Ellen speaks about Lawrence King murder… February 29, 2008
Posted by *christuttle* in : tuttle says... , trackbackI love Ellen. Seriously, absolutely, LOVE Ellen. I think it’s BS that some say her crying about the whole dog adoption issue was fake and I truly believe she is a wonderful, caring person. And yet again, she has proven me correct by stating in today’s show (transcript of segment below) her opinions and frustration with the Lawrence King murder and hate in general. Go Ellen!
Quick FYI: For those who haven’t heard, Lawrence King was a 15yo self-identified gay student in an Oxnard, CA, middle school, who was shot in the head, in his English class, by a fellow student. While many have tried to excuse Brandon, the killer, for his actions because a) his family didn’t lock-up the gun, or b) Lawrence had “inappropriately” hit on Brandon, or c) Lawrence “inappropriately” wore make-up or “acted too feminine,” the fact remains that the overarching reason all of these young people’s lives–and their families–have been torn apart is just as Ellen has said; Somewhere along these student’s barely 15 year old lives, they learned it was OK to hate or that being gay was bad, was wrong, was reason to be killed.
What I wish Ellen had also said, was that there is one national organization that has been leading the fight to create safer schools for all for over 10 years now, GLSEN. GLSEN supports students organizing for safer schools; for more inclusive policies that protect students from bias and discrimination; provides trainings to teachers on how to create safer classrooms and how to ensure more inclusive curriculum. GLSEN has sponsored the Day of Silence–the largest student-led action against LGBT bias, harassment and discrimination in history–and also leads the national No Name Calling Week project in thousands of elementary and middle schools across the country.
GLSEN has provided years upon years of research that show both the devastating effects of such hate in our schools AND how anti-harassment policies, teacher trainings and student clubs like Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) truly make schools safer. Hard data that what GLSEN does works.
As you may know, I work for GLSEN, have for 8 years. And it’s with great pleasure that I can say–with a little help from the Hair Club for Men commercials–that I’m not only a staff person for GLSEN, I’m also a donor.
Please help me support an organization that I know can make a difference. Please join me in making a $100, $50, $25, or even a $10 gift today at www.glsen.org.
***ELLEN TRANSCRIPT***
“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 named Brandon. Larry was killed because he…was gay. Days before he was murdered, Larry asked his killer to be his Valentine.
“I don’t want to be political. This is not political, I’m not a political person, but this is personal to me. A boy has been killed and a number of lives have been ruined.
“And somewhere along the line the killer Brandon got the message that it’s so threatening and so awful and so horrific that Larry would want to be his Valentine that killing Larry seemed to be the right thing to do. And when the message out there is so horrible that to be gay you can be killed for it, we need to change the message.
“Larry was not a second class citizen. I am not a second class citizen. It is okay if you’re gay. I don’t care what people say. I don’t care what people think. And I know there are entire groups of people who face discrimination every single day and we’re a long way from treating each other equally. All of it is unacceptable. All of it. But I would like you to start paying attention to how often being gay is the punchline of a monologue. Or how often gay jokes are in a movie. And that kind of message — laughing at someone because they’re gay — is just the beginning. It starts with laughing at someone, then it’s verbal abuse, then it’s physical abuse, and then it’s this kid Brandon killing a kid like Larry.
“We must change our country and we can do it with our behavior, we can do it with the messages we send our children, we can do it with our vote. This is an election year and there’s a lot of talk about change. I think one thing we can change is hate. Check on who you’re voting for, and does that person really truly believe that we are all equal under the law? And if you’re not sure, change your vote. We deserve better. My heart goes out to everybody involved in this horrible, horrible incident.”
***END***
Vigils around the country: www.RememberingLawrence.org
GLSEN - www.glsen.org
MTV News - www.mtv.com
Props: News about Ellen’s comment first read at Towleroad.
AND THERE’S MORE!
I must also note, that while Lawrence’s murder is particularly brutal–having taken place in a middle school classroom while other students watched–there have been two more (at least) murders of queer young people in the 2 weeks since. 17yo Simmie Williams, Jr, was shot dead on a street of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. According to Mom, Simmie self-identified as gay. Simmie was shot while wearing women’s clothing and some say Simmie may have identified as transgender. Then, here in New York City’s Bronx borough, 25yo Sanesha Stewart was stabbed to death just last week. Sanesha was a self-identified trans woman who the press has largely dishonored by dismissing her death, largely ignoring it, and when reporting on it giving out her birth-name (which has since been legally changed) and incorrectly referring to her as a man (something that was also legally changed and simply not in line with how she identified). And even just before Lawrence’s murder, an 18yo in Charleston, SC, Adolphus Simmons was shot dead. Adolphus also reportedly wore women’s clothing, although I’m unsure how Adolphus identified.
Just writing this post has pissed me off to such a great extent. These examples of anti-gay, lesbian, bisexual and/or transgender bias either directly led, or are suspected of contributing, to 4 young people’s deaths. Countless family members, friends, classmates and neighbors will forever be affected. My heart breaks.
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