(no subject)
So I was watching Ellen yesterday - like I do every day - and she talked about this teenager, Larry King, that was murdered for being gay just about two and a half weeks ago. He was shot in the head by another boy who he had recently asked to be his valentine. He was 15, and the boy who shot him was 14. I was absolutely dumbfounded. Mainly because this was the first time I had heard anything about it. How does something like this not make national headlines. I thought school shootings were usually a media frenzy. I guess not when the little boy doesn't have blonde hair or blue eyes, and when he occassionally shows up to school wearing make-up or high-heeled boots. We only rally around families like Matthew Shepard's, because he was white, and educated, and "angelic" ... please don't get me wrong, what happened to Matthew Shepard was clearly a tragedy and I appreciate how affected America as a whole was, because it brought a lot of attention to something that is rarely discussed on a mainstream, national level. But most of Americans still think it doesn't happen on a regular basis. Nobody hears about queer people of color or any non-gender conforming individuals when they are beaten or raped or murdered. I feel like I'm probably preaching to the choir, but I just needed a place to vent about this. My heart feels so heavy knowing that this happened, and that few people outside of his community of Oxnard, California know about it. He was 15! He was an innocent kid who wasn't afraid to be who he was, and he was murdered for it. A boy he had a crush on walked into his class and shot him in the head. Why aren't people talking about this, why didn't I hear about this until 17 days later? I can't stop crying about it. I can't stop thinking about Larry's friends and family and what they must be going through right now. And I can't get Brandon, the boy who killed him, out of my head. As Ellen said ... somewhere along the line, he learned that it was acceptable to shoot and kill a boy who liked him because it was so threatening and scary. This boy's life is ruined forever because he was taught to hate by our society. I don't even want to assume things about his family - I have no idea what they believe and what they've taught him. For all we know they are good, loving people who never taught him to be homophobic or prejudice, and he learned all of this hatred from the media, from Hollywood, from his peers. Unfortunately I have a feeling many people will blame his parents for what he did - and maybe they did contribute to his homophobia, but maybe they didn't, and we'll never know where he learned it was okay.
I want to do something. I don't know what could possibly help, but I just feel like I have to do something. People need to know this happened, people need to be outraged that this happened. There have been a few vigils organized in places mainly throughout California, but some in other states as well. Maybe that's the best thing I can do, organize a vigil for him ... do my very best to let people throughout my little part of the country know that something so horrendous happened and few people seem to know or care. Part of me feels like vigils don't really accomplish anything, but I guess at the very least it is a place for people who are feeling just as sad and sorry as I am can get together and share their sorrow, while paying tribute to somebody we should all respect immensely! A 15 year old boy who wasn't afraid to say "I'm gay" or who didn't care what people thought when he wore make-up to school because he loved it and he believed he should be able to be who he was, a junior high kid who just wanted to ask his crush to be his valentine like everybody else around him. Good for him. Good for him for being so brave, so unaplogetic, and true to himself. I can only hope that I am half as brave as him, and that someday when I have children, I can teach them to be as brave and honest as Larry was. My heart goes out to all of the people who were affected by this incident. I hope that they can find peace somewhere in all of the darkness they are experiencing right now. And I hope that Brandon learns somewhere along the journey he is about to endure that what he did was senseless and hateful - I hope he comes to understand how horrific his actions truly were. And I hope that people in this country start to see how we as queer people - of all colors, all backgrounds, all variations truly are treated as second class citizens by our government and our fellow Americans. It is positively outrageous that our President did not publicly speak about this. I can assure you that if he was straight, if he didn't dress in a "feminine" way, and most certainly if he was white - President Bush would have at the very least held a press conference telling his country that we must find a way to put an end to school violence. But this was a hate crime, and we all know our leader can't publicly speak out about it considering he doesn't believe us queers should be protected under hate crime legislation. It's absolutely dispicable and I am full of rage just thinking about it. So I have to stop for now, I have to bring my rant to an end and find something to channel my emotions into.
I'm sorry for such a depressing post, I know I never write on LJ - I just read it. But I had to get out what I was feeling. Wherever your spirit is Larry, I hope it is surrounded with love and compassion, and tons and tons of gay ol' fun!
I want to do something. I don't know what could possibly help, but I just feel like I have to do something. People need to know this happened, people need to be outraged that this happened. There have been a few vigils organized in places mainly throughout California, but some in other states as well. Maybe that's the best thing I can do, organize a vigil for him ... do my very best to let people throughout my little part of the country know that something so horrendous happened and few people seem to know or care. Part of me feels like vigils don't really accomplish anything, but I guess at the very least it is a place for people who are feeling just as sad and sorry as I am can get together and share their sorrow, while paying tribute to somebody we should all respect immensely! A 15 year old boy who wasn't afraid to say "I'm gay" or who didn't care what people thought when he wore make-up to school because he loved it and he believed he should be able to be who he was, a junior high kid who just wanted to ask his crush to be his valentine like everybody else around him. Good for him. Good for him for being so brave, so unaplogetic, and true to himself. I can only hope that I am half as brave as him, and that someday when I have children, I can teach them to be as brave and honest as Larry was. My heart goes out to all of the people who were affected by this incident. I hope that they can find peace somewhere in all of the darkness they are experiencing right now. And I hope that Brandon learns somewhere along the journey he is about to endure that what he did was senseless and hateful - I hope he comes to understand how horrific his actions truly were. And I hope that people in this country start to see how we as queer people - of all colors, all backgrounds, all variations truly are treated as second class citizens by our government and our fellow Americans. It is positively outrageous that our President did not publicly speak about this. I can assure you that if he was straight, if he didn't dress in a "feminine" way, and most certainly if he was white - President Bush would have at the very least held a press conference telling his country that we must find a way to put an end to school violence. But this was a hate crime, and we all know our leader can't publicly speak out about it considering he doesn't believe us queers should be protected under hate crime legislation. It's absolutely dispicable and I am full of rage just thinking about it. So I have to stop for now, I have to bring my rant to an end and find something to channel my emotions into.
I'm sorry for such a depressing post, I know I never write on LJ - I just read it. But I had to get out what I was feeling. Wherever your spirit is Larry, I hope it is surrounded with love and compassion, and tons and tons of gay ol' fun!