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Bad enough, but Gilreath pointedly added: "Physical violence begins with bullying, name calling and homophobic remarks. When nothing happens to someone [for making slurs], it escalates to violence."
He was quick to remind me that in both the Larry King and Sean Kennedy cases "there was quite a history of anti-gay speech before the incidents occurred."
The proposed anti-bullying act in North Carolina would only require schools to have some policies in place to protect students. Currently, Palmquist says that many teachers and administrators "look the other way." That certainly seems to have been the case at E.O. Green Junior High, the school Larry King attended.
One of the late boy's friends, a 13-year-old, told the Los Angeles Times: "A lot of teachers knew stuff was going on ... I guess they just didn't want to be involved."
On the Los Angeles Times' site, bloggers posted more than 600 comments within days of the murder. One volunteered what she thought should have happened: "What they can do is educate [the teachers] and their staff about safety in the schools; they need to learn how to recognize a tragedy in the making and stop it before it gets this far." Another added: "This is a prime example of how far back hate crimes start. These kids are only 14 and already are acting much like the rest of the world."
I've now learned that it's not that big a jump from anti-gay bullying to LGBT hate crimes and, in that sad light, it came as little surprise to me when Palmquist explained that the Safer Communities Act, a North Carolina bill that would have added sexual orientation and gender identity to the protected classes in the existing hate crime statute, had been killed in Raleigh.
Palmquist and I talked the day Stephen Moller received less than 30 months of jail time for the murder of Sean Kennedy. South Carolina, like its sibling to the north, has no statutory protections for LGBT people. Said Palmquist: "It's another case of letting boys be boys -- with no one held accountable. This is why inclusive hate crimes legislation is so important. It sends a clear message that these kinds of cases do need to be taken seriously." He added: "There's very little enthusiasm for [our] legislators to take on this issue. It's not seen as a good political opportunity."
Ten years have passed since the horrific murder of Matthew Shepard on a country lane outside of Laramie, Wyo. Just how far have we come? It's clear that Shepard's murder transfixed the nation and galvanized fair-minded folks on the coasts as well as the heartland. Yes, you can turn on the television and see The Ellen DeGeneres Show, reruns of Will & Grace, and The L Word in living color. Yes, gays and lesbians in the Golden State can now marry as our brothers and sisters do up in Massachusetts. But, let us not be overwhelmed by emotion or blinded by joy. As long as our schools are not safe for our younger brothers and sisters, none of us is truly safe.
One of the Southern California bloggers left these words behind: "How long will [the Larry King] story make the headlines? I fear that this will all be forgotten. Will America ever learn? Lawrence was not the first child to have been killed because of his sexuality." Nor, sadly, will he be the last.
Steven Petrow is the past president of the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association and is currently working on a memoir of coming out. He lives in Chapel Hill. This story originally appeared in The Independent Weekly.
