Lawrence King, The High School Teen Murdered For Being Gay

 

This video and this incident hit so close to home for me. I was outed in high school. I was spat upon and beat up and ostracized. I almost dropped out because of it. Then Matthew Shepard was murdered for being gay. That inspired me to go back to school to say FUCK YOU to all of the people who hated me for what I was.

To know that ten years later this same type of hate goes on, breaks my heart.

You can read the story about what happened at this link.

here

Lawrence, a beautiful young boy, is dead. He died because he asked another boy to be his valentine. A family is mourning a pointless death.

Another boy, the boy he sent the valentine to, killed him. His life is now ruined. His family mourns the loss of their son. He will be in jail the rest of his life.

Two pointless losses. And for what? For nothing more than fear and ignorance.

Pass this video on to all you can, please.

•  Say No To Hate

  This should not be happening.

  The hate must stop.

  by Elegant Blogosphere on Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 12:53:50 AM PDT

•  What a tragic loss

  of a wonderful young man. Acts of hatred make no sense at all.

  I'm sorry you went through so much heartache in school, but it sure seems you've done a great job of overcoming it.

  Thanks for this diary!

  by Ekaterin on Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 12:57:43 AM PDT

•  You make me proud. n/t

  by PBCliberal on Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 12:57:43 AM PDT

•  same here

  I grew up in the rural south. I came out in high school. Things were awful. Matt was 1 year younger than me . The other recent stories make me very very sad and angry . I don't know what else to say.

  by dantrotheplanetman on Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 01:04:41 AM PDT

  •  Texas here

    I know where you are coming from.

    by Elegant Blogosphere on Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 01:08:43 AM PDT

•  I didn't come out until graduate school.

  I didn't have the courage to do it in high school.  I wasn't as brave the rest of you.

  Reading this brings back bad memories.

  by psychodrew on Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 01:18:10 AM PDT

  •   for me it wasn't like a surprise to anyone ..

    I had friends who for years had been saying "just come out already! It's not like we all don't already know."
    that made it a little easier.  

    by dantrotheplanetman on Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 02:42:31 AM PDT

    •  we had a friend who told us he was gay

      and we all said, and?  we knew already.  i am sure that makes it easier for someone.  it saddens me that this type of hate is still acceptable.  and that coupled with Sally Kern's hate speech just makes me ill.  What is so threatening about people who are gay?  what is wrong with teaching acceptance of people who are different?  so much for a free country.  guess we are all free to be just like everyone else.  don't even try to do anything they don't like.  grrr.  

      by ejpoeta on Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 03:52:15 AM PDT

    •  My friends were like

      why did you wait so long?  I was so worried about my family, as I grew up in an evangelical family.  As it turns out, I had nothing to worry about.  They love me and they love my boyfriend.

      by psychodrew on Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 05:43:39 AM PDT

•  NO to hate

  against man/woman kind. If you must succumb to hate then as Jesus said, though I am not a Christian I shall happily quote him, " hate the sin and not the sinner".

  No to violence against Man/Woman/animal kind. If you must succumb to violence then with just thought adorned with true word and armed with charitable deed violently oppose those who think unjustly, speak falsely and act egregiously.

  No to prejudice against man, woman, class, culture, race, religion, nationality or economic principle.
  If you must succumb to prejudice then measure it within your own self, and with that measure judge the value of your convictions.

  No to certainty of any kind. IF you must be certain, then be certain of your ignorance.

  by notquitedelilah on Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 01:35:14 AM PDT

  •  people like those who discriminate and

    seek to hurt gay folks use the bible as their justification.  i do not believe in the bible, but it isn't hard to use their very justification to repudiate their actions and behavior.  

    by ejpoeta on Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 03:53:51 AM PDT

  •  Don't even start that

    "hate the sin and not the sinner"

    That adds up to hate of gay people. So long as it's OK to say being gay is a sin, there will be more Lawrence Kings and Matthew Shepards.

    by pucknomad on Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 05:40:00 AM PDT

•  Reminder that gay rights are on the ballot

  McCain was once "extremely moderate" on this issue, while his party was trashing gays.  Alas, McCain will be under pressure, if he is elected, to nominate Supreme Court justices who will overturn Roe v. Wade and also Lawrence v. Texas.

  The whole issue on gays is that the homophobes think that if civil unions or gay marriages are not disapproved, their kid is going to be "encouraged", or not discouraged, to be gay, as if it is a choice.

  By the way, Barack is much better than HRC on these issues.

  Back in 1977, Jimmy Carter granted pardons to all the draft dodgers of the Vietnam War, almost immediately after he took the oath of office.

  What did Bill Clinton ever do for gay rights?

  by a brain on Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 04:08:26 AM PDT

  •  Oh, I almost forgot

    What did Hillary ever do as First Lady for gay rights?  I would argue that Nancy Reagan did more than she did.

    by a brain on Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 04:25:00 AM PDT

  •  Can we please not turn this into

    an HRC-BO thing?  I for one would like to read a non-hostile, non-candidate diary.

    by psychodrew on Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 05:51:28 AM PDT