TransActive Education & Advocacy, OR, USA
TransActive Education & Advocacy
Supporting Youth Of All Genders
1631 NE Broadway, Suite 355-T, Portland, OR 97232
For information contact:
Jenn Burleton - 503-927-7052
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
On April 14, 2008 a coalition of 27 LGBT organizations issued a joint
statement in which they called on Ventura County District Attorney Gregory D. Totten to charge 14-year old Brandon McInerney as a juvenile rather than as an adult for the classroom killing of Larry King, a 15-year old gender non-conforming student at E.O. Green Middle School in Oxnard, California.
TransActive Education & Advocacy can not support their decision to
call for a change of prosecution in this case from adult court to juvenile court.
TransActive has made the decision to remain neutral with regard to charging Brandon McInerney as a juvenile or an adult.
We believe it would be inappropriate for us to take a position that may result in any minimalization of the criminal charges filed against an individual accused of causing the death of one of the children or families we might very well have represented. We further believe that the intention of Brandon McInerney's attorney William "Willy" Quest to use a variation of the "gay panic" defense that was used in the Gwen Araujo murder case should preclude any organization
that represents gay, lesbian, bi or transgender children & youth from even the appearance of siding with the defense in this ongoing case.
Oxnard, CA (May 11, 2008) - On April 14, 2008 a coalition of 27 LGBT
organizations issued a joint statement in which they called on Ventura
County District Attorney Gregory D. Totten to charge Brandon McInerney
as a juvenile rather than as an adult for the classroom killing of
Larry King, a 15-year old gender non-conforming student at E.O. Green
Middle School in Oxnard, California.
An excerpt from the statement follows:
"We are saddened and outraged by the murder of junior high school
student Lawrence King. At the same time, we call on prosecutors not to
compound this tragedy with another wrong – we call on them to treat
the suspect as a juvenile, not as an adult."
"The facts in this matter seem clear: one boy killed another in a
climate of intolerance and fear about sexual orientation and gender
expression. The alleged perpetrator, who turned 14 years old less than
three weeks before the shooting, should be held accountable for his
actions. But we support the principles underlying our juvenile justice
system that treat children differently than adults and provide greater
hope and opportunity for rehabilitation."
"We are issuing this joint statement because we believe so strongly in
principles of justice that protect all our young people and know that,
even in the face of strong emotions, we should not abandon them. We
refuse to let our sense of outrage blind us to the fact that the
suspect is only 14 years old."
While TransActive Education & Advocacy stands with this organizational
alliance in being saddened and outraged by the death of Larry King, we
can not support their allied decision to call for a change of
prosecution in this case from adult court to juvenile court.
TransActive Education & Advocacy has made the decision to remain
neutral with regard to charging Brandon McInerney as a juvenile or an
adult and to allow the prosecutors to further evaluate the merits of
each option based upon the facts pertaining to crime.
As an organization dedicated to advocating on behalf of trans and
gender non-conforming children, youth and their families, we believe
it would be inappropriate for us to take a position that may result in
any minimalization of the criminal charges filed against an individual
accused of causing the death of one of the children or families we
might very well have represented. We further believe that the
intention of Brandon McInerney's attorney William "Willy" Quest to use
a variation of the "gay panic" defense that was used in the Gwen
Araujo murder case should preclude any organization that represents
gay, lesbian or transgender children & youth from even the appearance
of siding with the defense in this ongoing case.
Members of the TransActive staff and collaborative partners have spent
more than two weeks in the Ventura County area since the death of
Larry King interviewing school administration, faculty and students as
well as speaking with community leaders in Oxnard, Port Hueneme,
Ventura and Camarillo. While our research is ongoing as part of a
larger project in development, we believe that in contrast to the
second paragraph quoted above, the facts in the matter are anything
but clear.
It's true that Brandon McInerney's decision to murder Larry King was
in all liklihood influenced by an escalation of Larry's gender
non-conforming self-expression (more so that Larry's declaration of
being gay), however our research indicates there are other significant
factors involved in this tragedy that go beyond Larry's
transgender-spectrum identity.
We've made this decision to remain neutral with regard to the criminal
charges against Brandon McInerney not for the purpose of standing in
opposition to organizations whose efforts on behalf of LGBT
individuals we applaud and support, but rather, to stand in solidarity
with the transgender and gender non-conforming children, youth and
families we support through our education and advocacy efforts.
Jenn Burleton
Executive Director
TransActive Education & Advocacy
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Mission Statement
TransActive Education & Advocacy (TEA) provides education & advocacy
services in support of families of gender non-conforming children and
youth, and the child's right to freely express their true gender identity.