News Story: Gay teen killed in CA Jr. High

[beckyg]

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-oxnard14feb14,1,955781.story

THIS is why kids need to be taught about homosexuality in schools. This is why kids need to be taught about diversity and acceptance. This makes me so sad.

[BabyBoy]

Oh my Jesus. Sexuality DEFINATELY should be taught in schools. But, with that being said, it'd be like teaching religion in a non-religious school, which would cause some type of big ass issue with asshole parents who feel like if they want to teach their kids to be closed-minded assholes, they have that right and the school shouldn't go against that. I KNOW that's what would happen, because people REFUSE to accept change for whatever reason. I hope that after Obama/Hilary win (I'm almost posotive one of them will), that the President after them is a black female lesbian. THAT would be a change in the history books.

[sdc91]

I hope that after Obama/Hilary win (I'm almost posotive one of them will), that the President after them is a black female lesbian. THAT would be a change in the history books.

http://blog.camera.org/archives/oprah%201.jpg

[sexyalex]

Becky...

do u see what the classmate said in algebra? the suspect is a smart and quiet guy and isn't that type of person. anytime shit like this happens everyone starts to say pharz about what type of person the defendant is when really he had no right to. HE WAS A HUMAN. i don't agree he should be triled as an adult however he should be kept in juvi until he is 18 then be brought to a fair trial as an adult.

what is the world comming to :dry: and just to think when people threaten to kill me at school it was just a joke. no; this is serious....how did the boy get on campus with a gun anyways? parents should be held risponsible as well as the school for not securing safty of the child while on campus.
i mean idk if i am being a bit extreme but that's my view on this. and yes sexuality should be tought in schools. what else do they teach in guildance class if not sexuality?

[beckyg]

Yeah, I agree Alex the person that did this is a victim too. I don't believe in the death penalty. I think death is freedom. Maybe proper punishment for this kid would be to do community service at a GLBT community center.

[Negasta]

Give the little fucker the needle!!!:***: :tantrum:

[sexyalex]

Yeah, I agree Alex the person that did this is a victim too. I don't believe in the death penalty. I think death is freedom. Maybe proper punishment for this kid would be to do community service at a GLBT community center.

GLBT??:confused2:

[Jim1454]

Just tragic and unnecessary...

[beckyg]

GLBT = Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender

[Temujin]

Give the little fucker the needle!!!:***: :tantrum:

Nah...convict and send him to an adult prison. I'm sure everyone there would love to have a fellow 15 year old inmate.

[Perrygay]

Give the little fucker the needle!!!:***: :tantrum:

I believe in the death penalty and think that it should be enforced as it is written in states' laws.

[Face Smasher]

I understand being uncomfortable about his cross-dressing but this crime is atrocious. Plus, the publicity this gets will give some the impression that ALL gays act like this. I would just have given the kid a talking to about how he shouldn't be flamboyant just because he's gay. The poor guy probably was uncomfortable about himself being gay so he thought he should dress like a girl. And look where it landed him.

[Psychedelic Bookmarks]

i don't believe in the death penalty, (it's murder, imho), and also he should be charged as child because at 14 you can't have full adult responsibilites. that said, this is so sad :tears: to think that people will really still kill each other in this day and age for a simple difference in sexual behaviour... even if you think it's wrong or harmful or whatever, the least you can do is NOT FUCKING KILL THEM. :tears: :tears:

[nintenfreak92]

Yeah I agree with becky about the death penalty. I am so shocked that someone so young could take such a drastic action.

[acorn7]

Yeah, I agree Alex the person that did this is a victim too. I don't believe in the death penalty. I think death is freedom. Maybe proper punishment for this kid would be to do community service at a GLBT community center.

My opinion too. 50 years or life in prison? He did a horrible thing, but what's the point of life in prison? The whole thing is so sad.

[Choucho]

How does this happen?
What makes a 14 year old kid think he has the right to kill someone because of how they act or who they are attracted to?
This world is a sick place.
Are this kid's parent's proud of him? What could have possibly gone through that 14 year old's mind to make him decide "This person does not deserve to live."
Sexuality of the victim aside, I don't want the defendant to get the death penalty. It wouldn't solve anything. But I do think that going to jail would not be too much.
He has to learn what he did was not right. Killing is an adult offense. Especially when it's out of blind hatred.

[divadarya]

I understand being uncomfortable about his cross-dressing but this crime is atrocious. Plus, the publicity this gets will give some the impression that ALL gays act like this. I would just have given the kid a talking to about how he shouldn't be flamboyant just because he's gay. The poor guy probably was uncomfortable about himself being gay so he thought he should dress like a girl. And look where it landed him.

Wow....
I'm very aware of my own internalized Trans and Homophobia, which makes me somehow justify and/or minimize the bigotry of those who practice it. I understand what you are saying, but the kid liked high-heeled boots and makeup;perfectly cool for a girl but OMIGOD NO!! for a boy...We are so sadly conditioned to run from these dumbasses(not without reason, obviously) that we want those of us who have a different gender expression to "cool it" so we fit in, at least more or less....
He was 14. He may have been Gay, or Trans or Genderqueer; our sexualities are green and new at that point and deserve the chance to grow their own way.
I guarantee one thing about his killer, he was:
*Afraid he was gay,and/or
*Attracted to the kid, and/or
*Needed to prove to other kids that he wasn't gay
A complete tragedy. Ilive just south of where this happened. Oxnard is a beautiful plain where Strawberries grow and middle class families can afford to buy decent homes.It's heavily Hispanic and has been for generations; I find the people there courtly and decent.
how very sad...

[beckyg]

Darya, I wonder too if this kid came from a very religious family. Maybe he thought God ordered him to do it or something. Who knows? I'm sure more of the story will reveal itself in the next few days.

I would never agree that a kid should "conform" to make his peers feel more comfortable.

[Alex89]

That's horrible. I think my opinion has already been stated by everyone who's posted above^

However, I strongly disagree with the death penalty, as I do not believe it is up to humans to decide what fellow humans should live and die.

[Wired106]

Omg that's insane. Why would that kid be that mad that a kid is gay... But anyways, I don't believe in the death penalty either.

[bvtsjm116]

Hmm I feel bad for both of them.

[beckyg]

Yeah, me too.

[Bader]

i dont think anybody deserve the death penalty ,who are we to decide who live and who dosent.
anyway it was a tragdy and iam sure people there now will talk about homosexuality with their kids cause most of them are gona wonder about the dressing up thing.

[beckyg]

February 14, 2008

A Gay Teen's "Bad Blood"

On February 12 a gay eighth-grade student in Oxnard, Calif. lay in a pool of his own blood in his school's computer lab as his attacker, a classmate, ran out of the room and off campus. John Ireland explores the undeniable feeling that Lawrence King took the bullet for every gay teenager.
By John Ireland
On Tuesday morning of this week, an eighth-grade student in Oxnard, Calif., sat in front of a monitor in the school computer lab. Within a few minutes, he would lie dying on the floor in a pool of his own blood as his attacker, a classmate, ran out of the room and off campus.

Unlike most boys his age, Lawrence King did not seek to blend in. Many of us remember junior high as our most harrowing years of peer pressure and social uncertainty, no matter what crowd we fit into -- nerd, jock, pep squad, orchestra, or somewhere in between. At 15 years old, King dressed effeminately, wore makeup and fingernail polish, and told people he was gay.

School officials knew that King had been bullied. They had attempted, unsuccessfully, to contain and prevent the tension on campus that followed him around. A police spokesman said there had been, between these two students, some “bad blood…”

Puberty is a time when boys learn about the young men they will become. Junior high is a crucible of adult forces. It's a microcosm of society with built-in artificial boundaries designed to give a taste of responsibility but governed by adults who can step in when the preadolescent brain is overwhelmed -- when it is overruled by more base instincts.

While teachers and texts introduce the lessons of free speech and individual freedoms, the children experiment with behavior, identity, and appearance in a thousand different ways. They sense and feel out the edges between comfort and discomfort, eventually finding the bounds that will define their character. Enforcement comes in the form of strict rules, visits to the vice principal’s office, and after-school detention.

When I heard about King’s murder, I was struck by the undeniable feeling that, in a way, he had taken a bullet for me. When I was in middle school, I knew I was gay, but I buried it deep inside. I skillfully deflected teenage crushes, whispers in the locker room, and dates to the prom. I moved far away for college, hoping that an East Coast Jesuit Catholic university experience would set me straight.

It didn’t. In fact, my carefully crafted naïveté allowed me to miss the dire consequences that my “out” gay brethren had endured around me all along. Nobody had guessed that I was gay, and I was able to escape detection because the more effeminate guys caught all of the trouble.

My senior year, at 21, I lost my celibate focus. I fell head over heels in love with a classmate. Right around Valentine's Day, I was asked to organize my college blood drive. I delivered the compelling pitch, “Giving blood is giving the gift of life,” to everyone I met, and passed around sign-up sheets, spreading the word far and wide with a fervor unmatched by previous organizers. I booked the first appointment and marched into the office to give my best, my blood. I learned a hard lesson before I could even roll up my sleeve and make a fist.

“Have you had sex with a man since 1977?” asked the nurse, holding the collection syringe in one hand and an iodine swab in the other. I sat there in silence as I searched to understand what I was feeling -- shame. As she stared at me, waiting for a response, I got the message. They did not want my blood. My embarrassment crystallized into anger -- my blood, what makes us all human, was worthless, maybe even poisonous. Society’s messages may seem harmless, but they can cut deep. Such messages add to the culture of fear that surrounds gay people. And those pressures are intensified for adolescents.

The Valentine’s season is always awash in red. Boxes filled with chocolates, cherry lipstick kisses on love letters, and velvety roses exchanged between lovers. Whether we get it at 15 years old or much later as an adult, the message is red-hot. Every gay person remembers his first corrective message -- being gay is not OK. It sneaks up on you when you least expect it. The lucky among us get bruised. Some of us get killed.

[divadarya]

Becky...
Wow...thanks for that amazing article. I was in junior high in 1963-1966 and they had no name for what I was yet;I just knew I was different and I was deeply depressed. Girls wanted to date me and I was clueless about it because I didn't have the instincts of a "normal" boy.
I also no longer give blood after being embarrassed publicly as well. I wanted to ask if they ask men how many times they've had sex with prostitutes.
Lawrence died right on the verge of discovering and expressing himself;his killer's life is ruined forever...I honestly don't even know if I agree with trying him as an adult; he may face up to 50 years in prison, which means he will do about 20, probably in Folsom, and come back into the world as a well trained criminal who will probably hate LGBT people more at that point. His trial and sentence are not the "message" that needs sending; the message needs to be one of love and tolerance. Ironically, the greatest teacher of love and tolerance has had His message hijacked by angry little pimps like James Dobson, et al.
I'll still pray.
D

[Rizpaz]

Give the little fucker the needle!!!:***: :tantrum:

Seconded.