THE MURDER OF A GAY TEEN Lawrence King IN OXNARD CA

I grew up In Oxnard Ca. Murder in Oxnard is something I am familiar with. In fact I have known 2 people in Oxnard that were murdered. One happened on March 6, 1979. The other was September of 1986. Both were young both were NICE people. One was killed at work the other was killed in her own home. This is the Oxnard that I know.

I graduated from high school in 1985. I was a fat scared gay boy. I was sad & alone. I felt so isolated. I herd things for gay teens have changed now. Even though I did not come out until I was 29 I herd things were better now. Great. Maybe now the new generations of "Gay-Americans" will not have to turn to booze of pills to get through the day.

Well as the saying goes "The more things change, the more they stay the same". This is a matter of fact with the murder of Lawrence King. It was less than 10 years ago when "Matthew Shepard" (who was gay) was killed because he was gay. There were protest and people marched. In fact Steve & I marched in 2 of them when we were living in Los Angles area.

Well here it is almost 10 years later and another gay man is killed because he is gay. I have to give Lawrence credit for "being honest" with himself and living his life his way. Was he hurting anyone? "Hell No". However being so young he did not know that being gay in AMERICA is not safe! His death only underlines the fact.

In America its a fact that being gay your 2ND class citizen. In America people are getting into public office by trying to make sure that we do not get equal rights. How sad if you think about it that people are getting voted into office because they are for keeping equal rights away from United States Citizens.

Lawrence King did not understand that this hate factor was all around him. He did not see that people want to harm us . He was a victim of a hate crime his death will not be the last one.

This country seems to breed ignorance and intolerance! Listen to any rap alblum. The artist seem to use to word nigger and fag to describe all men and women.

Everyone in the UNITED STATES has to wake up to the fact that hate crimes are more then just stupid white men in white robes lynching African Americans. That is only one type of hate crime. There are others.

Jewish people are still victims. Black churches still semmed to get burned and of course a gay man in this country still has to watch how he acts in public, because god forbid he holds his boyfriends hand in the wrong part of town. Yes this is the America we live in. AS long as we vote in people like GW its not going to get better.

America needs to stop and be accountable for its actions. We are a nation of bully's. WE think are shit doesn't stink. We go into other country's and force democracies. Wake up! This country has a hate problem.

I know this because I live in Mississippi. Its the "White Trash" capital of the south. I hear the word "Nigger" dropped everyday. I also here the word "fagot" dropped just as often. The United States should be ashamed of the fact that we are the prime example of ignorance and intolerance. We preach to the other side of the world about being inclusive but in this country we will not allow woman to have a choice, vote a black man in the white house, or let there gay citizens to get married. This country s is now the capital of ignorance, & intolerance!

In order for things to change we all have say "enough with the hate". No matter who you are when someone says something negative challenge them to stop. Even if that means your preacher, teacher, or spouce.