This is one of the debate topics I have for an english assignment. Could someone help me out as I need a couple of points for both affirmative(Yes it can) and negative (No it can't).


Some of the points I already have are:


Affirmative - Both victims of discrimination
They can definitely be compared to one another as they were both essentially victims of discrimination whether it be their race or sexual orientation, they were murdered for whom they were/identified and not for what they did. Both homophobia and racism are forms of prejudice, they are moreover bred by society, no one was born homophobic nor racist, they came to this conclusion and judgment because of the environment they grew up in or a situation they witnessed, they are both cases of nurture rather than nature and are both methodologies of dehumanisation.


Both brought national attention to existing hate crime laws


Negative - The core of them aren’t the same (Ones a phobia, ones hate)
Homophobia is an actual fear whilst racism is hatred.


Ones based off physical aspects while the other is emotional
Additionally although both are not by choice,. meaning that one is more towards the exterior, something that cannot be felt as an emotion etc.. - the way it is is literally the way it is, whilst the other is an internal feeling. One is also mainly derived and related closely to religions (because of the Bible stating that gay people are sinners).






Thanks :))

I think all hatred is based in fear to some degree or another, but kill a human for anything other than self defence takes a lot of hate and fear doesn't it? They both feed each other is my opinion.

What do you think?

Shepard could have hidden his homosexuality, whereas Byrd couldn't have hidden his race. Shepard was Wyoming; Byrd was Texas. Both are western states - any correlation there? From Wikipedia, "Wyoming hate crime laws at the time did not recognize homosexuals as a suspect class, whereas Texas had no hate crime laws at all." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt...Prevention_Act