Lawrence King
Last week, a 15-year-old eighth grade student in Oxnard, California was shot in the back of the head and killed, in front of dozens of his classmates, allegedly because he was gay. The shooter? One of his 14-year-old classmates.
So he had a crush on the 14-year old? So he came to school wearing makeup sometimes? Why was teasing and bullying allowed to escalate to a brutal public execution?
I haven't heard much media coverage about it, but it sure does bring back memories of Matthew Shepard a few years back.
For those of you in Cincinnati, there is a candlelight vigil on Friday at Xavier University to remember Lawrence King and mourn the loss of a young life in a senseless act of brutality. I was supposed to be in a meeting but it looks like we might rearrange things so that CMC can sing a song or two at the vigil.
A relevant quote from the towleroad blog:This is why kids need to be taught tolerance in schools. This is why kids need to be allowed to have children's books that teach them there are gay and lesbian people in the world, and it's okay. This is why numbskulls like Tennessee Rep. Stacey Campfield, who wants to ban anything in schools that teaches kids about homosexuality from kindergarten to eighth grade, endanger the lives of children rather than 'protect' them.
I couldn't have said it better myself.
Some links:
http://www.towleroad.com/lawrence_king/index.html
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1714214,00.html
http://www.rememberinglawrence.org/