---

And they would deny others the right to conceive of Him as such.  They do not understand that a good part of our humanity is expressed through our sexuality and is not exclusive of it.  Such a concept is as alien to them as their notion of "sin" and "evil" is to me."

A weakness in the play may be that it makes the events tragic.  Tragedy suggests inevitability, as if it comes from incomprehensible forces or arises from a fatal flaw of the "hero."   The murder of Matthew Shepard plainly, however, was the act of real and identifiable people, not incomprehensible forces.   His murder was not the result of a fatal flaw in himself but the vicious and brutal prejudice of his murderers.  It was an outrage, not a tragedy.   There is a lovely quote in the play, echoing a familiar Bible verse, that goes: "God loves us most when we love each other."   Why can't we just do that?

Previous page    Next Page