Bailey Singletary is a junior majoring in communication. She can be contacted at [email protected]. A few weeks ago, a 14-year-old boy fired two bullets into the head of a 15-year-old fellow male student in the computer lab at their school. It has been rumored that the boy was shot because he was gay and asked the shooter to be his valentine earlier in the week.
Hate crimes happen every day with no national media coverage, but this was a headline on most U.S. newspapers. I was appalled when I read the story, even though I’ve read stories before about people being killed because of sexual orientation.
The question that must be asked is this: Who or what is teaching this young boy to hate someone because of whom that person chooses to be with in life?
The young boy, Lawrence King, began to show his feminine side by wearing makeup and women’s clothing to school. When people made fun of him, he simply said they couldn’t change the person he was.
Teasing is a normal part of junior high school. I was teased because I looked somewhat like a bird due to my skinniness, but no one put a gun to my head because of it.
But when it comes to violence that reaches beyond a bully pushing the nerdy kid around, there is a huge problem in the school and in the home of the violent child.
Some people have gone so far as to say that the killer is just as much of a victim as King. The media is claiming that the shooter, Brandon McInerney, is simply a victim of homophobia. That’s like saying James Earl Ray, who shot and killed Martin Luther King Jr., is simply a victim of racism, as well as members of the Ku Klux Klan.
It is hard to convince me that this child of 14 wasn’t taught somewhere in his life that gay people shouldn’t be alive. Normal 14-year-old boys don’t bring guns to school and shoot another student in the head just because he’s gay. Although violence is never the answer, I can understand the bully waiting for the boy outside of class to beat him to a pulp, but the idea of intentional murder at such a young age is absolutely terrifying.
Thankfully, McInerney will be tried as an adult. But his parents also should be brought into the mix at some point in time, because they have probably taught him that being gay isn’t OK.
I know some people take the Bible very literally, and there are many people who do not agree with homosexuality, so this case is somewhat being blown to the side.
But if a 14-year-old was killed because of the color of his skin, this would be a much bigger deal.
My question is this: Why is homophobia not on the same level as sexism, racism and anti-Semitism? It seems to me that there are too many people in this world teaching children that not everyone is created equal and that it’s OK to hate someone because of whom he or she loves.