Post #4

In a recent news story, a 19 year old male confessed to killing another man because he was spreading rumors that the 19 year old was gay. The story can be found here: http://www.news4jax.com/news/17565541/detail.html.

I chose this story because I believe it shows a sad fact about people’s perceptions of homosexuality when they are teens. Yes, he is 19, and almost not a teen any more. And yes, this did not happen in or near a high school, but it is still very relevant to this topic.

Teens in today’s High Schools still think they way this young man thought. There is such a stigma on homosexuality that he saw fit to KILL someone because they may have told people that he was gay. As if being gay s something that vile, that horrid that he would kill the man that perpetuated this idea.

Rumors are also things that high school students deal with on a daily basis, and I can understand how a homosexual teen may not want his “secret” to get out. However, showing this level of fear and loathing toward even being considered homosexual is astounding. Acceptance was nowhere in this young man’s mind. I understand that he did not kill a homosexual, he killed another heterosexual male. But the fact that it took that little to cause him to kill is what really shows me his deep prejudices.

I understand that the writer of this article is not supposed to put any opinion in the article, and I believe he does a good job of this. But, come on, can someone please point out how ridiculous it is to kill someone over starting a rumor that you might be gay? So what if he was? I know I may be getting ll riled up here and just running it into the ground, but there is NO REASON any one should be so prejudiced against homosexuals to kill. Period.