Where is the outrage?

[antonyh]

I received this email from Fight Out Loud:


With the announcement of the shooting death of Lawrence King, just 15, one has to wonder-- where is the outrage and outcry from the public and media?

King was, by all accounts, a young man who was teased at school for his feminine characteristics and sexual orientation. He was brutally gunned down in school by a fellow student, Brandon McInerney. Police are still investigating, but have charged McInerney with a hate crime.
I can’t help but notice, however, that no media outlets really seem to be covering this. The LGBT blogs are buzzing and angry, but the 24 hour news stations are still focusing on anything but the violent loss of this young man.

It seems the media and public are more concerned with where Britney Spears is, what’s the latest in the old case of a missing pretty white girl in Aruba, or who made American Idol’s top 24. Meanwhile, young kids are getting shot in school for simply being themselves.

At the very least it would make sense, with the other horrific school shooting in Illinois, to mention King’s murder.

But still there is silence.

Why is the life of a boy living outside the gender-norm less newsworthy? Why is the general public not having vigils or crying for him?

Where is the outrage?

We can no longer stand by and let our youth get quietly gunned down. We can no longer turn a blind eye to the effects of anti-LGBT rhetoric and bigotry. We cannot let this fade into the background.

My heart goes out to the family and friends of Lawrence.

My anger goes out to the people not concerned with the loss of this young life.

I hope our community can come together to make sure the life of this young man is not forgotten. Let your outrage and anger be heard. Demand it be recognized.

Demand that Lawrence King’s life, and violent death, not get swept under the rug.

[Zerbie]

O dear, I have not seen coverage of this.

Is this from your blog, Ant? Have you sent out press releases? I'm no expert, but I guess it's worth a try.

As far as the greater concern with distractions, that is the way society has been habituated, lately. I'm not excusing it. I'm expressing dismay over it.

[antonyh]

Three days after a 14-year-old shot a classmate at E.O Green Junior High in Ventura County, California, a community mourns, a school district scrambles to review its safety policies, and eighth-grader Lawrence King has died.

Medical authorities announced Lawrence brain dead earlier this week; he was removed from life support this morning. The shooting, which has the classmate facing up to 50 years in prison, appears caused by his hostility to King's wearing high-heels, makeup, and jewelry, and his being gay.

According to a 2007 GenderPAC report, 90% of youth and young adults targeted in fatal assaults because of their gender identity and expression were males who looked or acted femininely. One-third were teens.

On Tuesday, February 12, gun shots rang out near the end of a first period computer lab class full of students. Brandon McInerney, 14, who reportedly told peers that Lawrence was "having his last day," had shot his classmate in the head and back.

"[Lawrence] 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." Classmates reported that Lawrence was a frequent victim of teasing and harassment. School officials, who were aware of the teasing and had spoken with Lawrence before the shooting, are now planning to review all of their policies.

Said GenderPAC Executive Director, Riki Wilchins, "This is a tragedy. More young people are claiming the basic right to express their gender authentically, but fatal violence against them keeps occurring. Our hearts go out to the family involved. We hope this unnecessary death will help wake people up to the many other young people who have left us too soon."

GenderPAC's 2007 report, 50 Under 30: Masculinity & the War on America's Youth documents an under-reported tide of violent assaults that has claimed the lives of more than 50 young people 30 and under since 1995 in assaults that targeted them because of their gender identity or gender expression. About 9 in 10 were biological males who were presenting femininely, like Lawrence. 88% were Black or Latina; one-third were teenagers. (www.50under30.org)

Additional studies of school safety in California by the California Department of Education reveal that students who were gay or perceived to be gay were more than five times more likely than other students to report being threatened or injured with a weapon. Student reports confirm that finding, more than half of students said that school was unsafe for boys who weren't as masculine as other boys in a 2004 California Safe Schools Coalition survey.

The Gender Public Advocacy Coalition works to ensure that classrooms, communities, and workplaces are safe for everyone to learn, grow, and succeed -- whether or not they fit expectations for masculinity or femininity. To learn more about GenderPAC, visit www.gpac.org.


Gender Public Advocacy Coalition
http://www.gpac.org/archive/news/index.html?cmd=view&archive=news&msgnum=0704

Here is the LA Times Article:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-oxnard15feb15,0,7663055.story

[antonyh]

PS...Are the Democrats going to reintroduce the Hate Crimes Bill into the Senate as the promised?

[andrewlittle]

I'm trying to remember where I had seen this - it was yesterday, and I keep coming back to CNN as the website.

It is deplorable that it is not being reported in more detail.

We remembered Lawrence during the pastoral prayer this morning in church.

[Daniel]

PS...Are the Democrats going to reintroduce the Hate Crimes Bill into the Senate as the promised?

...but I bet the scramble to get a Democrat elected President will mean that the matter is far away on the back burner. Do they have the votes right now? I doubt it.

And watching Bill Moyer's Journal the other night, I was stunned to learn that both parties have/are making it impossible for the public to (that is the Congress itself) look into matters concerning the War etc. Congress seems to have a vested interest in keeping the public from knowing too much. This kind of stance is similar to the situation with the young man who was killed. There is an unwillingness to face those issues which need facing. And the media plays along, not asking the hard questions.

Is that because of the corporate nature of the 'news' these days? I think so. Dan Rather has been yelling about this for a while now, as have others. News was once separate from entertainment: now- news is intertwined with profits and is geared towards the interests of stockholders.

Christ! I watch BBC a good deal just to find out what happened here at home.

My heart grieves for this young man's family....

I read about it here....

http://www.towleroad.com/2008/02/gay-student-sho.html

[antonyh]

Here is Nancy Pelosi's statement on reintroducing the Hate Crimes Bill:
http://www.speaker.house.gov/newsroom/pressreleases?id=0432

When the Bill was attached to the Defense Reauthorization Bill, it passed:
60 Yeas, 39 Nays and 1 no votes

The votes are there, not the backbone.

The issue is the ever looming Presidential veto. I imagine that the Democrats don't want to spend time on something sure to fail by veto.

And yes it is an election year.

[Zerbie]

Who taught that 14 year old kid that gay men (trans women?? "feminine-acting" men) are expendible? Who put it in his head that they should be slaughtered? :mad::mad:

Whoever did so not only contributed to the murder of the 15 year old, but ruined that 14 year old child's entire life. What that kid has to deal with now, having done that!!

We need to draw parallels between the things we are teaching our children and tragedies like these. Kids listen to what society teaches them growing up and that informs their choices.

[antonyh]

Who taught that 14 year old kid that gay men (trans women?? "feminine-acting" men) are expendible? Who put it in his head that they should be slaughtered? :mad::mad:

Whoever did so not only contributed to the murder of the 15 year old, but ruined that 14 year old child's entire life. What that kid has to deal with now, having done that!!

We need to draw parallels between the things we are teaching our children and tragedies like these. Kids listen to what society teaches them growing up and that informs their choices.

I am glad you brought this up. As Gender Identity becomes more visible, the assault has begun. Christianity Today (An Evangelical voice) just wrote a vicious article titled, "The Transgender Movement". In that article they quoted Warren Throckmorton as saying:


Whether mentioned in Scripture or not, the transgender movement clashes with traditional Christian theology that teaches the only God-given expression of human sexuality is between a man and woman who are married.

“Transgender impulses are strong, but they don’t match up with the Christian sexual ethic,” says Warren Throckmorton, associate professor of psychology at Grove City College in Pennsylvania. “Desires must be brought into alignment with biblical teachings, but it will be inconvenient and distressful.”

Throckmorton, past president of the American Mental Health Counselors Association, says he has advised transgendered people who are in absolute agony over their state. Typically, such individuals are desperately in search of hope and acceptance, he says. It may be uncomfortable to tell transgendered individuals that their desires don’t align with the Bible, Throckmorton says, but pastors must do so. “Even if science does determine differentiation in the brain at birth,” Throckmorton says, “even if there are prenatal influences, we can’t set aside teachings of the Bible because of research findings.”
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/february/25.54.html


Now the guy is trying to side step what he said on his blog:
http://wthrockmorton.com/2008/02/14/christianity-today-on-the-transgender-moment/

I lay the blame for Lawrence's death at his feet because HE and others like him are creating the system of oppression that puts these ideas in kids heads.

You can comment on Throckmorton's blog.

[antonyh]

http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/news/record/2261.html

Recommended Responses:
http://www.myspace.com/rememberinglawrence

Organize A Vigil
http://www.rememberinglawrence.org/

[Daniel]

Glad to hear that the votes are there!


The votes are there, not the backbone.

While it's no laughing matter, maybe we should be sending the democrats corsets.

The issue is the ever looming Presidential veto. I imagine that the Democrats don't want to spend time on something sure to fail by veto.

I fear that you are exactly right about this.....

And yes it is an election year.

[Zerbie]

I am glad you brought this up. As Gender Identity becomes more visible, the assault has begun. Christianity Today (An Evangelical voice) just wrote a vicious article titled, "The Transgender Movement". In that article they quoted Warren Throckmorton

.

Then this Throckmorton is an idiot (if, in fact, those are his words). He basically admits that belief in the Bible (as he reads it) is unsubstantiated fantasy, and then says, So what, let's all ignore reality.

[Daniel]

Then this Throckmorton is an idiot (if, in fact, those are his words). He basically admits that belief in the Bible (as he reads it) is unsubstantiated fantasy, and then says, So what, let's all ignore reality.

This idea that there is some assault on Christianity (and marriage- as if Institutional Christianity thought up marriage- which it didn't- it just co-opted everything in its path.....ranting Daniel goes.....what does this have to do with the teachings of the Carpenter?) As if, somehow, a transgendered person is going to make the icecaps melt and the seas will slide over the edge of the horizon and the world will fall into an abyss and chaos will reign over everything?

Very medieval thinking.

I lay the blame for Lawrence's death at his feet because HE and others like him are creating the system of oppression that puts these ideas in kids heads.

I agree with you.....though the blame game never gets us very far, does it? This thing about nonviolence is a bitch sometimes. And God knows- I've been one lately- but I digress.

Oh....Anthony...the last link isn't working.....

[antonyh]

Oh....Anthony...the last link isn't working.....

Looks like it is working now.

[Zerbie]

I agree with you.....though the blame game never gets us very far, does it? This thing about nonviolence is a bitch sometimes. And God knows- I've been one lately- but I digress.

....

:'(:'(:'(

Please don't call Daniel names.

[antonyh]

I agree with you.....though the blame game never gets us very far, does it? This thing about nonviolence is a bitch sometimes. And God knows- I've been one lately- but I digress.


I'm not directly blaming Throckmorton for Lawrence's death (like he pulled the trigger) but I am indirectly blaming him. When a past president of the American Mental Health Counselors Association makes statements about Transgender people like the above (even willing to openly defy science) he is sustaining the very gender stereotypes that resulted in Lawrence's death.

People like Throckmorton love to hide behind the Bible and pretend that their teaching does not result in violence against transgender people.

I believe that non-violence means that we point out the evil in someone's heart and show them the real violent consequences of their evil.

So let me blame Throckmorton again....for helping sustain gender stereotypes that resulted in Lawrence's death.

[Daniel]

People like Throckmorton love to hide behind the Bible and pretend that their teaching does not result in violence against transgender people.

So true.

I believe that non-violence means that we point out the evil in someone's heart and show them the real violent consequences of their evil.

Agreed. I guess we could get into whether it is evil or ignorance, but semantics aside, the result is the same, the death of a child.

So let me blame Throckmorton again....for helping sustain gender stereotypes that resulted in Lawrence's death.


Ok.....I'm with you.

A counselor of mine called this 'putting the poison back in the bottle', which may sound like an odd turn of phrase. But considering the what, where and how of the situation, tracing the madediction back to it's source is not only just, but right.

May Throckmorton realize the power of his words and his ability to change them: he's going to have to do some heavy duty Alchemy on the stuff in that bottle.

[Steven E. Webster]

I'm not directly blaming Throckmorton for Lawrence's death (like he pulled the trigger) but I am indirectly blaming him. When a past president of the American Mental Health Counselors Association makes statements about Transgender people like the above (even willing to openly defy science) he is sustaining the very gender stereotypes that resulted in Lawrence's death.

People like Throckmorton love to hide behind the Bible and pretend that their teaching does not result in violence against transgender people.

I believe that non-violence means that we point out the evil in someone's heart and show them the real violent consequences of their evil.

So let me blame Throckmorton again....for helping sustain gender stereotypes that resulted in Lawrence's death.

Antony,
I share your frustration with the likes of Throckmorton. However, if we believe the Soulforce approach, we need to see the Throckmortons of the world not as evil, but as misinformed or ignorant.

Throckmorton seems to be locked into a view of reality in which heterosexuality has some religious value that other sexual identities lack. I would have to view his version of religion as deficient and in need of a "cure" as surely as some think homosexuality should be "cured."

How to find a solution to this dilemma is the problem we all face.

Ultimately I believe the Throckmortons will go the way of those once prominent and respected theologians who taught that slavery was biblical and acceptable in Christian society. Hopefully, we will not have to fight a war (as we did to end slavery) to come to that point!

Steven W.

[antonyh]

Antony,
I share your frustration with the likes of Throckmorton. However, if we believe the Soulforce approach, we need to see the Throckmortons of the world not as evil, but as misinformed or ignorant.

I just wanted to clarify...I'm did not say Throckmorton is evil. I'm said the ideas in his heart are evil. Those ideas are there because he is misinformed or ignorant. MLK often said that we have to oppose the evil in men's hearts but in a way that allows us to live together as brothers in the future. Challenge me here if I'm wrong since it is late and I'm relying on memory :)

[antonyh]

Here are some excerpts from Lorri Jean's speech about Lawrence's death:

Earlier today, representatives from several LGBT organizations gathered for a news conference at the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center’s Jeff Griffith Youth Center. Lorri Jean, the center's executive director and a widely respected figure in the gay rights movement, spoke about a 15-year-old boy being shot because he is gay and about what this horrible incident represents.

"Brandon pulled the trigger, but bigotry and hatred loaded the gun," Lorri said. “No one is born hating gay and transgender people or believing that we should be denied equal rights. Such hatred and bigotry must be learned. It is learned in families that don’t accept their own children if they’re different than the norm. It is learned in right-wing churches where ministers preach abomination or in schools where teachers and administrators don’t protect LGBT kids from bullying and harassment. It is learned from political leaders who support blatant discrimination again us or whose leadership fails them when it’s time to speak out and take action on behalf of our equality and our humanity. All of these behaviors suggest that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people are fair game for bigotry and hatred. They encourage impressionable young people to fear and hate not only themselves but others. And too often this hatred takes the form of violence, and innocent young people end up dead. Nothing is ‘pro-family’ about that."

Here are excerpts from the rest of her speech:
“...Where are all of the so-called ‘family values’ leaders today? Where are the religious political extremists who claim to care about kids but who are actually trying to repeal laws in California that protect young people from this kind of violence? Where are the political leaders who preach anti-gay discrimination? They’re nowhere. Instead of condemning anti-gay and anti-transgender hate crimes and violence, they say nothing. They are silent, and it’s despicable.

“To all of these people I say: Lawrence King’s blood and Brandon’s ruined life are on your heads. Your bigotry loaded the gun. Your example made Brandon think it was OK to pull the trigger. And you have a responsibility to do something to make sure this never happens again. As do all of us!

“Today, we call upon extremist clergy who preach anti-gay hatred and abomination to stop. We call upon parishioners whose church leaders are trying to repeal laws that would protect the Lawrence Kings of tomorrow to demand that such hateful activity stop. We are calling upon school districts and administrators to put policies in place that require swift action and protection when students like Lawrence King are threatened and bullied. Stop these behaviors before they lead to violence and death. We are calling upon political leaders to speak out against discrimination and exclusion, against bigotry and hatred and to make it clear that ALL Americans, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, are entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, including young people. We are calling upon decent and fair-minded people everywhere to realize that anti-LGBT bigotry has got to stop.

http://www.insidesocal.com/outinhollywood/2008/02/speaking_out_against_the_murde.html

[andrewlittle]

Lawrence is the organizer of FirstLight, which is described as "an LGBTQ community sharing concern, struggle, experience and opinion on integrating sexuality and spirituality". Firstlight can be accessed at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FirstLight/, and I highly recommend it, as would at least one other Soulforcer that I know of.

If Only He Had Gotten Such Support in Life
Posted by: "Lawrence ----"
Sun Feb 17, 2008 7:54 pm (PST)
"We are saying you don't need to accept people who are gay, but you should tolerate them." That was a newspaper quote from one of the young organizers of a short-notice memorial march for 15-year-old Lawrence King, shot to death by a classmate at school last Tuesday. The dead boy had recently come out, and for the first time, a newspaper account reported that he was believed to have told the boy charged with his murder that he 'liked' him.

Tolerance as a substitute for acceptance? I suppose we could do worse, but it seems to me it's pitifully little to ask of a society that claims to be one of the most deeply religious on earth. Tolerance may avert violence, but when you think about it, it does little to neutralize hatred that has been taught by that same society, and often by the same religious leaders who profess to "hate the sin, but love the sinner." The judgment and condemnation that so many religious leaders preach today are just what an immature 14-year-old may see as justification for killing a boy he'd been taught to see as a threat. Especially when religious leaders cite Bible texts they claim prescribe death for same-gender orientation.

Photographs are notoriously unreliable indicators of character or personality, but I look at the picture of Lawrence King and he seems so open, so unguarded, so gentle and ... sweet. And I look at the picture of Brandon McInerney, the boy accused of murdering him, and he seems to me guarded, uncertain, a tad defensive and ... belligerent. And I know I am projecting, reading into these photos what I already know about the two boys -- which is precious little. Both of them were still unformed, interrupted in the middle of becoming, and both of them were products of their families, schools, peers, and churches, if they had any.

Another quote from the same newspaper story has a schoolmate saying, "I see no point in shooting someone for telling them that you like them." We might be saddened by the risk Larry took to be open about his feelings, leaving him subject to a hostile response that turned to a fatal action -- or we might celebrate the comfort he felt in being himself, in not thinking he had to hide as so many have in the past. We might be filled with regret that no one, apparently, ever said to these young people that they could simply say, "I don't feel the same," and turn away, that it didn't have to feel like a stain to be liked in a way you couldn't accept.

We might say there's plenty of failure to go around in this tragedy. And we certainly ought to wonder what we might do that might keep it from happening again.

Lawrence
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Clipping: Los Angeles Times, Feb. 17, 2008
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-oxnard17feb17,1,1523425.story
[Multiple photos, galleries, video clips, and more than 400 reader comments at this link]

1,000 MARCH IN OXNARD IN TRIBUTE TO SLAIN TEEN

A march organized by students focuses on tolerance in the wake of the fatal shooting of an openly gay boy.

By Catherine Saillant, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

The Goths in their black T-shirts were there. So were the punks with fluorescent hair and multiple piercings. There were even a few adolescent boys carrying skateboards among the nearly 1,000 Oxnard youth and other supporters who turned out Saturday for a hastily organized peace march to pay tribute to Lawrence King, 15, the Oxnard student shot to death in a classroom last week.

"Larry, Larry, Larry!" the crowd chanted before marchers clasped hands in a moment of silence for the fallen student. There were no bullhorns, no speeches and no politicians. Just a mass of mostly adolescents wearing bright clothing, carrying signs and singing the John Lennon songs, "Imagine" and "Give Peace a Chance."

The size of the turnout surprised police, school officials and even the two Hueneme High School sophomores who put the event together just three days ago, spreading the word with fliers, cellphone calls and MySpace bulletins. "We were expecting maybe 100 or 200 people," said Courtney LaForest, 16, as she gazed at a broad "peace circle" formed by march participants at Plaza Park in downtown Oxnard. "This is incredible."

Courtney said the turnout reflected a community's anguish over a senseless shooting that has destroyed the lives of two young men. It was also a public plea for tolerance on school campuses for those who are different, she said. "I didn't know Larry. A lot of people here didn't know him," she said. "We are saying you don't need to accept people who are gay, but you should tolerate them."

King, an eighth-grader at E.O. Green Junior High School in south Oxnard, had revealed he was gay this school year. In recent weeks, he had begun accessorizing his school uniform with feminine items and was often teased by other students, several of his classmates said. "What he did was really brave -- to wear makeup and high-heeled boots," said Erin Mings, 12, who hung out with King at the school. "Every corner he turned around, people were saying, 'Oh, my god, he's wearing makeup today.'"

Erin said King was an outgoing and funny boy who stood his ground. "When people came up and started punking him, he just stood up for himself," Erin said.

Jeremiah, another student and friend of the victim, said King had recently told the 14-year-old boy who is alleged to have shot him that he had a crush on him. "I see no point in shooting someone for telling them that you like them," said Jeremiah, who didn't want to give his last name.

Brandon McInerney, 14, who attended E.O. Green with King, has been charged with premeditated murder and will be tried as an adult. He is being held in Ventura County Juvenile Hall in lieu of $770,000 bail. McInerney could face 50 years to life in prison if convicted. Prosecutors added a hate crime allegation that could bring an additional one to three years.

Saturday's march began at Carty Park, adjacent to the junior high school where the shooting took place Tuesday. Students busily scribbled signs on poster boards, with such messages as "RIP Larry King," "Gay Pride" and "Support Love and Tolerance." Melissa Crutcher, 16, who helped organize the march, said King's slaying infuriated her. Sporting pink-tinged hair, hot pink pants and multiple ear piercings, Melissa said she knew what it was like to get picked on for looking different. "I know I stick out myself," she said, "and it's just appalling that he got shot just for being himself."

Jerry Dannenberg, superintendent of the Hueneme School District, of which E.O. Green is a part, joined the marchers. He had been told that an event was being planned by students and sent word that the school should support it, Dannenberg said. "We forget the goodness that is in most of our kids," Dannenberg said. "This tremendous turnout by kids is an expression of their voices, their opinions."

Connor Sipes, 13, showed up with two of his buddies. They attend a different middle school, Connor said, but learned about the march through a posting on MySpace. Connor wore a headband and a gold peace sign around his neck as the three walked the two miles from the school to the city park. He participated because what happened to King "wasn't right," he said. "It will be a better future if we are more tolerant."

[Contact: catherine.saillant@latimes.com.]

Copyright 2008 Los Angeles Times
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Clipping: Los Angeles Times, February 14, 2008
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-oxnard16feb16,1,1064671.story

OXNARD RESIDENTS ARE SHAKEN DEEPLY BY BOY'S FATAL SHOOTING

As vital organs are harvested from his body, one woman says, 'What everyone wants to know is: Why did this happen?'

By Catherine Saillant, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

With school out Friday, Madel Duran and her 10-year-old son, Victor, knew just how to spend their free afternoon. They made the short trek from their Oxnard home to honor a boy they never knew. At E.O. Green Junior High School, mother and son placed a hot-pink flower lei and a wooden rosary on a growing makeshift memorial for slain eighth-grader Lawrence King.

Police say the 15-year-old, who students say had been teased at school for his effeminate dress, was gunned down early Tuesday by a student in his English class. His alleged assailant, Brandon McInerney, 14, has been charged with first-degree murder with the special allegation of a hate crime. He was being held in Juvenile Hall in lieu of $770,000 bail and will be tried as an adult.

"It's a tragedy for Oxnard, because this has never happened before," said Victor, a fifth-grader who expects to attend E.O. Green next fall. "And it should never happen again." Although other local shootings have occurred near schools or in their common areas, this week's killing inside a classroom was a first for Ventura County, authorities said.

As news of King's killing continued to spread Friday, Oxnard residents said they had been shaken deeply by the sensational crime in their backyard. "This is a good community filled with good people," said Duran, 40, adding that her older son had gone to E.O. Green with no problems. "This is a good school. What everyone wants to know is: Why did this happen? We don't understand."

An Oxnard father who would identify himself only as Robert said he too was saddened, not only by the senseless loss but by the black eye the week's events might give the city he calls home. "When you say you're from Oxnard, people always immediately think 'gangs,' " he said as he watched his daughter and her friends frolic outside an ice-cream shop in the city's refurbished downtown. "But it's not all gangs and violence here. It's a friendly place and a good place for families."

The crime rate typically is higher in Oxnard than in Ventura County's other nine cities. The city also has more gang-related crime, prompting police and prosecutors to designate two areas where known gang members are restricted from gathering. But residents say that is simply a reflection of the city's transformation from a tiny agricultural town, where farmers grew lima beans and sugar beets, to Ventura County's biggest and most diverse city.

Oxnard has an estimated population of 193,000, of which about two-thirds are Latino. "We're basically a blue-collar community, and some crime goes with it," said Manuel Perez, 81, who was born in Oxnard and has lived in the same home with his 79-year-old wife, Virginia, for five decades. "But it's really a very nice place to live with really good people."

Bullies can be found anywhere, Perez said. What bothers him about this week's shooting is that it might have been prevented if school officials had more aggressively responded to reports of friction between the two young men. "Junior high is a critical age, and there are red flags," Perez said. "They're not babies anymore, and they're not in high school. They are just starting to feel their oats."

Organs were taken from King's body Thursday and an autopsy was performed Friday, said Senior Deputy Medical Examiner Craig Stevens. He declined to say what organs were harvested or where they went. In an interview with the Ventura County Star newspaper, King's father, Greg, said the family believes the donation was the right thing to do. His son was headstrong, artistic and giving, he told the newspaper. Greg King said seven vital organs were harvested Thursday, adding, "If Larry had the story to write, he'd say, 'If I have to give someone a heart, I want to give it to them on Valentine's Day.' "

The boy's death has prompted vigils, a student-organized march and calls for more attention to anti-gay bullying and harassment in schools. On Friday, officials at the Gay & Lesbian Center in Los Angeles held a news conference to denounce anti-gay student violence, and a memorial vigil organized by the Ventura County Rainbow Alliance was scheduled for Friday night in Ventura. A peace march organized by King's classmates at E.O. Green is scheduled for noon today. It will start in a park near the school at 3739 S. 6th St. and continue north through the city to the downtown area.

Copyright 2008 Los Angeles Times

[Daniel]

What the internet can do.....

Get people out of their seats and into the streets.

Thanks Andy. Great articles. Great response to this tragedy.

[pnggrad79]

I seriously don't know what to say. I am a public school teacher and in the 7 years I have been teaching at this school, I have had 2 kids in 6th grade come out to me, and it was heart wrenching. They were scared to death to let anyone else know. I felt the terror in their voice.

I really feel like until this racist, fundamentalist older generation dies off, there won't be any significant change in the way people think. These people run our government and stipulate such attitudes. The younger generation will be the light in the darkness. They are seeing the shootings, the tauntings and the bullying, and they see it being done to themselves or to their friends and it is turning the tide. Kids are coming out younger and younger these days and they will be the catalyst that swings the pendulum in the opposite direction.

Change never happens easily and it is stuff like this that really show how truly ugly and reprehensible hate is. Everytime Fred Phelps shows up with his hate army, it only does damage to his cause, because people can't take his brand of hatred, but they still listen to the preacher's subtle undertone of hatred in church on Sundays. :rolleyes:

[andrewlittle]

I really feel like until this racist, fundamentalist older generation dies off, there won't be any significant change in the way people think.

Ooh, this has biblical perspectives. Think Moses and the Israelites wandering the desert - a whole generation had to die off before entering the Promised Land.

I suppose it is ethically and theologically twisted to be praying for a quick turnover in generations, isn't it?

[Vanessa White]

What a luxury I have afforded myself. I glanced at the topic of this thread two days ago, but could not bring myself to read it. Today, I have a lump in my throat the size of a grapefruit at the news of this tragedy. My luxury to decide when I want to make myself aware of the details. But I will tell you: I will not cry over this incident, I will ACT. I ask so many of my friends here, whatever you have in you, SPEAK UP, ACT, EDUCATE, DO SOMETHING. If that means being out and visible, do it. If that means teaching people accurate info vs. stereotypes, do it. If it means a letter to an editor, a visit to a congress person, or speaking up to a co worker about an innappropriate joke, please do it. It is bad enough that so many of our young people kill themselves out of self-hate or fear, but it is even worse to me that when they do embrace their identity, our society cannot handle it so we are exterminated. I don't blame the young man that perpetrated the crime, I blame any and all people that allowed him to believe that it is okay to KILL. Our youth seem like the hope and the danger at the same time. It is so sad and infuriating........... my heart is aching..........:'(:mad::'(

[Zerbie]

I found the whole speech here. It is worth reading in its entirety. (Sorry if I emailed you a link duplicate to one you already have, I know one of you got an email from me.)

http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:V4erAwH16ToJ:www.lagaycenter.org/site/DocServer/Lorri_s_Remarks.pdf%3FdocID%3D1081+LA+Gay+and+Lesb ian+Center+Lorri+Jean&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us&client=safari

[antonyh]

I found the whole speech here. It is worth reading in its entirety. (Sorry if I emailed you a link duplicate to one you already have, I know one of you got an email from me.)

http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:V4erAwH16ToJ:www.lagaycenter.org/site/DocServer/Lorri_s_Remarks.pdf%3FdocID%3D1081+LA+Gay+and+Lesb ian+Center+Lorri+Jean&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us&client=safari

Thank you for posting this link. It it a powerful speech. Good for her.

[Gregory_de_Bois]

I am disgusted. Disgusted that today, when people die, nay are murdered for who they are, it goes unnoticed. We walk on. Just keep living our lives. Thinking to ourselves, "Don't pay attention to that child starving on the street, that homeless veteran our government used like a pawn, that woman who has AIDS because she was raped by her father" and on and on and on.... It pisses me off! How can we stand ourselves? Yeah, some of us notice (that's you); we care. We do the best we can. But we can only do so much.

Sure, it brings me joy that 1000 students march over the death of an innocent child (http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2008/02/17/1440), but he is still gone. When will we realize that enough is already far too much? When will we see the atrocities of our actions? God save us from this wretched cycle of violence!

Timothy Kincaid posted another rant about the inaction of the Church over this issue here (http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2008/02/18/1450). I can only echo what he has already said. The Church is the Body of Christ, the Saviour of the World. Sometimes I think to myself, "God is Dead. His Body has been torn to shreds by the very people who claim to compose the Righteous Host." But I remember that God is Surely not dead. I see marches like those referenced above and I remember that there is a God, and (S)He is even more disgusted by these acts of violence and hatred than any man could comprehend. Christ never came to justify such actions, and the Church better start gettin' a little more vocal about such injustices or else she is gonna pay. God has a high standard for those to whom much has been given, and He isn't about to lower it any time soon.

(rant over)

[Daniel]

.....but the title of this thread reminds me of the life long contribution of Larry Kramer, who asked this same question, again and again and again.

ACT-UP was born out of this question.

[Jamie McDaniel]

QcMEL3_YsVI

[Vanessa White]

Ellen just totally rocks. I got choked up just listening to her. She has come into her own. And the thing is: she is absolutely right. :'(:love:

[Alecto]

That's been three murders and at least one physical assault in the past three weeks. The assault and one of the murders were both in Southern Florida. And the case that this post was about caught a lot more attention that many others would because he was 15. There's an awful lot of rhetoric against us about "protecting the children", and I think that's a part of why this stings so bad.

[Gennee]

I am involved with a non profit group that is developing grassroots movents about issues important to the working class poor, minorities, and women. This is one news item that I would cover as an independent media supporter. Forget the mainstream media because it is not profitable or newsworthy to them :tdown:. Our issues are just as important as any other. It's time that we form grassroots groups to solve this kind of problem.

Gennee