Ellen DeGeneres Speaks Out About Gay Murder

Lawrence (Larry) King, an openly gay 15-year-old boy, was killed by a classmate after he asked him to be his Valentine.

Brandon McInerney, the 14-year-old boy who King asked to be his Valentine, shot (and killed) King because of his sexual preference and the fact that he liked to wear women's clothing.

Lawrence King: Murdered by classmate for being gayDeGeneres was absolutely torn up about the incident and spoke openly to her audience and millions of viewers on the severity of the situation.

"A boy has been killed and a number of lives have been ruined. And, somewhere along the line, the killer Brandon got the message that it's so threatening and so awful and so horrific that Larry wanted to be his Valentine that killing Larry seemed to be the right thing to do.

"When the message out there is so horrible that to be gay you deserve to be killed for it, we need to change the message.

"Larry is not a second class citizen, I am not a second class citizen," she adds. "It is okay if you're gay."

The fact that this little boy lost his life because of his sexual orientation is absolutely inexcusable.

So many lives have changed since the incident and so many lives will never, ever be the same.

Kids don't come up with these types of opinions on their own. They hear it on TV, on the radio, from their friends and (especially) from their parents.

Right now, we are shaping the next generation. God help us if this is the message we're sending to our children.

It's your job as a parent to make sure your children understand that discriminating someone because of their sexual orientation (or race) is absolutely unacceptable.

The only way the world is going to change is if we start changing it.

Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by this unfortunate situation.

To see the video of Ellen, go to Ellen.Warnerbros.com.