UC Santa Barbara UC Santa Barbara Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title THE BODY BRANDED: LGBT HATE MURDER, LEGAL PERSONHOOD, AND SOCIAL RESPONSES IN THE OXNARD, CALIFORNIA CASE OF LAWRENCE KING Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4022f9rb Author Longoria II, Rolando Rene Publication Date 2014 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara THE BODY BRANDED: LGBT HATE MURDER, LEGAL PERSONHOOD, AND SOCIAL RESPONSES IN THE OXNARD, CALIFORNIA CASE OF LAWRENCE KING A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology by Rolando René Longoria, II Committee in Charge: Professor Kum-Kum Bhavnani, Chair Professor Simonetta Falasca-Zamponi Professor Mireille Miller-Young Professor Lalaie Ameeriar September 2014 The dissertation of Rolando René Longoria II is approved. ______________________________________________ Simonetta Falasca-Zamponi _____________________________________________ Mireille Miller-Young _____________________________________________ Lalaie Ameeriar _____________________________________________ Kum-Kum Bhavnani, Committee Chair September 2014 The Body Branded: LGBT Hate Murder, Legal Personhood, and Social Responses in the Oxnard, California Case of Lawrence King Copyright © 2014 By Rolando René Longoria II iii For Larry, Sakia, Gwen, Lucy and the forgotten Rest in Power iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Roughly twelve years before I came to this project, I found myself waiting in line for dinner at a small ramen shop in Tokyo. Being a young twenty-three, I was barely able to control my impatience and the embarrassment of a ravenous, grumbly stomach that seemed to alert everyone near me that I was nothing more than a hungry, impatient tourist. Hiro, a former foreign-exchange student to California, was one of forty foreign exchange students who had coordinated a visit to Tokyo for the camp counselors that had hosted them six months earlier. Out of the original eight counselors, Nate and I were staying with Hiro for the evening. After parting from our friends in Shibuya, we caught a series of trains to another neighborhood, walked over three residential hillsides that seemed to me to be inclined at a steep seventy-five degree grade, continued underneath a monorail, through a crosswalk, and into the dinner line, all while towing a suitcase we had over-packed with gifts, rolls of film, and souvenirs. Seeing my discomfort as we stood in line, Hiro started recounting the three types of ramen to Nate and I – pork bone, beef bone, and chicken broth. After watching me listening intently, Hiro realized that this only made me hungrier, and handed me a cigarette, which I smoked gingerly. “Ichi-go, ichi-e,” Hiro said, smiling, as Nate’s eyes opened wide for a moment. Nate, who had studied Japanese for two years, laughed and said only one word: “Totally.” Still hungry and anxious, I repeated the phrase while trying to ignore the empty feeling gnawing at my stomach, trying my best to inflect it in familiar Spanish sounds: “Ichi- go, ichi-e.” Hiro and Nate both nodded their heads. I asked what it meant. Nate quickly turned to Hiro, who blew cigarette smoke from the corner of his mouth, sighing, as if he had been answering such questions his entire life. “It means….” Hiro trailed off in thought for a v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS moment, trying to find the appropriate words to express the meaning. “It means… we may not see each other after today.” Hiro and Nate continued to smile, while thoughts of impending doom raced through my mind. “Hopefully I get to eat before then!” I joked. “Not like that,” Nate urged Hiro. “Not about death.” “No, not really.” Hiro took another pull of his cigarette, held the smoke, turned his head skyward, and exhaled a thin, white, translucent veil that quickly disintegrated into the cooling evening air. “The universe. It has brought many things together to put us here, right now.” “Just right now?” We were much closer to the restaurant door now, but I was too enrapt in Hiro’s description of the saying to notice that we were next in line to enter the ramen diner. I remember wondering if he was describing a sensation, emotion, or perhaps a prayer. “Not just right now.” Hiro bent over to the pavement, tapping out his cigarette in preparation for our entrance into the restaurant. “All moments. All moments are many things coming together.” “Like for the first time.” Nate added. I was intent. “We don’t know if all of those circumstances will happen again, if they will be better or not. Ichi-go, ichi-e means once-in- a-lifetime moment, but for every moment and all its variables.” The next bowl of ramen that I would eat – the first “authentic” bowl of Japanese pork-bone ramen – would be the first experience of moment-to-moment consciousness in my life. It would be the first of many meditations on the myriad disparate factors coming together to create a single, unique, treasured experience. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Although extremely different from my short week in Japan, the process of identifying, working through, and completing this project has marked the coming together of many disparate circumstances that, although innocuous before, can only be seen as a string of blessings. Because their influence has been integral in sustaining me throughout this project, I offer up this section in thanks for their influence, however temporally or geographically distant they may seem. I begin by offering gratitude to the system of spirituality that I entered during my college years, which has sustained and healed me for so long. To Shakyamuni Buddha, I offer my deepest thanks in expounding a cosmic system greater than the darkest corners of my imagination, one whose bright possibilities illuminate the darkest nights. To the Tibetan Saint and female Bodhisattva Machig Labdron, the Lamp of the Dharma, I thank you for locating a path to the great Mother Tara, Mother of all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and respondent to those in need. Tulku Orgyen Ph’unstok, I thank you for your kind generosity in letting me enter the Sangha so long ago, for your patience with my trepidation, and for your guidance in my personal turmoil. To Kathleen Pratt, thank you for honoring the path of the Dharma, for being a mirror of its intent in this technological world. Lama Tsultrim Allione, my gratitude to you is deeply karmic, as I can never express the effect that your meditation instruction has had on me. It has been so powerful in helping me overcome inner challenges that previously seemed like impossible riddles. Dr. Ines Monguió and Genie, I was so lucky to find you as teachers and healers who helped me actualize Buddhist teachings from a wish to a moment-to-moment life process. Molly and Dana, thank you for encouraging me on this process; I can’t wait to explore the adventure of Dharma Punx with you! vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Perhaps the greatest riddle Buddhism poses comes through a meditation in which a layperson attempts to logically trace the coincidences that gave rise to them as a human being on a spiritual path. To the invisible chain of karma and its mysteries of rebirth, I thank you for placing me within my family and circle of friends. To my mother and sister, thank you for all of your support from as far as Texas and Louisiana, for all of your phone calls, letters, and text messages. Thank you for pitching in to buy tickets for visits, for always being open, and for seeing me through my own process of healing. Thank you for sharing recipes, asking for recipes, and laughing on the phone when I needed it. The art of the hour-long phone conversation as a method of healing is kept within both of you! To my father, I extend the same thanks – for all of the phone calls, text messages, hugs, and encouragement in sticking out the project and proving the naysayers wrong. Thank you for the help with rent when funds got too thin, for the stories about overcoming your own obstacles in education, and for not giving up. Thank you for the plane tickets, also for the train tickets when my anxiety for flying got out of control, and for the visits. To my boyfriend and partner, Juan Gallardo, thank you for being next to me for so long, without question. For your patience and honesty, I hold you in the highest esteem. It was because of your presence that I was able to complete this project; without you, my lows would have been so much lower and my return to the world of happiness would have come much later in life. Thank you, for being my best team member. Thank you, too, for your gentle energy. Much love goes out to my doggy babies, who sustained me with magical kisses, dances, and cuddles throughout the three years we have been together. Saffy, Smokey, viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Emma, and Lulu Bean, thank you for your pure little hearts, and for opening mine after such a dark study. Without the presence of so many countless friends, I never could have sustained myself through this process. To Jimmy Renteria, rock on, and thank you for embodying the meaning of “queering family” by letting me adopt you as my little brother. To Antonio Mora, thanks for the laughs, reality checks, and hangouts. I miss you lots. Arlene Towle, thank you for pointing out that this project is a “labor of love,” and for helping me take those necessary breaks. I hope to teach with you one day! Fe’Liz V. Trujillo, thank you for challenging me to live within the realm of my own scholarship, for your humor, for your visits, and for extending your heart to me when I was in need.