SEARCH:
washingtonpost.com
Web
| Search Archives

Teen Killings Tied To Sexual Orientation

TOOLBOX

Resize Text

Save/Share +
Print This
E-mail This

COMMENT

Discussion Policy
CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.

Who's Blogging

» Links to this article
Saturday, March 29, 2008; Page A02

A few weeks after the death of Lawrence King, daytime talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres opened her show with a message about King. "When the message out there is so horrible that to be gay you can get killed for it, we need to change the message," she said.

King's death is just one of the most recent instances in which teenagers were allegedly killed because of, in part, their sexual orientation. Other incidents in recent years include:

¿ Simmie Williams Jr., 17, was shot and killed on Feb. 22 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Police said Williams was dressed as a woman at the time of the shooting, and they are investigating his killing as a possible hate crime.

¿ Last fall, three people pleaded guilty to charges related to the July 2004 murder of 18-year-old Scotty Joe Weaver, who was gay. Prosecutors said it was clear that Weaver's sexual orientation played a part in the grisly murder in Bay Minette, Ala.

¿ Eddie Araujo, 17, was killed in October 2002 at a party in Newark, Calif., where he arrived dressed as a woman.

-- Staff research


© 2008 The Washington Post Company