. Should also limit coaches’ pay to no more than the average salary of the top ten tenured professors of the school.
2. “A college freshman is an adult.”
Yep, they are legally an adult, but if we mean an individual who is fully cognizant of the risks and consequences of their actions – not quite yet. The portion of the brain that handles those matters will not be fully mature until the age of 24-25, a year or two earlier for females. Kinda explains why the rate of military volunteers drops dramatically after 25.
That is not to say they are not capable of making wise choices, it’s just that given the cultural environment (yea, we’re college football players!) and peer group pressure, their actions, though not excusable, are understandable even if it gives one the heebie-jeebies.
I’ve known several university football players — they know what they are: meat on the hooves, a money maker for the schools with only the slimmest of chances of making football their livelihood. And they know they aren’t the brightest bulb in most of their classrooms. And they’re broke and everyone wants a piece of them and they are always being managed, cajoled, and threatened, told where and when to be. And despite the scholarships, the “jock” classes, the tutors and the no-fail policies, it’s still not the greatest learning environment in the athletic dorm, the athletic cafeteria, the athletics gym, locker room, and field where they will spend most of their non-classroom time, except when being recruited by the frats and trotted out to the we-athletes-really-care-about whatever cause of the week it happens to be. You might just have a chance if you are third string and no one cares about you. Of course there are the cheerleaders, the sorority girls, the coeds, the over indulgent booster, the over indulgent boosters’ wife, and last but not least, the thrill of competing and just getting to hit someone, and the glory, oh, that ephemeral glory, but not if you aren’t first or at least second string. They know, nay fear, these could be the greatest years of their life, at least as far as the attention and perks go, so eat, drink, and be merry in extremely immoderate amounts because, well if nothing else, it’s nice to be wanted. . . .
Then get injured and be cast aside.
It’s not all cushy as the outside might think. In fact, it’s a hell of a lot for an 18 year old to handle.
I wish a pox upon the cult of the celebrity athlete mostly for the benefit of the athlete.
[continued below]
David I picked up a copy at the bookstore and skimmed through it. I was appalled, so when I got home I looked up some of the reviews. As expected the hate sites loved it and sane people disliked it intensely. I saw enough that there is no way in hell I would bring it into my house or office, much less pay money for it.
Par for the course for you. Dozens of credible and factual sources, plus a trial transcript. Yet, you tout a book by a hack writer as the authoritative source for “the truth.” Figures.
And what James Knauer said. Well done, James.
OS wrote: “I saw enough that there is no way in hell I would bring it into my house or office, much less pay money for it.”
If I sent you a copy for free, would you read it, every word, from front to back?
““… student actor Garrison Gibbons proposed the entire team wear LGBT pride patches on their jerseys the rest of the year.”
So what? Players are free to quite the team at any time. How is the notion of two people wanting to live together in love even remotely related to the murderous ideals symbolized by the swassticka? Very sick of you to try this, David.
Do you not see how you are then associating all gay people with Nazis? And how utterly foolish it is? All because you really really don’t like gay people and no other reason? Do you not see every “fact” you make up is you writing yourself a permission slip to continue to be an angry hater? Gay people certainly aren’t going anywhere and all you have have left is your mock weeping.
Really? Nazis? I will ask again: knock it off, David. You are utterly unreasonable in your position.
“My heart weeps for Matthew Shepard, and that is the truth.”
I have seen zero evidence of this today or in any of your posts. Any alleged “weeping” is followed by the long knives,”absent fathers” and such.
Your physchobabble is hurtful, David, to gay people and those who love them. How many more times must you hear this before you get it?
No one is forcing you to wear a badge, David.
James Knauer wrote: “No one is forcing you to wear a badge, David.”
Please read my post more carefully before casting your bigoted stereotype upon me. My response was to the following suggestion:
OS wrote: “… student actor Garrison Gibbons proposed the entire team wear LGBT pride patches on their jerseys the rest of the year.”
David2575 whines, “They object to the sexually moral aspects, so the reprimand should focus upon their disrespect toward someone’s presentation rather than forcing them to adopt the philosophy of approving of homosexual behavior.”
No one is forcing you to approve of anything. You are still free to continue to express the hate you clearly have for all gay people. You are free to write dozens of paragraphs exposing this hatred, complete with your vicious, unsubstantiated claims made simply to prove to the rest of us how not-gay you are. In this, your freedom is virtually boundless.
And it’s petty sick today, as you are suggesting Shepard probably deserved what he got, hanging with (alleged) gay meth users and such. It’s how we do justice agin them gays, right?
What has changed is your institutional bully has fled, leaving you alone to spout your hurtful garbage. Also, gay people are not the easy marks they used to be. The onus has shifted to you to explain why you should be able to say these things without consequence.
Because you have been flat-out wrong all along, and awfully so.
And make no mistake, David 2575: your ilk is dwindling by the hour. You are not being replaced when you keel over from a life of bitterness. You do not have the numbers to turn your wretched temper tantrum into law.
When you insult gay people in 2013 you are insulting their family, friends, coworkers and fellow worshipers, pretty much immediately.
For the 312th time, I invite you to knock it off.
James Knauer wrote: “No one is forcing you to approve of anything.”
Making the team wear LGBT patches is similar to Hitler’s program of causing the youth to wear swastikas. Yes, it is a form of authoritarian force to make everyone in society approve of and promote homosexual and transgendered sexual behavior as healthy and good for all of society.
DavidM,
It must be so hard for you to tamp down on your urges to have sex with men. you have my deepest sympathy and understanding of your need to deny those urges, justifying your lack of sexual fulfillment.
James Knauer wrote: “And it’s petty sick today, as you are suggesting Shepard probably deserved what he got, hanging with (alleged) gay meth users and such.”
I suggest no such thing! How dare you. And please stop spreading the lie that I hate gay people. I don’t.
What happened to Shepard was tragic. I wish he was still living in beautiful Switzerland rather than being killed in Wyoming. However, the causes of it are complicated, and just claiming he was killed because he was gay is a lie. In order to see it does not happen again to others, we should understand the various sociological causes of it. One aspect is that he had an absent father who clearly thought he did not measure up. Another aspect is he consistently formed the wrong kinds of friendships and often had to switch the bars he went to and in his words, “start over.” Another aspect is the drug use and sexual hustling his murderer engaged in. If you would read the book, you would learn a lot about his life and have better insight into how to prevent the kind of tragedy that happened to him. My heart weeps for Matthew Shepard, and that is the truth.