My 10th grade English class is reading The Laramie Project, the story of Matthew Shepards' murder. My class and I were discussing it and one of the points that i thought was most important was if Matthew Shepard had been black, poor, and lived in Texas, would it have gotten so much media attention? The answer is no. Many gay people are killed each day yet they get no media attention.
I live in the Rio Grande Valley and there are multiple hate crimes each day. Sure, not many are gays, but they are victims of hate. Gang hate. But because they are hispanic and that is what is expected of them, they get no media attention. How is that overlooked?
So, I have to wonder, is the US really as accepting as it says it is or is it just hiding it's racism and intolerance?

I've never read the book so I don't really know what your talking about there. But I don't think there hiding there racism and intolerance. We all see it everyday. No matter where you live, it's in our lives, it's on our tvs. It's messed up! You just gotta be you. Don't judge nobody