Comments on: NY hate crime killing renews call for Shepard Act passage

By: Joey

Joey — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 20:13:28 +0000

Yeah, whether or not that boy “flirted” with other boys in his school does not at all justify his death.
Any attempt to justify the boys death is just utter insanity. No young person should even have to worry about the ridicule that youth endure from their peers at school and peers at home. As far as youth have come in the acceptance of diversity, and good lord have they come far, public schools are still a hard pill for the unpopulars or even worse the popular unpopulars to have to endure for however many years.

I was ridiculed for 11 years in school for this, that and everything else. I was the fat kid; I had all girl friends, and had semi-feminine tendencies; I wasn’t out but was constantly “The Fag”. My life was hell until I was able to go to a different school, but at that I was shy and was again expected to take the ridicule that never a teacher decided was important to intervene in. It wasn’t until I beat the shit out of one of my harassers that the torment started to die down and someone else became the target. Unfortunately violence by my own accord was what stopped the bullying.

Sad to say, it is no surprise to me that the death count for GLBT teens is on the rise. The abuse these kids go through on a daily basis is torture, absolute torture. It eats at their soul until it just doesn’t exist anymore. When school is no longer a safe haven for these guys, and home is less then desirable because Mom and Dad feel it’s a phase and send you to hours of Psychotherapy to cure you of this “phase”, what are they to do? They don’t have the experience of life itself to know that words do hurt, but things always get better. The hope they should have, the innocence youth should be filled with is gone at the hands of their “innocent” class-mates.

It’s sad to know that the GLBT youth struggle with their own identity to the extreme extent that they end their own life or what is worse, the “Straight” youth struggle with their sexual identity that they feel inclined to abuse or murder a peer because they are different then the “norm”. Something needs to happen, because this kind of fear in unacceptable.

By: TheRadicalRealist

TheRadicalRealist — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 23:03:54 +0000

Richard W. said “…I was surprised, when I did my in depth research, that Lawrence King wasn’t as innocent as everyone thought.”

And that matters why exactly?

By: Richard W.

Richard W. — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 21:18:44 +0000

If anyone cares, there are two sides to the Lawrence King issue. I’m not a homophobe, I’m gay and I started my school’s Gay-Straight Alliance. I’ve spoken about Lawrence King at one of our meetings and I was surprised, when I did my in depth research, that Lawrence King wasn’t as innocent as everyone thought. But there is no excuse for his death.

By: Morgan

Morgan — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 19:24:09 +0000

I’ve often wondered what the gay body count was myself.

By: Amy

Amy — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 18:36:21 +0000

Gew I’ve wondered that myself. You’ll notice that the only reason this bill is even being considered again is because a straight person was killed…nice huh! Melissa Etheridge has it wrong; we aren’t second class citizens, we are third even fourth class. We have laws that protect against gender and race discrimination, but still not a lot in place for gays. Lovely!

By: gew

gew — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:55:38 +0000

I’ve often wonder what the queer and suspected queer body count has to be before the Powers decide something just might have to be done.