Where is the outrage?
 

I received this email from Fight Out Loud:

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.

Middle School Hate Crime Murder
 

Gender Public Advocacy Coalition
http://www.gpac.org/archive/news/ind...ws&msgnum=0704

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

Hate Crimes Bill?
 

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

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.

I wish I could say yes...
 

...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

Hate Crime Bill Votes
 

Here is Nancy Pelosi's statement on reintroducing the Hate Crimes Bill:
http://www.speaker.house.gov/newsroo...leases?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.

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:

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

GLSEN Response
 

http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/al...cord/2261.html

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

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

Thanks for the actual info....
 

Glad to hear that the votes are there!

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.

Old stuff....
 

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 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.....

Looks like it is working now.

:'(:'(:'(

Please don't call Daniel names.

I do blame him...at least indirectly
 

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.

So true.

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.


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.

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.

Clarification
 

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 :)

Lorri Jean's Seech
 

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/outinholl...the_murde.html