Brandon McInerney, who was 14 years old at the time, will be retried on murder charges for the death of 15 year old Lawrence King who was an openly gay teen in Los Angeles. The 2008 shooting came after students reportedly said King had a crush on McInerney and that King flirted and taunted with him. McInerney will now be charged with first degree murder, a special circumstance allegation of lying in wait and a special allegation of use of a handgun. However, the former hate crime charge was dropped due to prosecutors wanting to narrow the focus. The shooting occurred in the middle of a junior high classroom that was filled with two dozen students. McInerney allegedly shot King point blank in the back of his head then stood over him and shot again coup de grace. During the first trial, seven of the twelve jurors were in favor of finding McInereny guilty of involuntary manslaughter. However the judge declared a mistrial due to a deadlocked jury.
Gay hate crimes are becoming a global social problem. Not only in the United States but places across the globe, such as Honduras, Brazil, Iraq, Mexico and Africa, are seeing in increase in murders and hate crimes related to homosexuals. In Brazil, the rate of homosexual murders spiked from 52 to 250 in just one year. Between 1980 and 2009 in Brazil, there has been an estimated 3,350 murders. In Mexico, between 2001 and 2009, there has been an estimated 60 murders a year of homosexuals. Here in the United States, there has been an increase in not only murders but suicides by homosexual individuals. The most shocking bit of information I found was in Uganda who has been trying to pass a bill for two years that states that anyone who commit’s the “crime” of being gay will receive the death penalty. I am disgusted that people can take someone else’s life because of the lifestyle choices they make. It really bothers me that children and teens are being killed and commit suicide because they are not accepted. I’ve always been taught that love is love and I firmly believe that gay individuals should have the same rights as heterosexuals.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/05/justice/california-gay-student-murder/index.html?hpt=ju_c2
2 comments:
I think its sad that people wont let others simply live the life that they want to live. Why cant everyone just mind their own business. Homosexuals really dont hurt anyone, if anything they are hurt the most from the title. Not only do they have to overcome the family hatred that can come with being gay but when they step outside in the world they have mass amounts of people being mean and showing it in the worse possible ways. We as people have to stop this by adding laws to protect them because lets face it, they aren't going anywhere.
I agree with both Jasma and Brittany that these kinds of acts are despicable, and the fact that they are increasing and garnering more attention is even worse. I believe that the sexual preference of any individual is not a choice, it is genetic and something that cannot be changed. It is also something that is a personal thing, and it is not something that the government, religious groups, nor any other individual has any right to say anything, or do anything about.
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