Gay & Lesbian Teens Support Group

Bang! Bang!

At a school in Oxnard, Ca., a 15 year old student was sitting in his first period class as normal on a normal school day. But this was no ordinary student. This student was flamboyant to say the least. He did not dress like most if not all of the other students. He would come to school wearing high-heeled boots, makeup, jewelry and painted nails. This student was living in a foster care center for troubled and abused youths. Some of his classmates described him as openly gay. Obviously from where he was living, this student had a troubled background. Self inflicted or not, that part is unknown.

Now this student was sitting in his first period class when he was approached by another student who pulled out a gun and shot him twice in the head. The shooter then proceeded to drop the gun at the scene and ran away from the school. The shooter was caught by police a short time later. This shooting took place in front of 24 other students. The 15 year old boy later died at the hospital.

Why was this student killed? Why is a 15 year old no longer with us? Because he was gay? Some of the students who were interviewed at the scene said the way the 15 year old dressed freaked them out. Well isn't that a shame. He dresses different so lets kill him. He is gay and we are not so lets get rid of the one who is different. Are you kidding me?

The kid who reportedly shot him was only 14 years old. 14? How does a 14 year old generate that much hate for anyone? To kill someone at the age of 14? Where does a 14 year old get a gun? Where is the parents of these 2 students?

This comes back to my way of thinking that a lot of kids are being raised by video games, violent movies, violent music lyrics, the internet and the influences of other children. There is no way a 14 year old is going to have enough nerve or desire to shoot someone unless he/she is influenced by something other then the parents.

Why is this 15 year old dead? Because he was different? Because he was maybe gay? Because he wore something different then what other little boys were wearing? I will tell you, the reason this boy is dead is because society failed him.

How did society fail him you ask? Lets start of by saying this 14 year old got a gun. Somewhere along the line this gun was the property of some adult. No 14 year old got it from a gun store. And if he got it from another friend then somewhere along the life of that gun, some adult was responsible for a child to get that gun. How did this student get the gun in a classroom? With all the school shootings across the country happening, schools need to do something to insure the safety of the children who attend.

As a society we have accepted violence as part of life. We love to watch it in movies, we like to sing along to lyrics that contain violence, we like to play video games that kill everyone, we like to watch people fight on youtube. But then when we watch violence on the news we condemn the suspect. We say 'how can this monster do this?' while at the same time we are arming this monster with all the influences needed to do monsterous things. 100 years ago children were influenced by their parents and not by movies, lyrics, video games, internet. Now how many school killings were there 100 years ago compared to today?

This 15 year old child was killed because the other student had no tolerance for someone who was different then himself. Maybe if this shooters parents were more of an influence in this childs life then society was, the 15 year old would be going to school tomorrow. But because society failed these 2 children, one is dead and the other one will be in prison for almost his whole life. In affect, 2 kids lives are over before they even got to start.

I am not gay but I can't imagine hating someone who is, let alone kill them just for being gay. Society needs to wake up and realize that if we don't raise our children right, then we can unfortunately expect more of these tragedies in the future. Lets make our children priority number one, or maybe not have them at all.
Posted on 11/06/09, 06:11 pm