For Slain Youth, World Wide Web Of Mourners

WashingtonPost.com – By Jose Antonio Vargas – Washington Post Staff Writer

Strangers Create Memorials To a Gay Teen Named Larry

No one really dies on the Internet. A private life becomes public. Every life finds an audience. Look at Lawrence “Larry” King. The openly gay eighth-grader who was shot and killed nearly two months ago lives on.

Larry lives on Wikipedia, where we learn about his tense life at school, the name-calling, the taunts, the teasing. Larry lives on Facebook, MySpace and YouTube, where he’s mourned by strangers not willing to let go. Larry lives on Web sites where the 15-year-old’s photos — Larry in front of the White House, Larry on ice skates, Larry getting a haircut — stare back at us, as if incarnated. Alive.