Gay Hate crime Murder in school, openly gay student, 15 year-old dies

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maggie~hamilton

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15-year-old Lawrence King was declared brain dead after he was shot by a fellow student on Tuesday at Oxnard Junior High School. King, an openly gay student, was shot during his first period English Class in front of twenty four other students. According to classmates, King was known to wear makeup and feminine jewelry to school and was in conflict with other boys for his open display.

"He would come to school in high-heeled boots, makeup, jewelry and painted nails -- the whole thing," said Michael Sweeney, 13, an eighth-grader. "That was freaking the guys out."

As of today King is being kept on life support for possible organ donations after being declared brain dead by neurosurgeons at the St. John's Medical Center in Oxnard California. Police are still investigating and the district
attorney has yet to determined if the unnamed juvenile suspect will be tried in juvenile court or charged as an adult for murder. They have determined that the suspect will be charged with a hate crime.

"Anti-gay prejudice continues to take the lives of innocent people. That is why the Gay American Heroes project is so important," said Congressman Barney Frank.
 
very sad

i'm not gay myself but it has always bugged me that people think they can JUDGE other people because they are different
 
Saddened and disgusted

Sigh - it is truly heartbreaking to hear of things like this happening in the 21st century. The worst thing is the ones who did this will have parents who lawyer them up and they will be out on the streets again in weeks.
 
Even sadder how the Religious Wrong and their political cronies are also fostering a climate of intolerance. The blood of every murderered gay person is on their hands.
 
Well, I am gay but still find any sort of effort by a guy to make himself appear feminine to be repulsive. I can only imagine how such an appearance would be received by straight and/or homophobic types, in particular teenagers who are working through hormonal issues that can compromise their sensibilities. Everybody has a right to express their individualism but if it's clear that you're upsetting people by doing so and your own safety is in question, then it's time to ask yourself a few questions about what you're doing and who your audience is. The trouble is, teens tend to think "it will never happen to me" and they couldn't be more wrong, especially in today's America where handguns are cheap and plentiful and more of them are in the wrong hands than not.

Nobody should end up dead over a personal choice such as this, but that is the world we are currently living in, at least here in the good ol' gun-happy and insecure U.S.A.
 
So true!! BTW - I like that term 'Religious Wrong'!! How is that a person can hide behind their religion to foster hate and intolerance? I remember my late mother jumping on the Anita Bryant bandwagon in the late 70's; I had honestly thought that the world would have wised up by now...
 
Did this kid have gender issues? For the life of me, I can't figure out why a kid this age would want to look like a woman.
But the bigger question is how did a kid get a gun into the school in the first place?
This is truly unfortunate to hear of. And it's even worse that the NIU shootings overshadow this event.
 
I don't think we need to start creating an OK Corral scene in our classrooms. What we need is parental responsibility at home and early diversity training in schools.

Oh, and a handgun ban would go a long way but the crackers who make up the vast majority of the NRA will have none of that.
 
There's a long, dark, sad back-story to this. My soul resonates with the tragedy of it.

As to the question, "Why would this kid want to dress like a woman?" Well, what difference does the WHY make? That's what he chose to do. Whom was he hurting, other than, ironically, himself?

A lot of blame can be put not only on the religious nuts but also on the generally homophobic climate of this supposedly civilized country. For anyone to feel it's okay that a kid would be murdered in premeditated cold-blood because he wears makeup to school is just incomprehensible to me. But there are plenty of people who feel that way. What you wanna bet the good Christian folks at GodHateFags.com are having a field day with this.
 
Oh for sure. The shooter can find a cush position as pastor for a sector of the GodHatesFags religious community.

Just happened to catch the film "Dogma" on cable last night. There's a lot to see in that one about organized religion's misguided history through the ages.
 
What's Dreadful About This...

...Is that this young man probably had been harassed and bullied before, only to have his complaints answered with, "If you weren't the way you are, these things wouldn't happen." In all my experience and volunteer work with bullying issues, I almost never see anyone in a position of authority confront the bully and ask why they find it necessary to make the lives of others hell.

The dirty little secret of bullying is that bullies are sick, with self-esteem issues they can't seem to identify or meet in any other way besides bullying. Identification and treatment of bullies is crucial to the well-being of not only bullied kids, but bullies themselves. Bullies are at high risk when they transition out of "secure" situations (like their high school) to ones where even more aggressive bullies may be present.

I have been preaching this one for some time: If a kid is bullied, he needs help. But so does the bully. Without intervention, the bully may become more aggressive, and the kid who has been bullied will become further damaged and alienated by having his faith in authority shattered.

I've told more than one parent the simple truth about "different" kids: Your kid has a right to dislike "different" people. He has a right to avoid them. He has a right to refuse association with them. But he does not have a right to cause them emotional distress or physical harm. No decently-raised kid should have any difficulty whatsoever figuring out where the line is drawn.

Bullying does not stop when people leave school. Google "workplace bullying" sometime if you doubt me.

One of my life's goals is to promote as much public focus on the problem of bullying- in all places, on all levels, for all reasons- as possible. Bullying is one of the most horrific experiences a person can undergo. Many, many kids choose suicide rather than deal with it one more day. Their blood is on the hands of their tormentors.
 
Sandy, you left out on-line bullies also. I've seen them in action in the few chat rooms I've visited.

If there is one place where this bully complex runs rampant it is in the police departments of the entire planet. Just this week I saw a video clip of a big and burly Baltimore cop beating up on a pre-teen kid for no good reason. Surely some sort of sociological engineer out there could devise a profiling system similar to Myers-Briggs or the Eniagram or whatever that would identify this bully type of personality and weed them out from the ranks of those interested in becoming police officers. That would go a long way towards restoring my confidence in the caliber of person who is wearing a policeman's uniform.

I know I've strayed off topic somewhat but police attitudes have plenty to do with how they treat complaints that might come in on behalf of kids like the one who was victimized in Oxnard. I've heard there's a significant gang/thug element in Oxnard so you'd think they'd be more vigilant around there. That just circles things back to the lead-off sentence in this paragraph.
 
Ralph:

One of the things we desperately need in this country is a national database of cops who have been disciplined or dismissed for cause. It's extremely easy for a cop who has been in trouble in one jurisdiction to jump over to another, get hired there, and continue his little experiments in anti-social behaviour. If our Federal government were less corrupt and more responsible at the moment, I would advocate mandatory Federal background checks for any cop being considered for hire anywhere in this country, whether at the State, Federal, county or local level.

One of the things I advocate where bullies are concerned is the revival of that good old-fashioned concept, the permanent record in our schools. Bullying behaviour ideally should be caught, recorded, and treatment offered. If treatment does not produce change, that should be recorded too. Permanent records should be forwarded to colleges along with transcripts. It should be made clear to kids from the get-go that this is damned serious behaviour that will have lifelong consequences.

Over time, I feel society would be greatly benefitted by non-tolerance of bullying behaviour. Our world is increasingly subject to bullies, from despotic middle managers, to national politicians who do as they please and hold themselves above the law. By beginning with children, we could do something about the adult bullies of tomorrow. Terrorism, at its core, is simply bullying.
 
Sticks and stones... You have to learn how to deal with a bully or you will always be a wimp and a victim. When it crosses the line into physical violence, then we have laws to deal with that. I hope the little bastard that did this gets the chair or the needle.
 
That is so Sad just because he is Gay.I'm Gay also but nobody could ever tell cause I am not Fem at all and I am not attracted to guys that are either.I have been cussed out cause I have said that I am a str8 acting Gay guy and I guess that makes some folks mad I have always said whats on my mind.All my guy friends for the most part are str8 and real Fem guys make guys feel uncomfortable for the most part they don't bother me that much but to me its redundent why date a guy that acts like a girl.I think the Shooter was in all likely hood might be Gay and I bet money on that and him seeing that guy messes with his head.I still dont understand how somebody could kill another person for anything other than self-defence or War.I had a TERRIBLE time admiting to myself I was Gay.I was raised on a 1000 Acre Dariy Farm in the Sticks of Tennessee and I knew I was Gay or just differnt sence about 10.I was Also a Bully I ran around with the Jocks and would fight anybody at anytime.I know why I did that now I was trying to prove I was not gay.This was in like 1993 when I was in high School and like all schools we had are fem guys and I am ashamed to say I Picked on them all the time.I look back on all this with regret now but my Family was SO religious and I never new then that most gay guys you would never know they were gay.I was just young and trying to show off to my other friends cause everybody did it.I fought the Gay thing so hard and there is no fighting it cause you can't when I was born like this I know this its not like what Pat Robertson or Anita Bryant says that its a choice.I have told these guys that I was sorry for what I did once I came out in 96 and saw them at the Gay bars they told me they Knew I was gay because of the way I acted around them and thoese friends of mine that Picked on them all of them came out also.MY Heart goes out to the Family of this 15 Year old and the guy who did it needs to be locked away for life and if he is over 18 then he needs to dance with the Grim-reaper himself to pay for his crimes.He has ruined all these lives cause what somebody does behind closed doors what people do behind locked doors is nobodies business unless it's some sick child molester and then he needs to be took out and just shot.I have a friend of mine who was messed with and he is SOOO messed up all because of that.
 
It's a hate crime, plain and simple. The same mentality that gives us racism, xenophobia and religious hatred gives us these horrible incidents.

I really think something has to be done about a growth of homophobia in some aspects of modern culture though. Lyrics in some rap and hip hop music seem to somehow slip below the radar and we've had the emergence of people using the word "gay" as a derogatory term to describe anything inferior thanks to South Park i.e. "that is so gay!"

The growth of the far right / religious right in the US is very worrying indeed. I hope that such an incident wouldn't be overlooked / seen as somehow justifiable.

If it is, you guys are on a road to being a Christian version of Iran or Saudai Arabia before you know where you are..

It's about time that decent Americans stood up and took back politics and the media from 'the red neck agenda.' It's doing terrible damage to US society and to the opinion of America abroad.

That incident is utterly sickening though and I hope that the school/s involved immediately roll out some kind of an outreach programme to prevent such homophobic behaviour in future.

I mean, if that had been an attack on a kid due to his ethnic background there'd be immediate outrage.

Why can't some people get their heads around the fact that some guys are gay, some guys are effeminate and some women are gay and some women are quite masculine in their behaviour. It's just part of the diversity of the human condition !!

Where does all this hate come from!?
 
Boy George, if you are keeping track------

of our AW website, please weigh-in on this debate.
However, countless gay males have worn cosmetics for years,as a matter of their choice, so whats the big deal?

Too bad the guy who was assaulted didn't have any warning. A .22 pistol is easy to hide, but a .38 Police Special would have done a much better job. Returning violence with violence is a great deterrent. Long live the NRA.

Word needs to get around that school, that if you mess with the sissies you will pay----big time. THAT will stop this kind of s%@t.
 

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