The Role of Homophobia/Ignorance in Shepard’s Death

Newman argues through her poetry that both homophobia and ignorance played a role in the attack on Shepard. Some of the poems that discuss this topic include “Recipe for Disaster,” “Sorry Boy,” “Something Snapped,” and “Don’t Flatter Yourself.” One of the common ideas in these poems is that McKinney was so disturbed by an advance made on him by Shepard that he felt as if he were temporarily not in control of his actions. All of the poems suggest that McKinney was not in any way out of control of himself or his actions when he murdered Shepard.

The poem “Recipe for Disaster” suggests that ignorance and incorrect teaching were the main components in the recipe that led to the attack on Shepard. Part of this poem indicated that in order to have the attack that happened...