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Last Updated: Dec 17, 2008 - 12:11:59 AM
"We fight alone"
By John Wright Staff Writer
Mar 13, 2008 - 11:15:37 PM
Hundreds gather in Dallas to remember slain gay teen from California
Rachael Jensen says she knows what it’s like to walk in Lawrence King’s shoes.
Jensen recalled how the entire cast verbally attacked her for being a lesbian when she was directing her first theater production at a suburban Dallas high school.
Despite being involved in activities like the theater program — she’s been stage manager for another show and acted in three more — Jensen said she’s become “a social pariah” at the school because of her sexual orientation.
Jensen, 18, was one of about a half-dozen people who spoke at a memorial service Sunday, March 9 to honor King, the 15-year-old from California who was shot to death by a classmate last month for being gay.
Prior to the shooting, King reportedly had been the victim of anti-gay taunts and slurs for months.
Jensen urged the roughly 200 people who gathered for the service in the main sanctuary at the Cathedral of Hope to “stand up and be counted.”
“We fight alone,” Jensen said. “Perhaps we can’t change the world tonight, but we can ensure that not one of us is forced to endure discrimination and hate alone, ever again.”
The service was one of more than 100 nationwide since King’s death, according to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, a national group that focuses on LGBT issues in schools.
Another speaker at the service, Stephen Sprinkle, said King’s murder was the latest in what has become a “a slow, rolling holocaust” of anti-gay hate crimes across the country.
Sprinkle, an associate professor at Texas Christian University’s Brite Divinity School, said King is one of three teenagers who’ve been killed for being gay in the U.S. in the last three months.
But Sprinkle said the mainstream media has largely ignored anti-gay killings since the high-profile case of University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard in 1998.
“The story of these unfinished lives must not remain unremembered and untold,” Sprinkle said. “God bless Larry King, and God bless all of the families who tonight may be comforted because, here in Dallas, Texas, we remember.”
Renee Baker, a transgender woman and a board member for Youth First Texas, spoke about the importance of accepting people even when they reject us.
King wore makeup and girl’s boots to school, according to news reports, and his alleged shooter, 15-year-old Brandon McInerney, had a troubled home life.
Baker said she was rejected by her mother when she came out as transgender three years ago.
“We still have to stand up and love them back,” Baker said.
Others called for political action in the wake of King’s murder.
Beau Heyen, minister for youth at the Cathedral, asked those in attendance to voice their support for pending federal legislation that would add protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity in most of the nation’s public schools.
“This is you opportunity to make a difference everywhere,” Heyen said.
Other speakers were Bob Miskinis from Youth First, 19-year-old Charley Scarborough and Dawson Taylor, associate pastor for congregational life at the Cathedral.
Jensen and 18-year-old David Negrete sang a duet of, “All You Need is Love,” and Negrete performed a piano solo of “Amazing Grace.”
The Turtle Creek Chorale, directed by Jonathan Palant, sang “Grace.”
Sunday’s service was co-sponsored by 35 local groups, including GLSEN, Youth First, the Chorale and the Cathedral.
Organizers initially planned a candlelight vigil and a march from the Cathedral to the Cedar Springs strip. But the vigil and march were cancelled due to inclement weather and because organizers were unable to obtain a permit, they said.
E-mail wright@dallasvoice.com
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition March 14, 2008.
 |
| Rachael Jensen, left, and David Negrete, both 18, sing the Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love” at the Cathedral of Hope on Sunday, March 9 during a service for 15-year-old murder victim Lawrence King of California. -JOHN WRIGHT/Dallas Voice |
Jensen recalled how the entire cast verbally attacked her for being a lesbian when she was directing her first theater production at a suburban Dallas high school.
Despite being involved in activities like the theater program — she’s been stage manager for another show and acted in three more — Jensen said she’s become “a social pariah” at the school because of her sexual orientation.
Jensen, 18, was one of about a half-dozen people who spoke at a memorial service Sunday, March 9 to honor King, the 15-year-old from California who was shot to death by a classmate last month for being gay.
Prior to the shooting, King reportedly had been the victim of anti-gay taunts and slurs for months.
Jensen urged the roughly 200 people who gathered for the service in the main sanctuary at the Cathedral of Hope to “stand up and be counted.”
“We fight alone,” Jensen said. “Perhaps we can’t change the world tonight, but we can ensure that not one of us is forced to endure discrimination and hate alone, ever again.”
The service was one of more than 100 nationwide since King’s death, according to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, a national group that focuses on LGBT issues in schools.
Another speaker at the service, Stephen Sprinkle, said King’s murder was the latest in what has become a “a slow, rolling holocaust” of anti-gay hate crimes across the country.
Sprinkle, an associate professor at Texas Christian University’s Brite Divinity School, said King is one of three teenagers who’ve been killed for being gay in the U.S. in the last three months.
But Sprinkle said the mainstream media has largely ignored anti-gay killings since the high-profile case of University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard in 1998.
“The story of these unfinished lives must not remain unremembered and untold,” Sprinkle said. “God bless Larry King, and God bless all of the families who tonight may be comforted because, here in Dallas, Texas, we remember.”
Renee Baker, a transgender woman and a board member for Youth First Texas, spoke about the importance of accepting people even when they reject us.
King wore makeup and girl’s boots to school, according to news reports, and his alleged shooter, 15-year-old Brandon McInerney, had a troubled home life.
Baker said she was rejected by her mother when she came out as transgender three years ago.
“We still have to stand up and love them back,” Baker said.
Others called for political action in the wake of King’s murder.
Beau Heyen, minister for youth at the Cathedral, asked those in attendance to voice their support for pending federal legislation that would add protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity in most of the nation’s public schools.
“This is you opportunity to make a difference everywhere,” Heyen said.
Other speakers were Bob Miskinis from Youth First, 19-year-old Charley Scarborough and Dawson Taylor, associate pastor for congregational life at the Cathedral.
Jensen and 18-year-old David Negrete sang a duet of, “All You Need is Love,” and Negrete performed a piano solo of “Amazing Grace.”
The Turtle Creek Chorale, directed by Jonathan Palant, sang “Grace.”
Sunday’s service was co-sponsored by 35 local groups, including GLSEN, Youth First, the Chorale and the Cathedral.
Organizers initially planned a candlelight vigil and a march from the Cathedral to the Cedar Springs strip. But the vigil and march were cancelled due to inclement weather and because organizers were unable to obtain a permit, they said.
E-mail wright@dallasvoice.com
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition March 14, 2008.
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