Lawrence King Mistrial

It is entirely fucked up that a mistrial was declared in the Lawrence King trial. A kid brings a gun to school and shoots another, unarmed kid for being feminine, and they couldn’t come to a decision on whether it was murder or manslaughter.

Jurors told Ventura County Superior Court Judge Charles Campbell they were unable to reach a unanimous decision on the degree of Brandon McInerney’s guilt for killing 15-year-old Larry King. The nine-woman, three-man panel said they took a series of votes with the last one being seven in favor of voluntary manslaughter, while five others supported either first-degree or second-degree murder.

What complete goddamned horseshit. He threatened to kill him, and then he killed him. How on earth is that manslaughter?

The Revolution: Taylor Mac

Lawrence King was killed in 2008 and Taylor Mac performed this piece that same year – the very first year I taught Transgender Lives at Lawrence. Ever since then I’ve shown this video, but somehow failed to put it here.

I love this piece so much, and it’s so good to see Taylor Mac getting credit from the likes of PBS. He’s a very old friend of ours who acted with Betty in an era that seems like a lifetime or two ago now.