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Ellen Pleads For Change In The Wake Of 15-Year-Old Lawrence King's Murder

The 8th grader was fatally shot by a classmate for giving him a Valentine.

Ellen DeGeneres opened her show with a monologue about changing this country's attitudes in the wake of the tragic murder of 15-year-old Lawrence King, an 8th grader in Oxnard, California. The normally bubbly comedian took a serious turn, explaining that Lawrence's killer—another student—shot him because he had given him a valentine.

Her discussion of the topic was moving and powerful.

"I don't want to be political—I'm not a political person, but this is personal to me," she told viewers. "Larry was not a second-class citizen. I am not a second-class citizen,. It is okay if you're gay."

She called on her fellow entertainers to put an end to gay punchlines in monologues and in movies, and all of us to stop with mean-spirited jokes that lead to hateful behavior and violence. Seeing someone speak with this degree of passion and empathy on national television and receive such overwhelming support from her audience is incredibly inspiring.

Ellen continues to be one of the strongest and most uncompromised voices out there for the LGBT community, and moments like this are why.

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