I am so sorry for what happend to Lawrence King. This story makes me feel so sad and yet also really mad at the world we are living in. The great United States of America say they are the greatest democracy and the advocates of Human Rights - meanwhile, the american society seems so full of fear and hate, it just breaks my heart. I highly support all the organisations working so hard for acceptance and I think that each one of us can do a small thing by just talking to ppl and trying to get them to be more tolerant. but when I read about your fears when driving through america, I get the feeling that there isn’t so much hope for change left and that makes me sad.

Here’s the page from her website with the further resources (Trevor Project, PFLAG, etc.).

Children learn to hate from adults that are full of hatred themselves — one day we will evolve to become human. We are all human beings with more in common then not. WE have to make it so one lesson of tolerance and acceptance at a time.

Peace-
Janet

I knew Larry King–not terribly well, admittedly, but he was in my mother’s class and I always knew her students decently well during the year and sometimes on into their future lives. My mother called me, the day it happened, around 3pm when I was still in class: she was crying uncontrollably, absolutely hysterical, and I couldn’t get anything out of her other than “Larry’s dead, he’s dead, they shot him.” It took me a minute to reach back in my memory and know who she was talking about. But I recall him. He was a cute kid, smart, kind, a terrible home situation that I’m probably not allowed to talk about. A tragic story, like so many in a poor area filled with gangs and domestic violence and bad foster care and so forth.

I knew so many like Larry, so many kids I liked and talked to and helped do art projects. You get close do them despite your best judgment, because in that part of town you always know that so many tragic stories are just going to go on being tragic stories, maybe for generation. But jesus christ, Larry was going to do it. He was going to overcome everything and be all right. My mother worked very hard with him, to get him a better life and make sure he did okay in school. She was the only other person, besides his parents, on the emergency contact card–she went to the hospital to see him, to see if it was true, afterward.

Besides that, though, and more on topic, the GLBT aspect frightened the hell out of my mother. We know our town, of course, but these were both kids she knew and taught, in schools that my parents have worked at and been administrators of. I think she was kind of shocked that I had come out where and how I did. It actually wasn’t that hard for me, blessedly, but there is a lot of ignorance and hatred where I come from, and I was conscious of that and it affected my decision greatly.

I hope this sparks something that will lead to elementary and junior high schools being a safer place in Oxnard. I still know plenty of people going to those schools, even some that were present in the room that terrible day. I hope that Larry’s death won’t just be a cruel, tragic event and will actually motivate something positive for the community.

And kanga43 yes. College-level GSAs doing solidarity and support work at the K-12 level would have a huge impact, I would think. And also do a measure to help heal the college-age people of any lingering scars or injuries they brought with them when they graduated high school. The Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network recommends four approaches that schools can begin implementing now to address anti-LGBT bullying and harassment:

1. Adopt a comprehensive anti-bullying policy that enumerates categories such as race, gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation and gender expression/identity. Enumeration is crucial to ensure that anti-bullying policies are effective for LGBT students. Policies without enumeration are no more effective than having no policy at all when it comes to anti-LGBT bullying and harassment, according to GLSEN’s 2005 National School Climate Survey.

2. Require staff trainings to enable school staff to identify and address anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment effectively and in a timely manner.

3. Support student efforts to address anti-LGBT bullying and harassment on campus, such as the formation of a Gay-Straight Alliance or participation in the National Day of Silence on April 25.

4. Institute age-appropriate, inclusive curricula to help students understand and respect difference within the school community and society as a whole.

Buying and arranging screenings of Chasnoff’s documentary would be a great place to start energizing. Showing it at a GSA meeting (college-level or high school, say) would be a powerful catalyst. And I bet the Gay Straight Alliance Network has even more ideas.

The idea that you drive anywhere in this country in fear is so horribly wrong.

And, I know this is ignorant, but I hadn’t ever heard before now about the violence against Lesbian women. I’d only heard about it towards men. It doesn’t make it OK, obviously - it’s just even more terrifying to think about.

Wish the college level GSA’s, mine included, would recognize the need for networking with the elementary, middle, and high school to get anti-hate education into curriculum earlier on. We’re fine and dandy with college level class panels, but the seeds need to be planted earlier.

Man, so many causes and only so much personal energy to attend to them.