Thursday, May 19, 2011
Anti-bullying bill fails in Louisiana legislature
Posted by Kevin Allman on Thu, May 19, 2011 at 1:49 PM
Despite last-minute revisions designed to mollify family-values conservatives, Rep. Austin Badon’s anti-bullying bill went down in flames today at a contentious session of the Louisiana House. HB 112, known as the “Safe Schools Bill,” was fiercely opposed by the Louisiana Family Forum and Louisiana Baptists; it failed in a 53-43 vote.
On May 18, John Yeats, the communications director for the Louisiana Baptists, wrote that the Baptists “despise bullying,” but the bill “has been hijacked by the Gay and Lesbian lobby by creating special classes of persons who are often victims of bullying.”
Earlier in the day, the House had amended the bill to remove a passage that cited “race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, physical characteristic, political persuasion, mental disability, or physical disability, as well as attire or association with others identified by such categories.” This wasn’t enough for Rep. Alan Seabaugh, R-Shreveport, who was quoted by Walter Pierce of The Independent as telling fellow lawmakers, “This bill was intended to promote an agenda and force teaching alternative lifestyles to our children. Every person who testified [on behalf of the bill] was either gay or testifying on behalf of someone who is gay, so let’s not delude ourselves about the intent of this bill.”
Seabaugh later added, “This language [in the bill] is straight out of the lesbian, gay, transgender playbook.”
The Independent also quoted a frustrated Badon addressing the chamber after the vote:
“It’s a sad day in Louisiana. We have the authority and the power to address this issue. It’s a sad day when we won’t stand up and help the parents. For us to sit here and say that the conservative, religious right is going to dictate to us how we’re going to vote, I’m embarrassed by that. You should be ashamed of that. ...You got sidetracked, folks, you got sidetracked. You had the old okey-doke pulled on you. ...We turned this issue into something completely different than what it was.”
Most of the New Orleans-area delegation voted for Badon’s bill, including Reps. Neil Abramson, Jeffery Arnold, Jared Brossett, Walker Hines, Juan LaFonta, Walt Leger III, Helena Moreno and Charmaine Marchand Stiaes. Reps. Cameron Henry and Nick Lorusso voted against it.
Comments (6)
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Im going to do something about this. people should take care of there own lives instead of trying to mess up other peoples lives. why talk about someone? why make them feel bad? what does it do for you to harm other people.
No need for special class for those kids who were bullied. Bullies just need to be expelled immediately, let the parents suffer if they cannot correct their worthless kidns.
Who ever drafted this law and those elected officials who supported this law should be unelected, next election.
They were trying to manage individuals by sorting them into groups, when in fact they were just trying to pass the buck.
Beating up one of their selected groups is a crime, but to prove the crime the victim must be proven to be a selected group member.
Now, current law says beating up anyone is a crime.
We first must understand the problem and that new laws are not a solution. Almost everyone has been, is being or will be a victim of some form of bias and unless we treat the problem, sorting us into "special groups" will only make matters worse.
When abuse occurs against a particular group, whether they are gays, nerds, foreigners, Muslims, or any group, & the abuse is institutionalized in the community as the authorities always side with or ignore the abusers, then these special laws against hate most certainly ARE needed. As a school teacher over the past 25 years, I have been heartened to have seen a vast improvement in the development of attitudes of tolerance among most students today. But reciprocally, I also see a disturbing increase in the level of the meanness, cruelty, violence, & relentlessness of bullies which may include individual students, groups of students, parents, & otther adults or even authorities & it is NOT just directed against gay kids. Everyone knows that there continues to be a severe problem with bullying in many schools & the streets. There is something deeply wrong with our society if we are too mired in political agendas to protect our own children from something this hateful. Hate is NOT a Family Value.
