Time to stop hatred and violence

Sun-Sentinel.com – By Nadine Smith

We can be horrified, but we cannot be surprised.

Witness the death of yet another child who said he was gay — the murder of another teenager who defied gender stereotypes.

On Friday, Feb. 22, 17-year-old Simmie Williams Jr. was gunned down on a street corner in Broward County. Just 10 days earlier, Lawrence King, a 15-year-old Oxnard, Calif., junior high student, was shot to death in his own classroom because he wore makeup — because he was different. And less than one year ago, Ryan Keith Skipper, 24, was stabbed to death in Polk County.