An American Miseducation

T wo weeks ago in Oxnard, Calif., Lawrence King—an eighth-grader who had recently come out as gay and had begun wearing makeup and dressing like a woman—was shot in the head by a 14-year-old classmate. While crimes motivated by homophobia are unfortunately not unheard of, this incident struck many as particularly disturbing.

This murder at a middle school in a comfortable, middle-class beach community has been classified as a hate crime for which the perpetrator—who is being tried as an adult—faces up to 52 years in jail. Despite the heinousness of this crime, the killer seems to have suffered at the hands of American cultural attitudes, just as his victim did. This incident was an eloquently horrible manifestation of some of the effects of latent homophobia in the United States.

Simply put, 14-year-olds do not take it upon themselves to kill homosexuals without a considerable amount of ideological influence, be it from family, friends, or the media. A boy of 14 years is not known for making the most rational decisions. Nor are 14-year-olds notoriously free from outside influence.

The media culture of violence coupled with the accessibility of guns in this country never ceases to spell disaster for frustrated teens who can think of no peaceful recourse to their problems. Thus, trying a 14-year-old as an adult when a 14-year-old does not have the capacity to make adult judgments is nothing short of absurd. Hate crimes in particular require a certain level of conviction and premeditation unique to adults. A statutory age should be considered in the charging of hate crimes.

There is no explanation for an act such as this other than that the killer was imbued with homophobia from an impressionable age. While the influences the young killer encountered weighed heavily on the crime, equally important were the teachings he did not encounter.

Homosexuality is an issue that is notably absent from the “diversity is beautiful” curricula of elementary and middle schools. We are proud to say that the American educational system and our society at large have progressed to an extent that racial slurs are no longer tolerated in most schools. However, American educational attitudes toward homosexuality remain lamentably ambivalent.

On the one hand, Lawrence King felt comfortable enough in his school environment to come out at such a young age. On the other hand, many young people who have unconventional sexual or gender orientations are subject to merciless teasing (and in this case, ultimately death) because of attitudes that schools have not done enough to curtail.

If homosexuality were presented to children in schools from a very young age as an acceptable facet of diversity (as race and religion are), we would certainly see a decline in the blindly cruel homophobia of American youth. The death of a 15-year-old in the name of homophobia is an issue that transcends the objections of the religious right. Refusing to discuss homosexuality with children does not make homosexuality disappear. Rather, it makes the issue shadowy, frightening, and more salient than ever to the most impressionable members of American society.