Photos: Murder in the Eighth Grade

And people wonder why teenagers say nobody listens? To those who have nitpicked undestandingteen's grammer, syntax, and spelling. Yes, it's bad. There is a need for more English lessons there. But I find it disappointing that the comments have focused only on the grammar and spelling, completely ignoring the Content. This is a teenager who was touched by this article, and had the decency to say that he thought what happened was wrong. Whether he said it correctly or incorrectly shouldn't have any bearing on the validity of his comment.

with regard to "UNDERSTANDINGTEEN".....If you are a "senior" in High School then I certainly hope you have to take a spelling test to graduate! If not, then, California must raise the bar a bit for our high school grad's. This kid won't survive 1 week of college!

I have never had a real problem with gays or lesbians or anyone with a diffrent orrientation than myself and as a Senior in high school now it isn't that rare to see fellow peers or classmates in apperal other than the"normal" wear of the "normal" teen, boy or girl. Boys wear tight pants and gurls wear baggy jeans and basketball shorts does that make them someone who isn't following the dress code? Not at all, they all can wear what they want yes there is a dress code but its for safety reasons not to prevent people fom gettin seriously injured or even killed. I see teens left and right getting stopped for spaghettii straps and sandles ok fine no problem but who says that a guy cant wear a dress if a gurl can wear basketball shorts I see that everyday do they get stopped? No! Basically my main point is that it isn't against the rules what young Larry King was wearing nor was it wrong he was comfortable with his sexual orrientation so whats wrong with that. Yes the school should have informed his parents before things went the way they did, but they didn't, if the parents at all want to file a suit it should be on how they were not informed if it was against the dress code prior to the incident about their sons choice of clothing. Larry was young and comfortable with himself and for teachers to tell him that how he was dressed was inapropriate and to take sertain items off his person thats against his freedom of expression. I know I am only a senior but I am a very involed teen and I am very verbal about my thoughts and this story gave me chills and brought tears to my eyes in many of the things that were mentioned in this article I cant began to even describe my condolences to the friends and family and everyone who cared about this who im sure was a wonderful young man Im very sorry for your loss and JUSTICE shall be surved in the way that is PROPER! I WISH THE BEST FOR EVERYONE AND LARRY KING WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN NOT EVEN BY MYSELF!!

The only thing i don't understand is why are the parents suing the school for the way their son dressed? If they believe that CLOTHING led to their sons death, instead of an act of homophobia, why did they let their son out of the house dressed like that? Why did they allow him to have womens stiletto's or makeup, if they believed that it would put their son in danger? Why is it the schools responsibility to police how the boy dressed? Its so sad to see such a young life cut short because of hate. And, even more than that, its so sad to see kids learn to hate at such a young age. If parents didn't teach their children to hate certain types of people, kids would never know the difference. You watch children on the playground go up and make friends of total strangers, and by the time they go home they feel they've made a best friend out of everyone they played with, regardless of age, race, or gender. Fast forward a few more years and those very same kids are either picking on or being picked on, and everyone is an enemy. White boys are picking on Black kids, Black kids are making fun of Hispanic kids, and boys and girls both have 'cooties'. Its sad that society cant see how early these prejudices are learned, and how racist remarks people make in front of their children are immediately taken to heart by the kids, and put into play against their classmates later. Maybe someday people will learn, and there will be less articles of slain children in the news, killed because of intolerance.

Hate is a common feeling for most pplz without accepting what pplz do in life yes... bad or good news is always being judged and thats where hate comes along. To accept is the easiest thing to do but to be selfish and think allowing everything to go your way thats when people think differently of you and some just dont care about no one but really themselves. A good person is truthful but lies for the right reasons . Someone who is to blame for this accident is the one who is doing the wrong and that the criminal not the school because it was the boys decision on what he wanted to do.Stupity is not looking at the facts before making an opinion

Life has changed to the worse and Nobidy none of us do anything for it.
We can all be better humans .
and not only care about ourselves.
Life can give us so much love that we don t accept it we only want to make money and hate in our hearts . WHY

AMEN TO Ijlm. LIVE AND LET LIVE. LIFE IS WAY TO SHORT TO BE SO JUDGEMENTAL. WHO DIED AND LEFT YOU TO DETERMINE WHAT'S RIGHT AND WHAT'S WRONG ?

This is not just a story of intolerance it is also a story of the lack of discipline and fear that run our schools and rule the administrations. Children can do whatever they like, including bullying, stalking, harassing, etc. Many schools say they are "zero-tolerance," it seems to me the zero-tolerance is for enforcing rules and policies. There are far too many parents sticking their noses into the disciplinary system of the schools and administrators have no recourse. The school system has to stop being fearful of parents filing lawsuits or complaints. Kids run on doing what feels good at the moment. It doesn???t really matter if they hurt themselves or someone else. If it feels good they are going to do it. Unfortunately, that action is almost always going to have a reaction, and sometimes that reaction could be a very bad one, as in the case. Or in the cases of those kids who are allowed to drink and drive and them someone ends up dead.
As a child, if I did something wrong at school my parents got a call. Now, parents never hear about it. Are the schools failing? Yes. But so are the parents. As parents, we are not in that school building let them handle the discipline and implementing the rules. A dress-code is a dress-code. There are rule about what you can and cannot do. They need to be enforced and followed. There are some places where your rights do not apply because if they are distracting to others. All children need to know how to be accountable for the things they do wrong. We all have rights but we do not have the right to harass, disrespect or hurt other people, no matter what religion, ethnicity, sex, or sexual orientation. If you are a parent hear this loud and clear, YOU ARE NOT TEACHING YOUR CHILDREN TO BE CAPABLE, RESPECTFUL AND TOLERANT ADULTS IF YOU BLAME EVERYONE ELSE FOR THEIR BAD BEHAVIOR, no matter what that behavior. YOU are the FIRST teacher. Children are not equipped to handle emotional confrontations on their own. They are still learning to live in this world. They need to understand that their personal expression is not always appreciated by others. When will the people we call ???adults??? get this through their thick skulls. Children cannot raise themselves!

This is not just a story of intolerance it is also a story of the lack of discipline and fear that run our schools and rule the administrations. Children can do whatever they like, including bullying, stalking, harassing, etc. Many schools say they are "zero-tolerance," it seems to me the zero-tolerance is for enforcing rules and policies. There are far too many parents sticking their noses into the disciplinary system of the schools and administrators have no recourse. The school system has to stop being fearful of parents filing lawsuits or complaints. Kids run on doing what feels good at the moment. It doesn???t really matter if they hurt themselves or someone else. If it feels good they are going to do it. Unfortunately, that action is almost always going to have a reaction, and sometimes that reaction could be a very bad one, as in the case. Or in the cases of those kids who are allowed to drink and drive and them someone ends up dead.
As a child, if I did something wrong at school my parents got a call. Now, parents never hear about it. Are the schools failing? Yes. But so are the parents. As parents, we are not in that school building let them handle the discipline and implementing the rules. A dress-code is a dress-code. There are rule about what you can and cannot do. They need to be enforced and followed. There are some places where your rights do not apply because if they are distracting to others. All children need to know how to be accountable for the things they do wrong. We all have rights but we do not have the right to harass, disrespect or hurt other people, no matter what religion, ethnicity, sex, or sexual orientation. If you are a parent hear this loud and clear, YOU ARE NOT TEACHING YOUR CHILDREN TO BE CAPABLE, RESPECTFUL AND TOLERANT ADULTS IF YOU BLAME EVERYONE ELSE FOR THEIR BAD BEHAVIOR, no matter what that behavior. YOU are the FIRST teacher. Children are not equipped to handle emotional confrontations on their own. They are still learning to live in this world. They need to understand that their personal expression is not always appreciated by others. When will the people we call ???adults??? get this through their thick skulls. Children cannot raise themselves!

Wow, I read a lot of replies. First of all, the school system is definitely failing, not only Larry and Brandon but also the illiterates typing on this blog. Obviously, murder is unacceptable and a good beating from Brandon might of straightened out Larry and taught him some boundaries of what to do as well of what not to do. I read this article in utter amazement of how "tolerant" everyone is expected to be (stilletto heels, lipstick, etc. please). I could not care less if your gay, bi, tri, whatever, I don't CARE, just leave me alone already and stop acting like it's some badge of honor, I hear your chains rattling. The fact of the matter is if Larry behaved as if there might be consequences for his boorish behaviors and flaunting his gayness he'd be alive today. You just never know when someone else might not be able to handle your gayness and advances.

Wow, I read a lot of replies. First of all, the school system is definitely failing, not only Larry and Brandon but also the illiterates typing on this blog. Obviously, murder is unacceptable and a good beating from Brandon might of straightened out Larry and taught him some boundaries of what to do as well of what not to do. I read this article in utter amazement of how "tolerant" everyone is expected to be (stilletto heels, lipstick, etc. please). I could not care less if your gay, bi, tri, whatever, I don't CARE, just leave me alone already and stop acting like it's some badge of honor, I hear your chains rattling. The fact of the matter is if Larry behaved as if there might be consequences for his boorish behaviors and flaunting his gayness he'd be alive today. You just never know when someone else might not be able to handle your gayness and advances.

It is unfortunate that this young man had to die, the school should have been focused on protecting both students. Taunting and teasing are hard to deal with for any child, but just as Larry was trying to identify himself and his sexuality, Brandon should also receive the same opportunity not to be harrassed. The right of a person to express themselves should not be censored, but if that expression interferes with the overall learning enviornment or infringes on another person then it should be addressed by the school administrators and bought to a screeching halt. The school failed both young men in this case and although I don't agree with the actions taken by Brandon, when was the administration going to say enough is enough?

It is very unfortunate that both these young men have essentially lost thier lives at the hands of thier school administrators. As a teacher of students with special needs I find it deplorable that the school did nothing to prevent the harassment/bullying of a student. That found it necessary to take the life of another to essentially stop the harassment and save face with his peers. I do not condone what Brandon did to Larry but he is simply a child and the adults failed them both.

It is unfortunate that this young man had to die, the school should have been focused on protecting both students. Taunting and teasing are hard to deal with for any child, but just as Larry was trying to identify himself and his sexuality, Brandon should also receive the same opportunity not to be harrassed. The right of a person to express themselves should not be censored, but if that expression interferes with the overall learning enviornment or infringes on another person then it should be addressed by the school administrators and bought to a screeching halt. The school failed both young men in this case and although I don't agree with the actions taken by Brandon, when was the administration going to say enough is enough?

Why would a school system allow anyone to wear stiletto's to school especially a male. It's apparent this child had emotional problems