Anti-bullying bill to be filed in special session

Good grief people. Have we devolved from a free society into a nanny state so much that now we have people demanding a “Ma, he’s looking at me!” law?

There have always been vulnerable kids and there have always been bullies in school. I was the target of an unrelenting bully who verbally harrassed me every day in the 7th grade. Until I called his bluff and kicked the shit out of him. In front of all his friends.

We need parents who are willing to teach their kids to stand up to the bullies, not hope that big government deals with it so they don’t have to. We need parents to teach their kids that if they see a vulnerable kid being bullied, to intervene and tell the bully to stop. Or “stop” him physically.

Calling the PC police to deal with a bullying incident won’t help other than to make some people feel better about themselves because they “did something” by passing a law.

Regardless of one’s views on sexual orientation, everyone deserves to be protected from bullying. With that said, this bill should not be about promoting the gay agenda. We’re talking about two separate issues

Given that children and young adults are dying as a result of anti-LGBT bullying and harrassment, there is no separating the “gay agenda” from this all-inclusive bill. In this case, the only “gay agenda” is to help get this bill passed and signed into law!

Clay

Please, please, please explain to me what this “gay agenda” is all about? Enlighten us all – please!!

Hey Clay Boggess….FYI…There is NO GAY AGENDA…..that’s RIGHT WING Propaganda speak….to get the Religious wackjobs Riled up / and to the Polls….to Vote “usually against thier own interests” …….I have a Gay brother and sister who Are Adults….raising children…..thier ONLY Agenda..is to be treated Equally…Like EVERY OTHER TAX PAYING citizen in this country…period! (no more,no less)->Thats the Gay Agenda…stop listeningto LIARS like FOF, and FOX….they LIE.

someone explain to me how this bulling is an “EMERGENCY” in that we have to deal with it NOW?? As we all know this kind of thing has been going on since the dawn of time and up until rently we have been able to deal with it just fine. What has changed in the last year or so?

Mike, you might want to start paying attention to what goes on around you. Children and young adults committing suicide as a result of bullying and harassment have been in the news lately … Sheesh.

Mike,

Many things have been going on since the dawn of time–genocides, racism, sexism, slavery, exploitation of all types, violence–but merely because they have been occurring for a long time does not make them acceptable.

You appear to believe that society has been dealing with the specific issue of bullying “just fine.” This begs the question of what you mean by “just fine.” Do you mean not doing much about it? Is that how you define “just fine”?

Hey Dennis, what would you have done if it wasn’t one bully harassing you, but several, and you could count on always being outnumbered and there being nothing you could do to protect yourself? That’s what gay kids go through, and the kids who think like you just join in. Approval by adults like you is the root of the problem, and this law is needed to get through the thick heads of some teachers and administrators.

The bullying is only the tip of the iceberg for these lgbt students. Every day our society tells them they’re wrong, they’re sick, they’re going to hell, they’re not equal. Every day in the hetero-normative commercials we watch, the politics we hear, the people we are surrounded by.
Bills like this are NEEDED. When schools implement anti-bullying policy, we’re telling these lgbt students that they are valued and they deserve an education free from fear and hate.
Kids are KILLING themselves because of H8 and homophobia.

Framing this as part of some gay agenda is dishonest and tedious – another form of bullying. We are trying to protect and save our children from trickel down bigotry that promotes persecuting and harming our sons and daughters. Denying there is an emergency in light of the growing evidence of bullying, violence and suicides is disgraceful – part of the problem. Opposing this critical legislation because it specifically identifies, protects and treats GLBT students equally is reprehensible!

Dennis, go watch this impassioned plea for an end to bullying by Fort Worth City Councilman Joel Burns, and then get back to us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax96cghOnY4

Bullying is bad, which is why we have a state statute requiring school districts to have a written policy prohibiting bullying in all forms. The current policy is clearly innefective, but anyone who thinks that the propose law will have much of an effect on kids’ behavior is kidding themselves. There is, however, something the state can do to prevent bullying of gay students – send a strong message that gay people are equal to everyone else. No better way to do that than by quit fooling around in the legislature and legalize same-sex marriage.

I might live in North Carolina, but most of my family lives in the town of Fridley in Anoka County, so this is too close to home for me regardless.

For gods sakes people, WORDS HAVE CONSEQUENCES. The bullying and the anti-gay rhetoric from the religious radical right is getting into a child’s head and brings CHILDREN to the point of taking their own lives. This isn’t some some “gay agenda” (whatever that is) or politics, this is about COMMON SENSE and decency. And TPaw, Emmer and company are only fueling the fire rather than extinguishing it. It’s due to the fact that so many kids are killing themselves over discriminating actions & language that the sentiment is going against the Anti-LGBT forces and a majority now are supporting Same-Sex Marriage and LGBTers.

And it’s a good thing that the bullying of Developmentally Disabled children was also brought up here, because they also are extremely affected by the disruptive language (aka the R-word and like language).

People like TPaw and his buddies on the Religious Radical Right are the reason why so many are deciding to do the unthinkable. There has to be a point where we have to say “We can’t allow these suicides to continue”, TPaw had a chance but he’s prepping for a inevitable failure of a Presidential Run that he vetoed it to keep his Religious Right Buds in his pocket. It’s playing politics with people’s lives and it’s extremely inhuman (Yes, I said it!)…

[...] house and senate. In fact, the state legislature has the opportunity to take up a safe schools bill today when they will convene for a brief special session. While we are hopeful that Governor Pawlenty [...]

Bullying has been a severe problem for a long time and I’m thrilled that someone is finally stepping up and saying “What the H**l is going on here?”. This issue needs to start in the school system, I personally was the victim of a bully and many many times went to my school administrators for help as well as teachers. There response was for me to ignore it and they simply turned their heads and acted like it didn’t happen. I know for a fact that these situations are still happening in my high school and nothing is being done. Why do some of the administrators and teachers choose to ignore the severity of these situations? They choose not to protect these students until it is too late. If it takes legislation to get things to change then so be it, but I also think that our school systems need to step up and take a stand! Bullying should not be tolerated and the rules should be enforced. I’ve heard from teachers that claim there are too many students and how are we suppose to see everything that is going on? Well, to those teachers that are paying attention and taking action when it is needed, thank you. But to those that choose to stick their heads in the sand to what is going on around them; shame on you. Let us all stand together to protect our young people…..gay, straight, developmentally disabled, etc….all of our children need to be protected!