Anti-Bullying Bill Introduced!

Yesterday, June 8, 2010, House Bill 2569 was introduced in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to fortify the state's current anti-bullying policies. The bill was introduced by Representatives Rick Taylor and Tim Briggs, both Democrats from Montgomery County, with 22 co-sponsors. This legislation amends the states current code regarding bullying which was enacted in March 1949. Changes enacted by this bill will entail:

• expanding existing language on bullying
• outlining to school officials what actions to take in order to give students opportunities to report occurrences of bullying, solutions for victims, and harassment and bullying prevention training
• requiring the Department of Education to regularly evaluate bullying policies and to report its findings to the General Assembly
• making schools' right to use state grants through the safe schools program dependent upon approval of their bullying policies and compliance with reporting procedures.

In this bill's definition of harassment, bullying, cyber bullying, and intimidation, students will be protected from "any written, verbal, or physical act, or any electronic communication including, but not limited to, one shown to be motivated by a student's actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry or ethnicity, sexual orientation, physical, mental, emotional or learning disability, gender, gender identity and expression or other distinguishing personal characteristic or based on association with any such characteristic."

The fact that this bill includes protection for students being bullied due to their actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression is extremely important. 88% of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered students report to being victims of verbal abuse and 19% of all students report harassment due to perceived sexual orientation.

By strengthening the current anti-bullying policies, Pennsylvania's schools policies will be more clearly defined and will create a safer and better learning environment for all students!

The Week in Review

New Jersey Gay Marriage Bill
Last night the New Jersey state Sentate Judiciary Committee voted 7 to 6 to hand down a bill to the full Senate that would legalize gay marriage in NJ. The legislation was scheduled to head to the full Senate today, Thursday, December 10th, but has been delayed due to fear that the bill does not have enough votes. According to gay365.com, "Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts has not committed to posting the bill." Let's just hope that we can get enough Senate votes to pass it before time runs out in January.

Annise Parker the first Openly Gay Mayor of Houston, TX?
Annise Parker has been facing a lot of opposition from anti-LGBT forces in her race to become Mayor of Houston. Yet polls show she has a slight lead over her opponent and this weekend could become Houston, TX's first openly gay mayor. Parker and her life partner, Kathy Hubbard, have been together for almost 20 years and have two children. (Click here for more information about the opposition she's been facing.)

Comprehensive Sex Education in Pennsylvania?
A new bill in the Pennsylvania legislature would flip the 'opt-out' for sex education. The current policy "allows parents an opt-out if, for religious or other reasons, they'd prefer their kids don't get comprehensive education" (examiner.com). This comprehensive education includes information on birth control and pregnancy prevention as well as how to prevent sexually transmitted infections. "The new bill, sponsored by Represenatative Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Luzerne, would require public schools to notify parents if the sex-ed curriculum teaches only abstinence when it comes to preventing pregnancy and the spread of disease" (examiner.com).

This bill is something we should all push for. Current abstinence-only education overlooks and ignores those in the LGBT community and puts all young persons at a disadvantage. According to examiner.com, "abstinence-only education programs have been proven to have no effect at all on the sexual activity of teenagers who participate in them." This means that while teenagers are still having sex, they are uninformed on how to protect themselves from disease and pregnancy.