On Lawrence King
I don’t know why Lawrence King wore makeup, heels and jewels. (Whether some sort of “lionizing of drag queen entertainers” had anything to do with it, I’ll leave that to CFP columnist Paul Varnell to wonder about.) Whatever the reason, ultimately his life was ended because one human being objected to another human being who was unashamedly gay and who violated this society’s irrational gender-expression demands.

I’m very saddened by 15-year-old Lawrence’s death. And I’m sick of homophobes who attack or kill us. But I’m also troubled that Lawrence’s 14-year-old killer would be tried as an adult and face 50 years-to-life in prison. No, he’s not an innocent lamb. And who even knows if he can be salvaged. But he is a juvenile and he should face the type of reasonable justice that befits, and benefits, a juvenile. To do otherwise is to sacrifice not just one, but two young lives needlessly. To do otherwise is punishment without progress.

Lawrence’s death highlights again the urgent need for us individually and as a society to reexamine our values. Many of us advocate the right to, and indeed do, carry arms. But we don’t connect a weapons mentality to the possibility that a loaded gun could end up in the hands of a 14-year-old infected by homophobia. Others in our society are eager to jail this youngster for life, while ignoring our adult responsibility to teach tolerance and to put an end to bullying. And still others—politicians, clergy, etc.—perpetuate anti-gay bigotry and so do nothing to extinguish America’s raging homophobia that engulfed Lawrence King.

With Lawrence’s death, so many dots—among them the lack of guidance and care for our young, the readiness to use violence domestically (and abroad) as a response to problems and differences among us, the perpetuating of prejudices of all kinds—seem to come together and, in fact, are interconnected. My hope is that with Lawrence’s death we don’t just procedurally mourn and mindlessly punish. I hope that we grasp this tragedy as an opportunity to help change our country’s values from destructive to constructive ones.

Rich Wilson
Chicago

I am gravely concerned about senseless acts of violence occurring across our nation. On Feb. 12 of this year, 15-year-old Lawrence King, of Oxnard, California, was murdered by a classmate while in his school’s computer lab.

Lawrence King was not a victim of the kind of random violence that has become prevalent in our nation’s schools, most recently at Northern Illinois University in my home state of Illinois; rather he was targeted because he was openly gay. He was not harming anyone, he was not threatening anyone; he was killed because he had the courage to be himself.

I am outraged by this act of classroom violence and wish to make clear that intending harm against people based on their sexual orientation is, without exception, completely and totally unacceptable, as are attacks based on religion, race, ethnicity, gender or any personal characteristic. Members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual and questioning community deserve to live their lives proudly without fear of being victimized by these despicable acts of targeted violence. I urge my colleagues across the nation to join me in condemning this act of disturbing brutality.

Ill. state Rep. Greg Harris
Chicago

Obama and marriage
Barack Obama is spending big bucks on ads in gay papers in Texas and Ohio. But, gays should not buy a ticket to ride the bus of Obamamania. His refusal to back marriage equality is offensive in the extreme.

Obama is a United States constitutional law expert who taught at the University of Chicago. He knows full well that separate is inherently unequal, but he continues to pander to a perceived public opinion that favors keeping marriage, a civil contract, between opposite sex couples. His use of anti-gay gospel singer Donnie McClurkin in South Carolina shows that Obama is as prepared as Bill Clinton was to throw us under the bus should he become president.

Can anyone imagine African Americans or Jews or women voting for candidates who refuse to back their full legal equality? Who—like Obama—preach equal rights, but really mean second-class citizenship? Gays who support any candidate who fails to back our full legal equality need to ask themselves, “Where’s the self respect?” 
Bob Schwartz
Chicago