This time last year, 15-year-old California eighth grader Lawrence “Larry” King was killed in his junior high English class. Two bullets to the head. Classmate Brandon McInerney, now 15, allegedly pulled the trigger after King asked him to be his Valentine. And while McInerney is on trial (as an adult) for first-degree murder and committing a hate crime, he’s not the only one facing possible punishment. That’s because King’s parents have filed a wrongful death suit against the school district, a shelter, and a gay rights organization — for a total of two dozen defendants — for failing to protect their kid from McInerney’s alleged threat to kill King the day before it actually happened. And because, get this, they didn’t urge King to tone down his effeminate ways.
Yup. Mom and dad are suing everyone who came into contact with their son because none of them told King it wasn’t okay to be gay. If the defendants failed to act when McInerney made the alleged threat, then that’s pure negligence, and perhaps they should be at fault. But for not telling the kid to tone down his flamboyance? And keep his sexuality in the closet? I can’t imagine that’s punishable.
The 18-page lawsuit filed by King’s parents and brother names nearly two dozen defendants. It claims that everyone from King’s teacher to his social worker failed to urge the effeminate teen to tone down flamboyant behavior. The suit also claims they failed to heed McInerney’s alleged threat to kill King a day before the shooting.
In addition to his teacher and principal, the suit names McInerney and his parents; the nonprofit Casa Pacifica, a shelter for troubled children where King had been living; counselors; a county social worker, and the Ventura County Rainbow Alliance.
The school and shelter knew that King’s behavior was “sexually assertive” and
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threatening but failed to take action, the suit contends.The shelter gave him “cross-dressing clothes and makeup and women’s boots,” and the Rainbow Alliance encouraged King to make sexual advances on McInerney, the suit claims.
Alliance Executive Director Jay Smith denied the allegation.
“No facilitator or mental health therapist would say anything even remotely like that,” Smith said. “This whole thing is just frivolous.”
Casa Pacifica did nothing to contribute to the boy’s death, administrator Steve Elson said.
The Hueneme School District earlier denied responsibility for King’s death. [AP]
Here is Ellen DeGeneres last February speaking about King’s murder.
[flv:https://www.queerty.com/media/Ellen_LarryKing_Killing.flv https://www.queerty.com/media/Ellen_LarryKing_Killing.jpg 500 340]
rudy
Larry King was living in a shelter home because his parents turned thier back on him, now that his has died, they want to benefit from his death. Hopefully a civil court will dismiss this lawsuit and make the King’s parents pay the legal fees of those they are suing
Timothy
Ummm… not EXACTLY his parents. Greg and Dawn King adopted Larry at age three but according to Greg, Larry didn’t bond with them. And Larry was living at the youth shelter because Greg was alegedly physically abusive.
So it might be more accurate to call them “caregivers” instead of parents.
Alexa
Parents is more appropriate than caregivers, because legally they were his parents, and they gave him absolutely no care. Heartless, money hungry jerks would be even more appropriate.
Sebbe
I had never realized that the kid was living in a shelter. I don’t watch Ellen, but I am always impressed with clips when I see her. She must have helped open a lot of minds. Isn’t middle america her viewers?
Peter
Good grief; I never realized that I was harassing someone when I asked them to be my Valentine.
Sebbe
Me neither, I didn’t realize asking someone to be your valentine was considered predatorial, rubbish.
getreal
This is so sad these people lost their son and still are as ignorant as ever. Can some people not learn?
Sebbe
@getreal – seems like they never wanted him and should not have adopted in the first place and are just trying to cash in now. I have not followed this story very closely, but that’s my impression.
Tracy
it is one thing for people in authority to say it’s ok to be gay, and quite another to give them clothing that they know will get them picked on. teenagers are cruel!
from what i have heard,(from a family member) brandon had been picking on him, and larry sarcastically said “i love you too.”
i don’t call that being “sexually assertive” i call quick thinking. i would be dead at least 100 times by now if everyone i said that too when they were picking on me decided to shoot me in the back of the head TWICE!
too many times the schools turn a blind eye to bullying, and WAY too many times a child ends up dead.
parisinla
@ron: Asking someone to be your valentine hardly qualifies as sexual harrasment, or predatory (its arguable in a state like Calfornia but that’s besides the point). MUCH less does it warrant getting shot twice in the head.
You’ve basically advocated for the execution style killing of anyone who’s advances we’re not appreciated.
mb00
@ron:
“We don’t allow females to be sexually harassed in school”…
are you kidding me? yeah, sexual harassment is not tolerated, but it certainly happens every day, so does that then justify young girls taking a gun to the back the boys head and pulling the trigger, TWICE?!!!!
And it was Valentine’s day you dumb fuck. Is it a crime to ask someone to be your Valentine? Maybe you should of been the one on the receiving end of the trigger pulling.
vernonvanderbilt
@ron: Wow. Every time I think I’ve seen the worst that humanity has to offer, someone like you shows up and steals another sliver of the faith I have in our species.
I don’t suppose you’d much appreciate it if I said you deserved to get shot twice in the head for being a piece of shit, huh? Well…take a wild guess where I stand on that.
By your reasoning, as ParisinLA stated, we should all be permitted to cold-bloodedly execute anyone who hits on us, on the simple whim of whether we enjoyed it or not. Would you please tell me I have a nice ass? Pretty please?
The “gay panic” defense is a ridiculous fabrication designed by homophobes to justify murder, plain and simple. Whatever happened to “thanks, but no thanks?” The fact of the matter is that this kid planned to commit murder in advance, said as much, carried it out, and then calmly left the room. What kind of culture are you and your fellow subhumans hoping to create? If arbitrary murder is part of it, feel free to count me out.
Seriously, you are lower than pond scum. I hope you and all of your kind get what you truly deserve when it’s all said and done.
blake
@ron:
Did you bother to do any research?
Here’s what the district attorney in the case reported…
“The L.A. Times reports: “In her statement of facts, Fox contends that King and McInerney had an acrimonious relationship for months prior to the shooting. They sparred with ‘typical 8th grade, back-and-forth insults; some sexual, some not,’ she wrote. Witnesses said King was usually not the aggressor. But after months of teasing by McInerney and other male students who called him ‘faggot,’ he had began to retort, according to prosecutors. The day before the shooting, the two boys were bickering during seventh period. When King left, a student witness said that McInerney commented, ‘I’m going to shoot him.’ Just after that class, another student heard King say ‘I love you’ to McInerney as they passed in a hallway. The same student then heard McInerney say he was ‘going to get a gun and shoot’ King, according to prosecutors. A few minutes later, prosecutors allege, McInerney told one of King’s friends: ‘Say goodbye to your friend Larry because you’re never going to see him again.’ The prosecution brief also reveals for the first time that McInerney was familiar with firearms, and that he had used that particular weapon in the past during target shooting with his family. Investigators found a training video in his possession titled ‘Shooting in Realistic Environments,’ as well as skinhead and neo-Nazi books and similar writings from the Internet, prosecutors wrote.” http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-king-mcinerney12-2009feb12,0,6130604.story
Charles J. Mueller
@vernonvanderbilt:
Another what you described so perfectly as, drive-by, gay-turf shooting.
I mean, can this guy Ron really be serious? Sounds more like a homophobic, shit-stirrer to me. But then, we never know, do we? Until they show up on the front page of a major newspaper, that is.
And on the heels of that piecé de resistance, we have Queen Bee’s fucked-up contribution to the conversation.
A 15 year old gay boy giving a 14 year old classmate a Valentine card presages the development of a future paedophile?
And a “premptive strike”?
What kind of shit-talk is this? Did the killing of Larry King forestall a full-scale nuclear attack on the USA or something?
Today, a friend of mine sent me a link to a site about a Muslim man who was just arrested on suspicion of beheading his wife because she wanted a divorce. Such an action by the husband is called an “honor killing” and is condoned in the Islamic faith.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/02/17/2009-02-17_muslim_tv_mogul_muzzammil_hassans_allege.html
Welcome to the grizzly world of religion. And we worry about organized crime and the mafia?
What hole do these whack-jobs crawl out of, anyway?
vernonvanderbilt
@Charles J. Mueller: Actually, I called them “surf-by shootings,” though I appreciate your enthusiasm for the term. Keep on keepin’ on, soul brother.
@QUEEN BEE: Somebody’s wanting some attention. I’d tell you that you should be ashamed of yourself, but your kind are shameless. I hope you get cancer of the ass.
Charles J. Mueller
@vernonvanderbilt:
“I hope you get cancer of the ass.”
Oooh….that’s gotta smart!
ROTF an LMAO
Thanks for correcting me on the miss-quote. If one is going to quote a man, one should at least do it correctly, right? lol
A pleasant evening to you, soul brother.
vernonvanderbilt
@Charles J. Mueller: No problemo, sir. I’m just pleased you didn’t take offense. I’m always hesitant about correcting people on piddly things like that.
Tracy
too bad queenbee wasn’t pre-emptivley struck. but then again with her being psychic, and knowing how larry was going to turn out, she knew ahead of time to scurry behind the fridge like the cockroach she is! homophobia is alive and well and living in queenbee’s house! as for the cancer of the ass comment she made…well that just shows her intelligence level, and i refuse to say anymore about the poor handicapped child.
Distingué Traces
Abandon your child in life. Exploit him in death.
What wonderful people.
Distingué Traces
Having now read through the thread … why do I bother commenting here when it’s just a trolls’ playground?
Sebbe
@Distingue Traces – just skip right over them. It is sometimes hard, but your blood pressure will thank you for it. A response or acknowledgment is this worst thing you can do.
Ezekiel
@blake: Okay. I think we can all agree that murdering somebody is, y’know, WRONG. But I think the “gay” part of this issue is clouding the specifics of the case — most specifically, why did this CHILD have access to a firearm? This is no different than Columbine or any of the other host of school shootings in our sordid past as a nation. That the victim was gay isn’t exactly the point — obviously the CHILD with the gun was unhinged, and if it hadn’t been McInerney it would have been somebody else. I’ve been saying the same thing forever — where the HELL were the parents???
Miss Understood
Those parents creep me out. If this story upsets you as much as it does me please check out http://www.aliforneycenter.org/. They provide services and shelter to homeless LGBT youth whose parents have rejected them. Times are tough and donations are down. Please consider helping out.
MZL
the behaviour of this poor boy’s “parents” is revolting, enough said…
cruiser
@ron: You are a homophobic pinheaded. bigot and you needto go back to scholl and learn what it means to be a HUMAN BEING which obviously you ARE NOT!
Asking someone to be their valentine hardly qualifies as sexual harrassment or even predatory(where were you raised, the back hills of any southern state?!)for the love of god, the kid was ONLY 15! Then for the “parents” to sue everyone he cam in contact with because they did not tell him it was NOT ok to be gay…what a piece of work these two are. But I suppose you think they are justified.
cruiser
@Charles J. Mueller: I don’t know, but I wish they would crawl back!
vernonvanderbilt
@Tracy: I’m the one who made the ass-cancer comment. I suggested that Queen Bee should get it.
Charles J. Mueller
@Miss Understood:
Thank you for the link you provided us with. It’s comforting to know that there is someone out there who is showing some concern for these abandoned and homeless LGBT kids.
I read somewhere on the Internet that there are something like 9,000 homeless LGBT children on the streets of New York City alone. Lord knows how many other gay youths wander the streets of all of our American Cities?
It is my understanding that a parent is legally responsible for their children until the age of 18. That being the case, I am at a loss to understand, why parents who toss their gay kids out in the street are not being prosecuted by the law for abandonment of their financial responsibility to their children. How can that be?
I mean, are we now living in a society where the mothers can pop ’em out by the dozen, select the ones that please them the most and then toss the rest away?
And adding insult to injury, it is the very parents who reject their own spawn that rush to the poles to pass laws that prevent LGBT people from adopting and providing homes for some of these kids.
And these are the people who call LBGT people a threat to “Traditional Marriage”? This is “Preserving the American Family”?
The Pope shows more concern about saving the rain forests (which he compared marriage to) than he does for the lives of human beings.
Save the fetuses but drown the rejects in a bucket like unwanted kittens, seems to be more his style of thinking.
sal
@Charles J. Mueller:AMEN!!!!!!
Jens
@ron: Ron, please. Sexual harassment toward females is not acceptable. Ever. However, a boy asking a girl to be his valentine does not constitute harassment, nor does it make the boy a ‘predator.’
rohan
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cruiser
@sal: AMEN to your AMEN!
cruiser
@Jens: Good for you, you tell em. You are absolutely correct in your statements.
Zack
Sadly, there’s no law in any places about throwing your kid out of the house because he/she is gay or lesbian. Larry King’s “parents” abandoned him and now simply want to cash in on his death, their ignorance and bigotry showing the whole time. I hope they both burn.
Cee
Larry King’s parents sicken me. The lawsuit is so obviously frivolous. It has no merit. They are trying to sue everyone the child had contact with who didn’t tell him to stop dressing a certain way? or that he was too flamboyant? How about I sue his parents for child abandonment? The boy was living in a shelter because his lovely parents did not accept him the way he was. Is this a joke? Somebody lock these two up for filing a frivolous lawsuit to make money off their son’s death.
scott
i apparently missed all of the closeted, homophobes with their moronic comments. on one hand I feel it’s important to see their crazy comments because better to know thy enemy than not. On the other hand, why dirty up the place with their filth.
Since I didn’t get to see their excrement graffiti here, I don’t have the raising of the blood pressure, but I can see that it got others mad. And I want to make this comment.
This small penis’d, inbred people are just laughing their asses off and enjoying your reactions. They love it. It feeds into their psychotic behavior. Until you find their achilles heel (say calling out their true homosexual natures possibly), they just have a good ‘ole time at your expense.
Just my random observation. I could be wrong.
On topic: this is sad and I feel if the “parents” were not supportive, they should somehow be sued. But, that won’t happen of course.
stephanie
i think they should jus let larry king live in peace. Stop trying to blame people for being gay, thats what he chose to be welll then let it go. nobody should try to stop or put down a child for what they are. he was a good kid and thats all that should matter.
stephanie
@Cee: i agrre with you
Eiki Kloster
@cruiser:
Yeah, like that’s what they are teaching at school…
:]
He’s gay. So what? Sue me. :]
:]
sorry sorry. i mean he ‘was’ gay. respects.