For example, in the article it says: "The lowest levels of prejudice are exhibited by heterosexuals who have gay friends or family members, they describe their relationships with those individuals as close and report having directly discussed the sexual orientation of the gay or lesbian person with him or her” (Herek, GM (2000). This quote clearly shows that heterosexuals get along well with gay people because they know them personally. If heterosexuals they didn't know a gay person, they would ridicule them. The reason why some heterosexuals get along with homosexuals is because they have developed a connection with them they no longer see any difference only in their personality they only see their outward appearance and do not connect to them in any way because they most likely didn't grow up with them or have a gay family member One of the most famous court cases about a gay person being the victim of a hate crime is the Matthew Shepard case. Matthew Shepard was a college student who was kidnapped, shot and left for dead tied to a fence in near-freezing temperatures for 18 hours (Brooke, (1998). He was in a bar minding his own business when two men arrived in the car and stopped