Calif. teen Brandon McInerney sentenced to 21 years for pot-blank murr of gay classmate - CBS News

Contents:

• VALENTE ROAD: THE STORY OF MURRED GAY TEEN LAWRENCE KG
• CALIF. TEEN BRANDON MCINERNEY SENTENCED TO 21 YEARS FOR POT-BLANK MURR OF GAY CLASSMATE
• YOUNG, GAY AND MURRED JUNR HIGH
• GAY TEEN LARRY KG PHED BOUNDARI BEFORE HE WAS SHOT
• MURRED GAY TEEN LARRY KG HARASSED HIS MURRER SAYS SAVE CALIFORNIA
• LARRY KG: GAY TEEN'S HIGH HEELS AND MAKP SET OFF MURRO SOCAL HIGH SCHOOL ATTACK?
• AT TEEN'S TRIAL, BULLYG OF GAYS IN FOC
• GAY STUNT'S FLAMBOYANT BEHAVR BLAMED FOR HIS MURR
• TEEN GETS 21 YEARS IN JAIL FOR SHOOTG GAY CLASSMATE
• REVIEW: MURR OF GAY TEEN MEMORIALIZED ‘VALENTE ROAD’

VALENTE ROAD: THE STORY OF MURRED GAY TEEN LAWRENCE KG

In 2008, Lawrence "Larry" Kg, 15 years-old and openly gay was shot and killed by his 14 year old classmate Brandon McInerney after Larry asked Brandon to be his Valente. - California teenager Brandon McInerney, who plead guilty to send-gree murr the killg of a gay stunt, was sentenced Monday to 21 years prison.

Not so much his sexualy, which I didn't know until really much later when I started workg wh the gay and lbian center Los Angel.... Larry was shed to the hospal, where he died two days later of bra Larry Kg shootg beme the most proment gay-bias crime sce the murr of Matthew Shepard 10 years ago.

California's Supreme Court has jt legalized gay marriage. There are gay characters on popular TV shows such as "Gossip Girl" and "Ugly Betty, " and no one seems to notice. Kids like Larry are so fortable wh the ncept of beg openly gay that they are g out younger and younger.

CALIF. TEEN BRANDON MCINERNEY SENTENCED TO 21 YEARS FOR POT-BLANK MURR OF GAY CLASSMATE

One study found that the average age when kids self-intify as gay has tumbled to 13. Even as homosexualy has bee more accepted, the prospect of beg openly gay middle school rais a troublg set of issu. "I said, 'Larry, are you gay?

The Larry book talked about how he was gay and falsely asserted that he drsed Goth and drag.

Kids nearby tnted him for beg gay. " But the therapist told Greg he thought that Larry was jt tryg to get attentn and might not unrstand what meant to be gay. Every day a driver would take Larry to school, and some weeks he went to nearby Ventura, where he attend gay youth-group meetgs.

YOUNG, GAY AND MURRED JUNR HIGH

Epste, a lm, brown-haired woman wh bifols, was openly gay to her lleagu, and although she was generally not out to her stunts, she kept a picture of her partner on her sk that some stunts saw. One teacher plas that by beg openly gay and discsg her girliend (prumably, no one would have plaed if she had talked about a hband), Epste brought the subject of sex to school.

"I thk that she was assertg her beliefs for gay rights. For tweens, talkg about beg gay isn't really about sex. "Part of the reason why people are g out earlier is they have the word 'gay, ' and they know explas the feelg.

GAY TEEN LARRY KG PHED BOUNDARI BEFORE HE WAS SHOT

More than 3, 600 high schools sponsor gay-straight allianc signed to foster acceptance of gay stunts, but only 110 middle schools have them.

She was approached by several boys her class who said that Larry had started tntg them the halls—"I know you want me, " he'd say—and their iends were llg them gay.

The kids are sayg sce Larry is gay, I mt be gay, too, bee I'm his brother'. In blue-llar, immigrant Oxnard, there is no gay muny to speak of and generally very ltle public discsn of gay issu, at least until Larry's murr happened. Brandon's iends were there and started jokg that he and Larry were gog to make "gay babi" together.

MURRED GAY TEEN LARRY KG HARASSED HIS MURRER SAYS SAVE CALIFORNIA

Deep the dience, an eighth grar turned to one of Brandon's iends and whispered, "That's so gay.

For them, the issue isn't whether Larry was gay or straight—his father still isn't nvced his son was gay—but whether he was allowed to ph the boundari so far that he put himself and others danger. He's rentful that the gay muny has appropriated his son's murr as part of a larger e. "I thk the gay-rights people want to be a gay-rights issue, bee mak a poster child out of my son, " Kg says.

LARRY KG: GAY TEEN'S HIGH HEELS AND MAKP SET OFF MURRO SOCAL HIGH SCHOOL ATTACK?

I'm not anti-gay. I have a lot of -workers and iends who are gay. On the Inter, he's bee a gay martyr, and this year's Natnal Day of Silence, an annual event created to raise awarens of homophobia, was dited to Larry.

School allowed gay teen to wear high heels and make-up weeks before he was shot and killed 'hate crime'It was his right to drs like that, says ex-school officialA teacher gave him her dghter's homeg drs A former California school official has ttified that a gay teen who was shot and killed 2008 phed boundari by wearg women's high-heeled boots, jewellery and make-up to school.

AT TEEN'S TRIAL, BULLYG OF GAYS IN FOC

'Prosecutors are tryg to prove McInerney disliked gays and mted premedated fence says McInerney me om a vlent and troubled home, was phed to the edge after Kg ma too many unwele advanc and is only guilty of opposg lawyers argued over whether cints volvg Kg were ser disptns at school that went unpunished, or jt typil actns of an awkward eighth-grar, reportsMrs Epste said she never had anyone pla to her about Kg's clothg — other than his own younger brother, who said he was beg teased bee of did say sexually appropriate thgs to other stunts and phed another stunt agast a wall the weeks before his ath, Mrs Epste add that after a send cint, a disciplary form was put to his permanent rerd.

Larry's ath has roiled gay-rights advot and parents Oxnard, a cy about 60 northwt of Los Angel, and has ronated wh the natnMts Epste said he was given appropriate disciple and was alt wh the rrect Senr Deputy District Attorney Maeve Fox asked if the name llg and shovg by Kg were anythg beyond typil eighth-gra behavr, Epste replied no. Media outlets reported that Brandon had killed Larry "allegedly bee he intified himself as gay.

"You wouldn't have looked at him and go, "Oh, he's outwardly gay or somethg.

GAY STUNT'S FLAMBOYANT BEHAVR BLAMED FOR HIS MURR

Embed: Megachurch pastor of Lakewood Church and televangelist Joel Osteen was a gut on Larry Kg Now Los Angel to talk about everythg om Duck Dynasty to Obamare -- and, of urse, his views on the gays me up. Kg asked Osteen, "What are your views on homosexualy? ""There's a lot of thgs Larry that I don't unrstand- so I jt don't want to preach on , preach about , " Osteen enquired, "Do gay marriage annoy you?

TEEN GETS 21 YEARS IN JAIL FOR SHOOTG GAY CLASSMATE

Osteen on homosexuals. " Zepps followed up by askg if that clud homosexuals. ”The size of the turnout surprised police, school officials and even the two Hueneme High School sophomor who put the event together jt three days ago, spreadg the word wh fliers, cellphone lls and MySpace bullets.

“We are sayg you don’t need to accept people who are gay, but you should tolerate them. Green Junr High School south Oxnard, had revealed he was gay this school year.

Stunts bily scribbled signs on poster boards, wh such msag as “RIP Larry Kg, ” “Gay Pri” and “Support Love and Tolerance. The trial of a teen acced of killg a gay classmate is brgg natnal attentn to the problem of gay bullyg.

REVIEW: MURR OF GAY TEEN MEMORIALIZED ‘VALENTE ROAD’

Prosecutors Southern California say the fendant murred 15-year-old Lawrence Kg out of his hatred of homosexuals, but fense attorneys say their client snapped after beg repeatedly harassed by the openly gay teen. Talk show host Ellen DeGener and gay rights advot around the untry took to the airwav. Gay teens, they said, were facg an epimic of bullyg schools.

"It is OK if you are gay. Fox said that McInerney killed Kg out of his hatred for homosexuals, somethg he learned as an avid follower of whe supremacist, Nazi teachgs.