Lessons and Warnings From Lawrence King's Murder

Judy Chiasson, Coordinator of Human Relations, Diversity, and Equity for the Los Angeles Unified School District has some pertinent observations over at the Bilerico Project (http://www.bilerico.com/2008/02/after_lawrence_king_whos_next.php#more) about the murder last week of Lawrence King, a gay student. Moreover, she has opinions on who is ultimately responsible for his murder in addition to the actual shooter, Brandon McInerney. True, the Christianists who work diligently to inflame anti-gay hatred will deny responsibility and try to depict McInerney as the sole party responsible. But in Chiasson's view and in my view, the Christianists are just as guilty as McInerney because without the posionous atmosphere they engender, people like McInerney would not feel free to harrass, bully, or in this case, execute gays. Here are highlights of Chiasson's comments:

Here in southern California where I live, Lawrence’s murder at an Oxnard middle school sent a huge tremor of horror through students and educators – precisely because the Los Angeles Unified School District was probably the first in the country to see the problem coming, and to attempt to do something about it. Let’s face it – 15-year-old Lawrence wasn’t just killed, he was assassinated. Fourteen-year-old Brandon McInerney walked right up to him in the computer lab and put bullets into his head, hit-man style. The message couldn’t be clearer.

But America is still in the hand-wringing stage -- still pretending like we don't know what we have to do. It’s clear that educators, families, communities, churches and law enforcement must all share the huge responsibility for stopping this terrible trend. In my opinion, the place to start stopping it is right at school.

News reports indicate that King was bullied not only at E. O. Green Junior High but a previous school as well. Law enforcement may have to investigate whether other kids at the school egged McInerney on, or knew that something was coming down. At lunch the day before the murder, a student was overheard telling King that he’d better watch his back. McInerney himself was heard to say that the next day would be King’s last. That tells me that other kids may have known something, but said nothing. So a clique may have been a factor in this crime.

As violence has gradually swamped the hallways and playgrounds at American schools, the growing brutality against LGBT students right on campus has emerged as a glaring concern for some. When I was a commissioner in LAUSD, bullying and gay-bashing was already a huge issue --and many of these were dropping out of school because of bullying and assaults at school. By 1999 LAUSD’s protective policy was expanded to all of California by AB 222, the Dignity for All Students Act, sponsored by openly lesbian Senator Sheila Kuehl. AB 222 covered gender-variant students as well as gay, lesbian and bi. So technically Lawrence King was shielded by this law.

The religious right have fought tooth and nail to torpedo the state law, along with any district policies protecting LGBT students. Generally the righters want their own kids to be safe at school, but they don’t give a hell about anybody else’s kids – least of all the LGBT kids. National organizations like the Christian Coalition have threatened, lobbied, litigated and interfered directly in district elections and district affairs. Lou Sheldon even had LAUSD’s gay-protective programs investigated by Congress on grounds that they are aimed at “homosexual recruiting.” My fellow LGBT commissioners and I were among those investigated. Congress took no action against the programs, but the religious right are like the Terminator -- they never give up on trying to do you in.

The fact is – when school administrators find bullying going on, they often refuse to see the speeding train coming straight at them. Yet they usually get advance warning on a bully or clique of bullies and who the victim is. But they fail to act immediately -- to suspend the problem students and get them out of the school without any delay. Why? Because they don't want to deal with the angry parents of one bullying kid, or the parents of an entire bullying clique, especially parents with political juice. They also don't want to deal with local church conservatives who insist that protecting LGBT students is equal to saying that homosexuality is OK.

Indeed, it is time for school administrations to stop listening to all the anti-gay churchy fanatics who actually want the threat of death or maiming at school to lie in wait for all the Lawrence Kings out there. The religious right, from Sheldon and other leaders right down to local groups who harass school boards and principals, share a real responsibility for Lawrence King’s death. I view them as the most despicable kind of clique – they are adults with enormous social and political power who egg kids to commit acts of violence by telling them that God hates their victims.

Will King’s assassination prompt a national examination of conscience? Or will it become a footnote -- a lonely memorial of teddy bears and flowers near one school in Ventura County, and a few editorials in the gay press? My prediction is this: if effective steps aren’t taken, King’s murder will be followed by many more. You can count on it.