Brody's Scribbles... Vigils For Slain Gay Teen Lawrence King To Be Held & Yet Another Christiban Campaign To Obstruct Equality

By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) Feb 11 | February 12th, 2010 will mark the second anniversary of the Lawrence King murder. King, an eighth-grader from Oxnard, California, was shot twice by fellow student, 14-year-old Brandon McInerney, because of his perceived sexual orientation and gender expression. King was kept on life support until he died two days later.

McInerney has been charged with murder under special circumstances and a hate crime specification and will be tried in adult court as the California State Supreme Court has rejected a petition filed by attorneys for McInerney to preserve the possibility of shifting his trial to juvenile court on January 21st, 2010. McInerney's trial is set to begin May 14 in Ventura County Superior Court. [ Ventura County Star Newspaper ]

According to Kellee Terrell, Media Strategist for the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, (GLAAD) GLAAD & the GSA Network, GLSEN, Ventura County Rainbow Alliance, Human Rights Campaign, National Center for Lesbian Rights and Equality California are urging LGBT advocates and allies to honor King’s memory and call for an end to violence and harassment in the classroom directed at lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

In California there will be a series of vigils remembering the slain youth, hosted by GSA's in Los Angeles as well as an event hosted by The Ventura  County Rainbow Alliance at the California State University Channel Islands campus sponsored by Spectrum (the gay/straight student alliance), the Center for Multicultural Engagement, the Multicultural and Women’s & Gender Student Center, School of Education, Student Housing and the Center for Community Engagement.  Events are also planned nationally in Illinois, Minnesota, Texas, and Virgina.

To counter and hopefully prevent the type of senseless violence that took King's life,  H. R. 4530, introduced by Colorado congressman Jared Polis-(D) with 65 co-sponsors was introduced to the House Education and Labor Committee on January 27th, which Polis serves on.

The Bill's opening text reads:

111th CONGRESS

2d Session

H. R. 4530

To end discrimination based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity in public schools, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

January 27, 2010  

SECTION 1.  SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Student Nondiscrimination Act of 2010'.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

(a) Findings- The Congress finds the following:

(1) Public school students who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT), or are perceived to be LGBT, or who associate with LGBT people, have been and are subjected to pervasive discrimination, including harassment, bullying, intimidation and violence, and have been deprived of equal educational opportunities, in schools in every part of our Nation.

(2) While discrimination, including harassment, bullying, intimidation and violence, of any kind is harmful to students and to our education system, actions that target students based on sexual orientation or gender identity represent a distinct and especially severe problem.

(3) Numerous social science studies demonstrate that discrimination, including harassment, bullying, intimidation and violence, at school has contributed to high rates of absenteeism, dropout, adverse health consequences, and academic underachievement among LGBT youth.

(4) When left unchecked, discrimination, including harassment, bullying, intimidation and violence, in schools based on sexual orientation or gender identity can lead, and has lead to, life-threatening violence and to suicide.

(5) Public school students enjoy a variety of constitutional rights, including rights to equal protection, privacy, and free expression, which are infringed when school officials engage in discriminatory treatment or are indifferent to discrimination, including harassment, bullying, intimidation and violence, on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

(6) While Federal statutory protections expressly address discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, and national origin, Federal civil rights statutes do not expressly include `sexual orientation' or `gender identity'. As a result, students and parents have often had limited legal recourse to redress for discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

(b) Purposes- The purposes of this Act are--

(1) to ensure that all students have access to public education in a safe environment free from discrimination, including harassment, bullying, intimidation and violence, on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity;

(2) to provide a comprehensive Federal prohibition of discrimination in public schools based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity;

(3) to provide meaningful and effective remedies for discrimination in public schools based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity; and

(4) to invoke congressional powers, including but not limited to the power to enforce the 14th Amendment to the Constitution and to provide for the general welfare pursuant to section 8 of article I of the Constitution and the power to enact all laws necessary and proper for the execution of the foregoing powers pursuant to section 8 of article I of the Constitution, in order to prohibit discrimination in public schools on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
 

On the face of it, this bill merits passage as a common sense piece of legislation that would possibly keep incidents from escalating into the type of situation in which the outcome is homicide or leaves the victim damaged & scarred for the rest of their life. Not to mention preventing the necessity of having to invoke sections of the Matthew Shepard-James Byrd law signed last fall by President Obama.

However, there is now an active & vocal campaign to kill this bill before it can move through the committee and then to the full House for its consideration.

Leading the charge is Linda Harvey, the founder & CEO of Mission America, a fundamentalist Christiban group. In a statement on the group's blogsite, Harvey claims that:   

"The Bill is an Assault on Genuine Child Safety and Common Sense Morality which gives sweeping “gay rights” powers over local schools to be given to federal bureaucrats like Kevin Jennings and Kathleen Sebelius. Harvey then says, Why be concerned about a new bill in Congress, H. R. 4530? Because it is an attempt to install a massive, federal homosexual agenda in schools."

For crying out loud people! A massive Federal homosexual agenda? Yeah, like regular homo agenda wasn't big enough there Ms. Harvey?  Unfortunately, it gets worse as evidenced by this next section:  

"The purpose of this bill is not what is being stated, but is quite simply to mandate in public schools one acceptable viewpoint on the issue of homosexuality, using purported violence or harassment as the rationale, and the power of the feds as the hammer. The goal is to silence those who may warn about or object to student expression of homosexuality or gender confusion. Such warnings might literally save a child’s life."

Okay, let's go back to the death of young Lawrence King for a moment, using Ms. Harvey's logic, anyone who was able to express objection's to young King being Gay would have ultimately been able to prevent his death? What a load of horseshit. Oh, but wait folks, it gets so much better:

"The phony concept of “gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered” identity is the shaky foundation of this bill.Are certain kids different types of humans ? No. There is no science to back up the existence of a “gay gene” or anything like it, and it is very harmful to label and stereotype young people with questionable lifestyles and high-risk behaviors. People are never locked biologically into the chosen behaviors of homosexuality or gender change, which are as inappropriate for children as they are for adults. To fix the identity of a harmful practice on a child severely compromises the child’s future, is emotionally and psychologically damaging, and amounts to a form of child endangerment."

While I run to the restroom to puke for a moment, here's a picture of this sweet lady Christiban pit-viper for you to enjoy...
Then Harvey advances these arguments:

"The proposed “safe environment” in schools “free from discrimination” over “sexual orientation” or “gender identity,” is an attempt to establish objection-free speech codes regarding immoral and child-unfriendly lifestyles and behaviors. Free speech, religious beliefs, and even valid health education are all gravely threatened by this bill. Prohibiting discrimination based on “perceived sexual orientation” or “perceived gender identity” is also a feature of this bill. This can only be described as a massive intrusion on freedom of conscience, speech and religion. In practice, it would be the “thought police” on steroids."

Thought Police? Perceived sexual orientation? What is especially troubling is that there are a number of people in the United States who buy into these arguments and unless the greater LGBT community and its supporters can marginalise this type of speech and cast a light on it, spotlighting it for what it truly is-ignorant, biased, hateful rhetoric, then there will continue to be reoccurring unfortunate and tragic murders and incidents of bullying of LGBT youth in the American educational system.