Please take a moment to watch this video. Ellen Degeneres addressed the murder of Lawrence King, an eighth grader from California, who was murdered on February 12 because he was gay.
A few days before his murder, Larry asked his would-be killer to be his valentine. Ellen says, "When the message out there is so horrible that to be gay, you can get killed for it, we need to change the message. Larry is not a second class citizen. I am not a second class citizen. It is okay if you're gay."
Ellen also notes that many groups of people are discriminated against daily and none of this behavior is acceptable. She asks us viewer to pay close attention to how often being gay is a punchline of a monologue, or how often gay jokes are in movies or on television. She states that abuse starts with laughing, and can then escalate to verbal and physical abuse.
Please watch this beautiful video. It's not often that Ellen gets emotional on her talkshow, but she is never afraid to talk about sensitive issues, educate her audience, or advocate for a murdered teen.
Friday, September 5, 2008
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