The Courage of Lawrence King

Well worth the read...this is an email from my buddy Don regarding the horrible murder last month of 15-year-old Lawrence King by 14-year-old Brandon McInerney. I post it here, in its entirety, because Don makes his points much more passionately than I ever could. To Don I say, "thank you, mi amigo." To my readers, I urge you to give it read...

On February 12th, an openly gay 15-year-old boy named Larry, who was an eighth-grader in Oxnard, California, was murdered by a fellow eighth-grader and 14-year-old boy named Brandon. Brandon shot Larry in the back of the head with two bullets. Larry was a foster child and had recently come out of the closet as gay to his classmates. Brandon murdered Larry because he was gay.

Days before he was murdered, Larry asked his killer to be his Valentine. The idea that Larry - another boy and a homosexual - would want to be his Valentine was so threatening and so awful and so horrific to Brandon, that killing Larry seemed to be the right thing to do.

Brandon’s defense attorney is already talking about this murderous attack as a “gay panic” response by Brandon to Larry’s affection for him. Just so I’m clear, a “gay panic” defense is used by defense attorneys when a straight person kills a gay person because they were so disgusted by the interest from the gay person that they snap psychologically. In essence, that’s like saying because I was so disgusted by someone of an ethnicity or religion different than my own expressing interest in me that I would be justified in killing them.

I was aware of this story, but this morning when I read the new information about Larry asking Brandon to be his Valentine, I broke down and wept at my computer. I wept for a child who was murdered for taking steps toward accepting himself. I wept for another child so blinded by the hatred and disgust for gay people that exists in our society that he took another child’s life. I wept for every young gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender child too scared to believe that they could ever experience the love and innocence of Valentine’s Day. And I wept for a world so consumed with hatred, ignorance, fear, and disgust for homosexuals, that it would lead one child to murder another child over a crush.

Larry is my hero. I sit here in awe of the strength and courage it took to begin to accept himself at the age of 15. The path to self acceptance as a gay person is challenging at best and too often leads to suicide for children and young adults.

I know Larry is in heaven right now with God, Harvey Milk, Matthew Sheppard, Simmie Williams, Jr., and the thousands of other gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people who have been murdered in my lifetime because they dared to be themselves in a society which refuses to reject the hatred and fear that empower people to commit hate crimes against us.

The hate crime which resulted in Larry’s death is not an isolated incident. This month alone 17-year-old Simmie Williams, Jr. was gunned down in Florida in an apparent hate crime and a man eating at a restaurant in Florida with his partner was beaten by another restaurant patron for looking at him and saying hello. The attacker repeatedly used the slur “faggot” as he beat the man.

Every time someone uses a slur like “faggot”, every time someone perpetuates a gay stereotype, every time a politician uses gay rights as a fear tactic to get votes and campaign contributions or denies us our civil rights, every time a person of “faith” describes us as immoral and sinful, and every time someone is beaten or murdered because of their sexuality – another drop is added to the torrent of hatred and fear that floods our society and motivates in hate crimes.

And every time we personally sit back while any of these activities occur and fail to reject them – we are responsible too. We cannot bring Larry back, nor can we solve this problem overnight, but the next time you witness bigotry or hatred, in ANY form, fight it!

I encourage you to Google “Lawrence King” and “Simmie Williams” to learn more.