Readers Debate NEWSWEEK Story on a Gay Murder | Newsweek Culture

MUSIC
Gay-Pride Grenade
Joshua Alston 4/11/2009 12:00:00 AM
The stereotype is that gay men's music tastes favor pop divas and show tunes, while lesbians dig sensitive folk, and to let Jon Ginoli tell it, that stereotype is truer than it is false. That's why, in 1991, Ginoli founded Pansy Division, an out-and-proud punk-rock band. Pansy Division's sound was influenced heavily by '70s-era punk bands like the Ramones and the Sex Pistols. Like those groups, Pansy Division keeps the songs short, sweet and snotty. And after taking a six-year break to work day jobs—homocentric rock music isn't exactly reaping a windfall—the band has returned with "That's So Gay," its seventh album. And not a moment too soon—"Gay" is a catchy call to arms for the gays and lesbians who say they want a revolution while their iPods tell a different story.
DRAMA QUEENS
Judy, Barbra, Liza—And Little Edie
4/4/2009 12:00:00 AM
"Grey Gardens" is not a gay movie, but there is no question that it has a huge and loyal fan base among those of us who enjoy same-sex stimulus plans. But why? Is there a gay-icon awards committee? Do shaved-headed lawyers in Dolce & Gabbana swimming trunks carry black briefcases full of votes to some unmarked gay bar where John Waters, Russell Simmons and Cher mull over the merits of the homo-nees? Do Ethel Merman and Rock Hudson welcome new inductees to the Gay Hall of Fame with vodka cranberries and power bars? Oh, my, I wish. But it's not like that. Spotting a gay icon is like being double-jointed or riding a unicycle: to laymen it is imperceptible, but to gay men it's like, well, duh.
The End Of An Error
Anna Quindlen 4/4/2009 12:00:00 AM
The most unlikely blurb of this publishing season is on the back cover of Nathaniel Frank's "Unfriendly Fire" and comes from John Shalikashvili. The former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff lauds a book that systematically trashes a policy the general once oversaw: the ban on openly gay men and lesbians in the military known as "don't ask, don't tell."
MY TURN
Fresh Start
Julie Halpert 4/3/2009 12:00:00 AM
My daughter, Alyson, began checking out colleges in her junior year of high school. On one of our first visits, she and I were finishing up an interview with the dean of admissions when she asked if I could step outside so she could have a moment alone with him. Later that night, I asked her what she had said to him. "I asked him if the college was gay-friendly," she said, "because I am." That was when I first learned that my daughter, then 16, was a lesbian.
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.