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/ind...ws&msgnum=0704

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

Originally Posted by antonyh

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/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.

[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?

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]

Originally Posted by 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?

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/...ary/25.54.html

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.

[antonyh]

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/

[Daniel]

Glad to hear that the votes are there!

Originally Posted by antonyh

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]

Originally Posted by antonyh

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]

Originally Posted by Zerbie

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.

Originally Posted by Anthony

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]

Originally Posted by Daniel

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

Looks like it is working now.

[Zerbie]

Originally Posted by Daniel

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]

Originally Posted by Daniel

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]

Originally Posted by antonyh

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

So true.

Originally Posted by anthony

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.

Originally Posted by anthony

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]

Originally Posted by antonyh

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]

Originally Posted by Steven E. Webster

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/outinholl...the_murde.html