The Laramie Project

     The other day, I went to see The Laramie Project at West Liberty University.  It was the most moving show I have ever seen.

     The Laramie Project is about the town of Laramie, Wyoming, where a gay man was tied to a fence, beat, and left to die.  It was a hate crime.  A theater troupe went to the town six different times to conduct interviews of the people in the town.  The show is those interviews.  

     The picture shown above is my favorite scene in the show.  Fred Phelps, the leader of the Westboro Baptist Church, was outside the boy's funeral, "protesting".  Romaine Patterson, a close friend of the boy, was very disturbed by this.  So, to combat their hate, she founded Angel Action.  They dressed up as angels with wings 10 feet high and stood around the protesters, hiding them from the rest of the crowd and hiding their hateful signs.  

    The thing that moved me the most about that was the Westboro Church was supposed to be picketing the show.  The picket every showing of the Laramie Project.  They also picket soldier's funerals.  They picketed the Memorial Day parade in Washington D.C. last year when I was there.  They are allowed to believe what they believe.  I will not tell them they are wrong in what they believe.  But the hateful way they go about their religion is not ok.  It is not ok to picket a son's funeral.  The boy died.  Whether you believe in his lifestyle or not. How can you protest a soldier's funeral?  He died.  What is there to protest?  You can protest war.  But by causing a family so much hurt, what kind of Christian does that make you?  Jesus did not want us to hate.  Jesus did not hate.  God does not hate.  How can you justify your hate?

     Another part of the show that moved me was the interview with the young college girl who found the boy  tied to the fence.  She went for a bike ride.  She didn't really know where she was going, and even though she was riding through thick sand, she kept going.  Eventually, she hit a rock and went over the handle bars.  That's when she found him.  The thing she couldn't figure out was why God had led her to him.  Why did he want her to find him?  When the troupe interviewed her later, after the murderers trials, she had realized that it was so he didn't die alone.  She needed to find him so he could die with his family by his side.  

     If you ever get a chance to see The Laramie Project, I highly recommend it.  It's actually a movie also, so I suggest renting it.  It's a very wonderful show, with a wonderful message.

"But I liked him, see, because he was straightforward.  Maybe gay, but straightforward."