To quote from this article:

Prosecutors on Thursday charged a 14-year-old boy with attempted murder and said he committed a hate crime in the classroom shooting of an eighth-grader who was declared brain dead.

Prosecutors would not say why they filed a hate-crime enhancement with the attempted murder count, but several classmates said the 15-year-old victim, Lawrence King, sometimes wore makeup, high heels and other feminine attire.

and from here:

In their comments to the Los Angeles Times, classmates explained that they had seen King involved in an argument with the alleged shooter and other boys on Monday. Students said that the victim was often teased by other boys, sometimes wore make-up and jewelry, and had come out as gay.

King, like so many young Queers, was a foster kid, living in a home for abused and neglected children (this from the gay.com article):

Lawrence King had been under the care of the county foster care system and lived at Casa Pacifica, a nearby center for abused and neglected children, said Steve Elson, the facility’s chief executive.

By way of a tip of the iceburg bit of further reading, see the Official Family Memorial Site and this L.A. Times article

Words cannot begin to express my rage and sadness.

I once had a friend who had a very similar background, but he didn’t die in school at the business end of a bully’s gun, he died of AIDS.