As a recent LA Times article reports, the defense attorney for Brandon McInerney, 14, who shot to death Lawrence King, 15, after King was flirting with him, claims that the school is at fault for "nurturing" King to explore his sexuality and break traditional gender norms. King had come out recently and would come to school in womens clothing and makeup. The defense attorney has also claimed that the school and the the victim, Lawrence King, should be blamed because he chose to wear clothing that did not fit with the traditional boundaries of his gender and the school did not stop this as "a substantial distraction," which was against school dress codes. (for more background on the story see this cnn article, or this PSA/news piece... the first minute or so)
The role that gender plays in this tragedy is quite interesting. Homophobia plays a large and quite visible role, but I think an equally as large issue was the fact the Lawrence King did not fit into traditional gender roles. The idea of a man wearing items of women's clothing when not joking, can be very threatening. And there are many men, not all of whom are queer,* who have been attacked, verbally, physically, or otherwise, for dressing outside of what is "Okay" for men to wear.
I personally don't really understand the threat of a guy in a skirt, or high heels, or a dress... what is the big deal? Why is this threating?
* I use the word queer in an academic sense of sexuality other than heterosexual and/or not fitting in with "traditional" ideas of sexuality.
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