The Advocate's editor in chief invites the LGBT
community to participate in a discussion about how we
can prevent more senseless killings of young
people like Lawrence King.
Our community has
responded with strong emotion to our cover story on the
murder of 15-year-old Lawrence King. A number of voices whom
we respect have objected to our raising difficult
questions about what we can and must do to protect our
gender-nonconforming youth.
We welcome this
debate. Indeed, sparking this kind of dialog is at the
core of our editorial mission. It is the crux of our service
to the community. We hope you will share your thoughts
with us, on this story and on all the work we do.
To facilitate an
ongoing discussion, we invite you to reread the full
complement of pieces we published as they ran in our April 8
issue: the cover story, a companion piece by trans activist
Riki Wilchins, and my Letter
From the Editor.
The results of
our online reader poll also merit a place in the
discussion. We asked: "Should LGBT teens exercise caution in
expressing their identity?" By a wide margin, respondents
said yes.
Yes: 64%
No: 27%
Unsure: 9%
Rest assured, we
will continue to follow the story of Lawrence King.
Meanwhile, we look forward to hearing from you.
Our youth are
being murdered. How will we bring that to a halt?
That’s the question on the table. We are all
responsible for finding the answer.
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Stockwell is Editor in Chief of The
Advocate.