Related Articles: ‘Beginning the Conversation’

• LETTERS

  Tragic Tale of Two Troubled Teens

  8/2/2008 12:00:00 AM

  'Murder in the 8th Grade': Readers in turn were angered and deeply perturbed by the systemic failure to prevent such a tragedy. One asked, "Did Larry King get a pass on his repeated sexual harassment of Brandon McInerney because he was gay, and why were the boys who were bullying and intimidating King still in school?" Another reprimanded "every significant adult in this story," adding, "Two kids were left to deal with fear, using the only techniques they knew. This should be a wake-up call to all parents, teachers and anyone with a role in a child's life."

• COVER STORY: SOCIETY

  Young, Gay and Murdered

  Ramin Setoodeh 7/19/2008 12:00:00 AM

  At 15, Lawrence King was small—5 feet 1 inch—but very hard to miss. In January, he started to show up for class at Oxnard, Calif.'s E. O. Green Junior High School decked out in women's accessories. On some days, he would slick up his curly hair in a Prince-like bouffant. Sometimes he'd paint his fingernails hot pink and dab glitter or white foundation on his cheeks. "He wore makeup better than I did," says Marissa Moreno, 13, one of his classmates. He bought a pair of stilettos at Target, and he couldn't have been prouder if he had on a varsity football jersey. He thought nothing of chasing the boys around the school in them, teetering as he ran.

• Letters to the Magazine

• MAIL CALL AND CORRECTIONS

  Can Early Warnings Help Treat Autism?

• PERSPECTIVES

• We're Here! We Cheer! Get Used To It!

  Barbara Kantrowitz

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