Week 1

The research method that I am going to use is surveying. I will be asking many different people that I know and people that I don't know questions about homosexuality, I will be focusing mainly on my generation because it will be good to hear their input on it. I am interested in seeing how people react and answer to the questions. In our new day and age I feel like the responses should be different compared to surveys that were done years ago. I feel like this is an effective way to get results within the community around where we live. After the survey is complete I will come back with the results and we'll see if my generation is taking a step in the right direction!

http://www.matthewshepard.org/our-story

This is the story of Matthew Shepard. I remember doing a project about him in middle school and I was appalled by what was done to him because he was gay. On October 9, 1998 he was kidnapped by two men, robbed, pistol whipped, tied up to a fence like a scarecrow and left to die. His story fanned the outrage that followed word of the attack, spawning vigils, producing calls for Federal hate-crimes legislation from President Clinton and fueling debates over such laws in a host of Western states, including Wyoming, that have resisted them. The story of Matthew Shepard has has challenged and inspired millions of individuals to erase hate in all forms and it did spark the nation to realize that hate and discrimination were still occurring. 

Although this was one of the most heart wrenching and a story very difficult to handle, I would like to say that his spirit and legacy has helped up come to where we are now. Nowadays we don't hear about horrific crimes happening like this, hate is still around and people are still discriminating against gays, blacks, Asians, etc. but I truly believe it has died down and it ultimately could've been a lot worse now.Matthew Shepard was just a young man who was brutally murdered because of his sexuality in 1998 they didn't have laws against homosexual hate crimes and this was the start for all of the states to realize that things like this do happen and they need to start implementing the right laws to stop this. This was a wake up call and it's terrible that he had to suffer but without his courage and suffering who knows if we would have any laws to help hate crimes or if this and worse things would continue to happen. Matthew Shepard may be dead but his spirit and legacy still lives on today.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57373794/jcpenney-ceo-on-ellen-degeneres-controversy/



My article this week is about a famous gay woman, Ellen DeGeneres. Last year, she was the spokesperson for JCPenny to help rebuild the customer base. The company was all for having Ellen be their spokesperson but there was this one organization known as, One Million Moms, that was entirely against Ellen. They said  JCP was "jumping on the pro-gay bandwagon",  but JCPenny's CEO stood behind Ellen 100%. They loved her views and were happy to share it throughout their company. The CEO said,"And we think Ellen represents the values of our compant and the values that we share", they're very supportive of Ellen and they don't see using her as a spokesperson isn't controversial at all. 

When Ellen heard what the, One Million Moms, had to say she wasn't surprised. She's had "haters" since the time that she came out. She called them out during one of her episodes and said, "And normally I try not to pay attention to my haters, but this time I'd like to talk about it because my haters are my motivators. This organization doesn't think I should be the spokesperson because I am gay." I think Ellen handled this in the right way because she let everyone know that there was a "controversy" with her being the JCPenny spokesperson and she addressed the matter with her response. She didn't attack the group she just made her point clear and said that JCPenny stuck by her and didn't fire her.