Aneet Thakral/ Alle Vanegas

Mrs. Williamson
Prejudice and Intolerance/ Block G
12 December 2014
P.S.A. Script
(Talk show host relating back to the Matthew Shepard Case):
Hello listeners! Hope everyone is having a sunny California day today! So reading
through old news stories, I came across one that shocked me in a way that was indescribable.
Matthew Shepard, a gay male living in Laramie Wyoming was brutally murdered for being a
homosexual. Who was Matt? A friend, a son, a student, a person who just loved to have a
laugh. However, we as a country, lost this amazing light on October 7, 1998, and have yet
experienced such a horrendous hate crime in our history.
Matt had a great passion for equality, his experiences abroad fueled his love for travel
and gave him the chance to make many new friends from around the world. Aaron McKinney
and Russell Henderson, the people who abducted Matthew and drove him to a remote area
east of Laramie, Wyoming and who tied Matthew to a split-rail fence where the two men
severely assaulted him with the butt of their pistol, was beaten and left to die in the cold of the
night. Almost 18 house later, she was found by a bicyclist who initially mistook him for a
scarecrow. Horrendous, absolutely horrendous. When this story first hit the news, my first
thought, how someone possible could do this, to another human being, because of their sexual
orientation. I am horrified. Knowing that this was simply the prerogative for why these two
young men did this to Matthew, I knew the discrimination towards the Lesbians, Gays,
Bisexuals, and Transgender, in this country has simply gone too far.

I felt compelled to look farther in the discrimination that is under our own nose in this
country, and what I came across just about broke my heart. What happens in this country must
be stopped. Under the laws, people can legally discriminate towards a transgender, bi-sexual,
gay, or lesbian person as per federal law. There is no federal law that protects such rights, and
although there are states that compensate for this with state laws, this continues to be an
epidemic in the majority of our country. What does it mean to be an American citizen? Has
every ideal and concept that we have built ourselves up on just gone out the window? We are
discriminated against of people for something that is not a choice, for something that is a
preference.
I dont deny a person housing or employment because of their choice of chocolate icecream or vanilla, yet it makes sense to discriminate a person based upon whether they have
romantic feelings for males and females. Wake up America. This is wrong. This is out right
blatantly wrong. We as the next generation can stop this discrimination that has been plaguing
our nation long before we were born. How many more people need to be shown hatred and
suffer from these disgusting violences until we finally decide enough is enough. The dilemma is
here is just how we are going to do this. And it starts now. It starts with us. We as a generation,
we can do this. We do this by stopping the media representation, stop the bullying in our own
schools and towns. We need to stop using gay as an insult, it is not. Gay means happy, the
term gay actually translates to the word happy. Due to this, we should all desire to be gay.
Join the movement. Stand up, be strong. Put yourselves in anothers shoes, empathize. Spread
the love, focus on whats important. Stop it when you hear it, see it, or do it. We have marches,
we have protests, we need to push it up. Use the media! Join the March! Do it for Matthew,

and for every other person that has been hurt by others for having a choice in life. Guys I hate
mushrooms, and gosh would I hate to be bullied, hurt, and denied my rights because of this.
See the wrong in that? Why do we discriminate at all? What is the point? Isnt our differences
that make us great, arent we supposed to be a melting pot? If you are different, embrace it! Be
proud of who you are, define yourself! We as a generation take the pledge, take the pledge to
be yourself and accept everyone for theirs. The bigger we make this issue, the sooner we can
change the legislation that denies people these rights. Do not stand for it, put this on your
shoulders. Wouldnt you want someone to do the same for you?