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T.R. Knight and Larry King Breaking the Silence
ZUMAPress.com, Jerod Harris/ZUMAPress.com
Silence will be golden tomorrow for T.R. Knight.
The openly gay Grey’s Anatomy star has just signed on to participate in the National Day of Silence ceremony at the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex in Los Angeles.
Sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) to help combat bullying and harassment of gays in schools, the day is marked by students across the country taking vows of silence during the day.
This year’s 12th annual programming—most of which takes place on Friday—is dedicated to Lawrence "Larry" King, a 15-year-old California boy who was shot to death in February by a fellow student, allegedly because King was gay.
I can also exclusively tell you that talk-show host Larry King is getting involved, too.
Just last night, he took a break from his live coverage of the Pennsylvania primary to film a public service announcement for GLSEN and the Day of Silence.
“Larry King and I share more in common than just our names,” King says in the spot, which debuts on YouTube today. “We both believe that all students should be free to be themselves without the fear of name calling, bullying or harassment.”
GLSEN president Kevin Jennings tells me that King immediately agreed to participate when they contacted him. “Larry King helps us reach the kind of mainstream audience he speaks to every night,” Jennings said. “I don’t necessarily see this as a YouTube phenomenon, but I see this reaching a much more traditional audience.”
King’s PSA shoot comes just days after Lance Bass filmed one. “Whoever they are, whatever their backgrounds or beliefs, these students will take action because they believe that the bullying and harassment must end,” Bass says in his spot. “What are you going to do to end the silence?”
23 Comments
bless Wed, Apr 23, 2008 9:57 PM
God bless both of you
Reportgaylove Thu, Apr 24, 2008 8:35 AM
Thank god for people like T.R. and Larry King. You make the world a much better place to live in. If only some other celebs would be as brave and real as T.R. and come out of the closet. It's time young kids see that it is OK to be gay. Too many lives are lost because they can't be themselves.
ReportNed Flanders Thu, Apr 24, 2008 10:38 PM
Don't thank God for T.R. and Larry King; God loves homosexuals as much as heterosexuals, but not their deviant behavior. It is estimated that only 5% of the U.S. population is homosexual...a vast MINORITY. There is no discernable or rational reason for the 95% MAJORITY to accept, teach, conform to or contribute to the deviant behavior known as homosexuality. Events such as this tear away at the fabric of our society; helping to spread disease, anger and discontent among the majority. If you must be silent for a day, please be silent the remaining 364 days.
ReportMarge Simpson Fri, Apr 25, 2008 3:20 PM
Ned, how killing a fifteen-year-old boy because he was gay NOT spreading disease, anger, and discontent among the majority? 5% of the US is quite a few million people, and a peaceful protest--what's more peaceful than a day of simple silence?--will not create the chaos you seem to predict. Our civil liberties are currently intact, and we should take full advantage of them to promote the idea of tolerance.
ReportEmma M Fri, Apr 25, 2008 3:22 PM
This is not about whether God accepts homosexual behavior, this is about whether WE accept homosexual behavior. How would you feel if your son/daughter/sister/brother/father/mother was tortured, verbally and physically abused and taunted because of their sexuality? Would you be opposed to this moment of silence if this had happened to somebody you cared about? It is wrong for us to judge others, it is wrong for us to decide whether it is right or wrong. Even better, it is none of our business and we do not have the god-given right to decide whether this individual is "normal" or "different" or whether their behavior and sexuality is morally correct/acceptable. Just leave them be and stop making such a big deal out of it.
ReportWeDontDecide Fri, Apr 25, 2008 6:28 PM
Ned Flanders said on 04.24.08, 10:38 PM Don't thank God for T.R. and Larry King; God loves homosexuals as much as heterosexuals, but not their deviant behavior. It is estimated that only 5% of the U.S. population is homosexual...a vast MINORITY. There is no discernable or rational reason for the 95% MAJORITY to accept, teach, conform to or contribute to the deviant behavior known as homosexuality. Events such as this tear away at the fabric of our society; helping to spread disease, anger and discontent among the majority. If you must be silent for a day, please be silent the remaining 364 days. To Ned Flanders: First off, the name was seriously funny. More importantly, well said my friend and thank you for taking a stand on Gods truth. Love the sinner, hate the sin. The violence caused by homosexuality is very sad.
Reportitsacauseandeffect Fri, Apr 25, 2008 6:42 PM
I would try to educate my child on what they are choosing to be because I love them too much to allow them to choose sexually deviant behavior and I would educate them on the devastating results of studies on homosexual lifestyles. I would do everything I could to show them what choosing that behavior means. If you want to bring murder to the equation: what about the dealth toll caused by multiple sexual partners being infected by disease spread through the act of homosexuality? As for the boy killed, if it was in his honor than make it in his honor, do not make it political to sway a torn country to accept the homosexual agenda and behavior they choose just like we will not accept the behaviors of any other deviants. This agenda is tearing this country apart. If you want a historical reference look at the Roman Empire. It was destroyed from the inside out, not the outside in. It is a known fact that the leaders of that time were practicing homosexuality.
ReportAllan Fri, Apr 25, 2008 8:26 PM
There aren't enough other places on the Internet than here to hate something which you have decided to believe is worth hating? Regardless of any limited value you may get from hating that something, human beings are very prone to fallibility. I'd guess it's common to make mistakes by trusting you can distinguish between hating something and hating its container. I'm sure that those gay-supportive high school kids couldn't see much difference between themselves and the satanically possessed, spiritually bankrupt victims of pedophilic predators that anti-gay preacher Ken Hutcherson and his 100 supporters made them out to be, in Seattle today. He had called for 1,000 but only got 10%. Guess that minority is too small? No need to pay any attention to following the "rules" of which groups of people can be discriminated against because there aren't enough of them. There is no way now that anyone can count how many gay people are in the U.S. because gays have been stomped on for so long.
ReportAllan Fri, Apr 25, 2008 8:33 PM
I'm very proud of the young people, gay and not, brave enough to stand up today and said, "No More!" Now that the levels of hidden and not so hidden anti-gay hate have had their opportunity to blow off some steam, maybe a few more students will let everyone else get the most out of school, instead of trying to decide if they are predator or prey that day.
ReportLaura Fri, Apr 25, 2008 9:27 PM
This event is revolutionary. It gave students the chance to realize that the people around them do care. I was a participant, and it was amazing for people to actually see who supports what around our community. I got praised for the act, and also got called out on being a ***** and being part of **** day." And for all the super-conservatives out there * be aware that many of the students (including myself) are not just protesting harassment of gays, but also the treatment of anyone deemed "different" by their peers, and who are bullied because they don't fit their classmates' definitions of normal.
ReportWhatwasthis Sat, Apr 26, 2008 12:08 AM
The Day of Silence helps bring us closer to making anti-LGBT bullying, harassment and name-calling unacceptable in America’s schools. "Silent for Lawrence King: Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I am participating in the Day of Silence (DOS), a national youth movement bringing attention to the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their allies. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment. This year’s DOS is held in memory of Lawrence King, a 15 year-old student who was killed in school because of his sexual orientation and gender expression. I believe that ending the silence is the first step toward building awareness and making a commitment to address these injustices. Think about the voices you are not hearing today." It stinks that Lawrence King was murdered. However, we wont stop fighting the reality that homosexuality is destructive sexually deviant behavior.
ReportReallyHateCrimes? Sat, Apr 26, 2008 12:10 AM
"Part of the strategy [of homosexual activists] is to always try to inflate their numbers," Vitagliano says. "They try to inflate the incidence of hate crimes, they try to inflate the number of homosexuals that lose their jobs because of their sexual orientation. And now with this latest brouhaha over the U.S. Census statistics, they are trying to inflate the influence that same-sex couples would have in the political arena, and the fact of the matter is that one-half of [one] percent of the people in this country are living in same-sex households."
ReportNoMoreViolence Sat, Apr 26, 2008 12:11 AM
Inherited characteristics that are not passed on to the next generation are eliminated from the gene pool. Since homosexuals and lesbians reproduce less frequently than heterosexuals, there should be a steadily decreasing number of people in the population with homosexual tendencies--especially over the many thousands of years mankind has been on the earth. There is, however, no indication that its numbers are in decline. Complete Marriage and Family Home Reference Guide by Dr. James Dobson with the permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Copyright © 2000 by James Dobson, Inc.
ReportReallyBecauseWeDO Sat, Apr 26, 2008 12:15 AM
You tell me that this is non violent: Sexually transmitted diseases are without a doubt the most serious consequence of homosexual behavior. Practicing homosexuals as a group account for an overwhelmingly disproportionate number of cases of sexually transmitted diseases, including gonorrhea, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and syphilis (Mireya Navarro, "Federal Officials See Sharp Rise of Hepatitis Among Gay Men," The New York Times, March 6, 1992). According to the American Medical Association, homosexual youth are twenty-three times more likely to contract sexually transmitted diseases than heterosexuals (American Adolescents: How Healthy Are They?, American Medical Association, 1990, p.31).
ReportIAmAfraidItsYourDeal Sat, Apr 26, 2008 12:16 AM
Lesbians are 19 times more likely than heterosexual women to have had syphilis, twice as likely to suffer from genital warts, and four times as likely to have scabies (New England Journal of Medicine 317:973,1987).
ReportThink Sat, Apr 26, 2008 12:19 AM
Intensive educational programs have failed to prevent the spread of infection, largely because they have failed to address the psychological problems which are at the root of the compulsive behavior associated with the homosexual lifestyle. AIDS educators, many of them active homosexuals, have showed themselves to be more interested in preserving that lifestyle than in protecting at-risk youth and adults. The homosexual community has resisted public health measures normally used for controlling epidemics, such as contact tracing and partner notification.
ReportExplainThisAsNonViolent Sat, Apr 26, 2008 12:20 AM
It's a scary reality that the top six U.S. male serial killers were all gay: * Donald Harvey claimed 37 victims in Kentucky * * John Wayne Gacy raped and killed 33 boys in Chicago * burying them under his house and in his yard; * Patrick Kearney accounted for 32, cutting his victims into small pieces after sex and leaving them in trash bags along the Los Angeles freeways; * Bruce Davis molested and killed 27 young men and boys in Illinois * * A gay sex-murder-torture ring (Corll-Henley-Brooks) sent 27 Texas men and boys to their grave; and * Juan Corona was convicted of murdering 25 migrant workers (he "made love" with their corpses.)\
ReportThinkKnowAct Sat, Apr 26, 2008 12:21 AM
Today many Americans are asking, "Is there really anything wrong with homosexuality?" However, there is a deeper question America should be asking: "Is homosexuality healthy for society?"
ReportGoodJob Sat, Apr 26, 2008 12:23 AM
Homosexuality has become an increasingly prevalent part of modern society. It has infiltrated our schools, our news media, our entertainment media and may soon redefine our concept of marriage. However, homosexuality is by its very nature dangerous to those who practice it. And society is doing homosexuals a disservice when it endorses and promotes homosexuality as normal. In doing so, it is encouraging these Americans to engage in self-destructive behavior.
Reportscales Sat, Apr 26, 2008 12:25 AM
Homosexuality is an issue of morality. But it is also an fundamental issue of public health. The evidence is clear. American government, educational systems, and courts should note the facts presented and advance public policy and curricula that encourage sound behavior rather than offering special protection and endorsement to a behavior that threatens individuals as well as public health. The future of America hangs in the balance. If society is not willing to address the homosexual issue on moral grounds, then the medical evidence alone should be enough to convince the fair-minded that homosexuality is incompatible with good public health.
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