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Capps backs Day of Silence honor for slain local boy
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More from County NewsWASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Lois Capps paid tribute on the House floor Wednesday to an Oxnard teenager who was shot to death by a classmate in February.
Larry King, an eighth-grader at E.O. Green School who told friends he was gay, will be remembered today by thousands of students across the country participating in the National Day of Silence.
The event is an annual observance in which students take a vow of silence to bring attention to the harassment that gay, lesbian and transgender students face in school.
This year's observation honors the memory of King, a 15-year-old who was gunned down in a computer lab by classmate Brandon McInerney.
McInerney, 14, has been charged with first-degree murder and a hate crime in King's death. His arraignment is scheduled for May 8.
Capps, a Santa Barbara Democrat who is sponsoring a resolution in support of the National Day of Silence, commended students who are taking part in the event and honoring King's memory.
"Larry's death is incredibly tragic," she said from the House floor. "It is also a sad reminder that pleas for help — from our young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender population — are often met with silence."
King liked to draw, study bugs, crochet and sing, Capps said.
"But he was also repeatedly harassed in school because of his sexual orientation and gender expression," the congresswoman said.
"He endured anti-gay taunts, slurs and other forms of bullying."
The National Day of Silence "will bring much needed attention to the plight that students like Larry face every single day," Capps said.
Posted by Face on April 25, 2008 at 11:40 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Political grandstanding. Wait for the details to come out.
Posted by Equitable_Enforcer on April 25, 2008 at 1:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Capps is certainly grandstanding. She has an agenda and is using her position to push it.
Her presentation of the case is somewhat skewed. Larry wasn't killed because he was gay. Fellow students surmised as much. Real harrassment issues didn't surface until school officials, rainbow people and Casa Pacifica encouraged/allowed him to go beyond the norm ... to where his cross dressing was a significant disruption to the learning environment in a public school and in clear violation of the dress code. Moreover, such encouragement to "express himself" further encouraged him to "flirt" with and "tease" (quotes from students) a young man who was unequipped to deal with it.
Adults, in their quest to lay adult beliefs on kids not yet in high school, disregarded how a 13 or 14 year old male would feel if confronted with said flirting and teasing in front of fellow students by a gay student.
The shooting was wrong. Larry was a caring and compassionate youngster. Brandon must suffer some consequences. I strongly believe that somebody in the school administration should also be held accountable for using constitutionality rhetoric as an excuse for something that should have boiled down to common sense.
Posted by Face on April 25, 2008 at 4:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Here here!
Posted by VOR on April 25, 2008 at 7:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
TimeArrow, I just thought he might like to know that the school and Rainbow Alliance partnered on a rally to "remember Larry", which is ironic, since they helped kill him.
I agree with everything you said, another "Voice of Reason" in the crowd.
Posted by HallwayHeroes on April 29, 2008 at 1:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It's true that Larry King wasn't murdered for being gay; Larry was murdered for being "in your face" gender non-conforming.
Gender expression has little to do with sexual orientation. The majority of feminine boys and masculine girls are straight.
Females can wear pants, no makeup, low heeled shoes, no jewelry and short casual hair. They can be masculine acting and called, affectionately, 'tomboys'. Some of these tomboys, if they happen to be good at sports, end up with athletic scholarships.
Male-bodied people have a very narrow range of gender expression flexibility.
Skirts or dresses are out of the question. Makeup is off limits. Shoes must have low/no heels. If the hair is long, it must not look too 'cared for'. Certainly not styled or in any way 'pretty'.
Twenty-five years ago a man wearing even a single earring would have been presumed to be gay. A man wearing two earrings would risk a beating if they appeared in public. Today it's accepted, so long as they don't cross that imaginary line between "masculine" and "feminine".
While it may be true that Larry "flirted" or "teased", there are many students who saw it for what it was; a smaller, weaker boy getting back at those who harassed him on a daily basis.
The only 'weapon' Larry had was the fact that who he was made them uncomfortable. They teased (bullied) him...he teased back. I suppose, he could have brought a gun to school instead.
School officials did not do enough to prepare students and faculty for Larry's transition. I'm sure they didn't anticipate that flirting or high heels would motivate a classmate to shoot Larry twice in the back of the head.
Of course, everyone knows that 'gay' flirting and femininity is more likely to result in a death sentence than is so-called 'straight' flirting. If not, our schools, bars and workplaces would be littered with the bodies of straight men who flirted with women.
If fewer people considered constitutional rights to be mere 'rhetoric' there might be more respect for self-expression.
Larry showed amazing courage in being who he was. He could have withdrawn into himself as so many bullying victims do, but he chose not to.
Now, some want to victimize him again by implying that he was, to some degree, a participant in his own murder.
Larry's back was turned. He was sitting in a computer lab at school. On the day he was killed, he was dressed in a way you might call 'normal' for a boy. He was living in a care facility for children and youth, and making the best of it. He was working through issues of identity that most adults never have to face and feeling good about himself.
He was, indeed, quite a threat to the "natural order of things."
We could do far more good by dedicating ourselves to promoting respect and tolerance than by shifting responsibility for what happened to the school district and, appallingly, to the victim.
Posted by OFD_Wife on April 29, 2008 at 1:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Hallwayheroes...absolutely 100% dead on. Timearrow...your affiliation with Greg King make your statements pathetic. (vomiting in my mouth) YUK!!!
Posted by VOR on April 30, 2008 at 12:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)
So OFD_Wife, who do you work for, Casa Pacifica, the school district or the Ventura Rainbow Alliance? Do you have some inside information as to who Timearrow is or if he even knows the King family? He seems to make sense to me and is merely stating the obvious. Perhaps the bile churning in your throat is caused by a guilty conscience eh?
Posted by OFD_Wife on April 30, 2008 at 2:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
VOR...Not a ounce of guilt on my part. I know about Timearrow's affiliation with Greg through his own disclosure. Once records are released there will be alot of people eating crow. Be patient...the truth will prevail.
Posted by OFD_Wife on April 30, 2008 at 2:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Also VOR, why limit my affiliation with just those three agencies? I could be affiliated with VC probation, VC HSA, the juvenial justice system, etc...or I could know the family as well. I do apologize for the vomit comment, it was a tad immature on my part and wish I hadn't said it.
Posted by OFD_Wife on April 30, 2008 at 3:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Oops Juvenile...don't stone me for the typo.
Posted by VOR on April 30, 2008 at 3:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
OFD_Wife, I would hope that you are not associated with VC Probation, VC HSA or the juvenial justice system, because if you were, your conduct in making claims and posting such as this would be highly unprofessional and an abuse of the power granted to you in your position. I also look forward to the truth coming out so that all of this innuendo will come to a halt. I suggest we let the courts and the justice system proceed without people pushing their agenda and trying to sway things through ill-informed rhetoric and suppositions.
Posted by OFD_Wife on April 30, 2008 at 3:54 p.m. (Suggest removal)
VOR, I have not even come close to divulging anything of a confidential nature. I have not even claimed a “position of power”. With that being said, I absolutely agree with you in allowing the justice system to proceed, as they will. I will disagree with you as Timearrow being “the voice of reason”. I suspect, after your last post, you may be a voice of reason now. It sounds like you, yourself, will sway from innuendo and ill-informed rhetoric. Again, my apologies if I offended.
Posted by HallwayHeroes on May 2, 2008 at 4:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Thank you, OFD_Wife for your support of my comments. I'm going to be in the Ventura County are beginning May 5-13th and if you'd be willing to meet me, I'd be very happy to share some of the research of I've done with you. No strings...
If so, please contact me at your convenience at the following email address:
Jenn B.
Project Butterfly
probutterfly@gmail.com
503-927-7052
Peace
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