Conservatism, By Moises Kaufman And The Tectonic Theater...

Conservatism, at its Best. Merriam-Webster defines change as â€Å"to become different†. It happens in different ways and for various reasons. It can alter people’s perceptions of the world and even define who they are, like the Emancipation Proclamation redefined the lives of millions of African-Americans. However, there are those who oppose it to preserve a detestable status quo. The play The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman and the Tectonic Theater Project introduces some of those people who live in the quiet town of Laramie, Wyoming. It has been 18 years since the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay resident of Laramie. After that tragedy, has anything changed? One answer comes from Laramie resident Rebecca Hilliker who states in The†¦show more content†¦The ideologies that are the foundations of the US, like Christianity, are so ingrained in people’s beliefs that they can’t imagine others not following the same ideals and thus they respo nd harshly against all transgressions. As the TFP Student Action organization writes, gay marriage should be opposed because â€Å"It Violates Natural Law†(TFP Student Action). The fact that many Americans are so narrow-minded that they want to deny the happiness of others goes against the American values of living freely and our society needs to solve this problem before more Americans suffer. This prejudice evoked me to discover what people are doing to fight the discrimination associated with homosexuality. I was optimistic, at first, about finding people who want to change societal prejudice directed at homosexuals, since there had to be some souls who wished to change their community for the better. But, in my search, I found relatively few such people; one of them is Jonas Slonaker, a gay resident of Laramie. Slonaker is a pivotal character in the movement for change within the conservative structure of Laramie. His goal is to make Laramie and Wyoming come out of the Matthew Shepard case with something lasting, like legislation. As he says, â€Å"You know, it’s been a year since Matthew Shepard died, and they haven’t passed shit in Wyoming†¦ nobody anywhere, has passed any kind of laws†(Kaufman 97). Slonaker champions anti-discrimination