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Thanks Al Franken for introducing this bill.
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Will this law protect people who are bullied not because they're gay, but because other people think they're gay? A few years ago a case went to court in Canada. A student had been targeted as a gay person and was horribly bullied by the cowards and ignorantly stupid. He lost the court case because he was not actually gay. Had he been gay, the bullies would have faced consequences.
Any bill that doesn't also protect people who are not gay but who suffer just as much is flawed. It is better than nothing and is a much needed bill, but why is it so hard to have a law that protects people from bullies period? Why are there different laws and penalties applied to the same crime based on whether or not it was racially motivated or there was hate speech involved; or whether or not the person targeted was gay or not?
I really don't understand this. Had these kind of laws existed when I was young, I would have made use of them (well, I'd have been told those laws weren't for me and I was SOL). Instead, I was alone and didn't have any support, except the doctor who gave me medication and tried to get me on antidepressants--I wasn't depressed, I was bullied and just didn't want to go to school or even see people. I don't know how many times I walked through the woods to get to school and once there, I couldn't leave the edge of the woods--it was just too overwhelming to walk across that open field into the school, so I stayed in the woods).
Then the VP would threaten me with various things because I was skipping school--you want to go to juvenile hall? Have the police take you to school? Then a teacher would yell at me in the hallways as I was late (coming from the VP office) and he'd go on for minutes at a time, everyone could hear, and you'd have to walk into a classroom full of people staring at you. Then you'd have to endure people making fun of you, asking if you were late because you giving someone a bj, and other oh so clever and witty comments from the slack-jawed knuckle-dragger crowd.
Bullied by the students, humiliated by the teachers. Bullied seems such a mild word for constant intimidation, harassment, and physical abuse for years. Some day, I really should get some therapy regarding this...I just can't think logically on this issue.
You know, it would have been much easier to bear if those who didn't harass me stood up and told the thugs to back off. I would have not felt so alone. Maybe I would have entered adulthood able to do all the normal things, like interact, other people take for granted, and I wouldn't have to wait two decades before I figured out the lessons I should have learned in my early 20s. But things turned out well although I really have an urge to find the VP and let him know he was not very helpful. Unfortunately, he's probably dead. I could go and dig him up and yell at his mouldering bones...siighh....yeah, I probably should get therapy....
The bill seeks "To end discrimination based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity in public schools, and for other purposes."
Al might be the smartest guy in the Senate. Which is not saying a lot, I know, but still ... so he probably checked out other bills first to see how they went.
These things change, and there's a house and a senate version, so one can't be sure in advance of what gets passed. The senate version is here: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:S.555: