Oxnard, Ca. teenager Larry King was shot in the back of the head in his junior high school computer lab. The shooter was a fellow student, 14-year-old Brandon McInerny. Larry died of his injuries on February 13, 2008, one day after being shot.
Filmmaker Marta Cunningham first learned these facts about Larry and Brandon when she picked up a copy of SPLC Intelligence Report. The bare bones of the case shocked Cunningham—but it was the details she later learned of that compelled her to investigate and document the deeper story in the new documentary, Valentine Road:
- Larry was exploring his gender identity and gender expression and wore makeup, jewelry and high-heeled boots.
- Brandon’s reported motive was hatred and disgust for Larry’s gender-fluid identity.
- Larry had an IEP that discouraged his gender expression behaviors.
- Brandon lived in an abusive household.
- Larry lived in a group home.
- Brandon dabbled in white supremacy.
- Larry reportedly had a crush on Brandon.
- Brandon was tried as an adult.
- The murder happened during school hours in front of 25 other students.
“I realized that this was much more than just the incident,” Cunningham says when asked why she decided to tell the story of the Oxnard tragedy. “What happens to the people that are involved outside the victim and the perpetrator? I wanted to find out what happens to a community that goes through this type of trauma.”
Cunningham interviewed teachers, students, school officials, family members, attorneys and jurors to learn how the school and community had responded to Larry before his death and to Brandon after it. What she found was emotional and systemic misalignment regarding how to address gender expression, sexuality, bias, harassment and juvenile crime. Over the years she spent making the film, two things became clear to Cunningham: One, teaching and modeling true acceptance of differences is critical to keeping kids and communities safe. Two, charging youth offenders as adults serves neither victims nor perpetrators of juvenile crimes.
Cunningham hopes the film delivers both messages to those with the power and the platform to further them.
“My sole purpose in making the film…is for education,” she says. “I am really hoping it gets into the hands of administrators, educators from elementary to college level because we need tools, and this film can be a tool.”
Consider watching Valentine Road with your colleagues in observance of Bullying Prevention Month, LGBT History Month and National Youth Justice Awareness Month. The accompanying Discussion Guide can help you explore the themes and realities documented in the film—school safety, support for LGBT students, juvenile justice, violence intervention, and responding to hate and bias among others. You can also read more about how to help youth like Larry in Teaching Tolerance’s article, “Making Sense of the Senseless: The Murder of Lawrence King.”
Valentine Road premieres Monday, Oct. 7 at 9 pm ET on HBO.
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