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Feral
Post subject: IE -- ANTI-GAY BULLYING CAMPAIGN LAUNCHES TODAY  PostPosted: Oct 26, 2006 - 03:54 AM



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ANTI-GAY BULLYING CAMPAIGN LAUNCHES TODAY

Quote:
In response to research by the School of Education in Dublin City University showing that nearly four out of five teachers surveyed were aware of instances of homophobic bullying in their school, the Equality Authority and the BeLong To youth service are to launch a campaign targeting the problem today.

"Research has shown very widespread and high levels of homophobic bullying in post-primary schools," says Niall Crowley, CEO of the Equality Authority. "It is important that we respond to that and seek to eliminate the problem, while responding to the needs of young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people in a way that they have led and directed.


says Michael Barron of BeLonG To:

Quote:
"We think that schools will be really appreciative of the campaign. It's not a campaign of complaining, it's about giving the school authorities practical help in targeting this problem."


I shall have to withhold too much judgement since I don't yet know what this anti-bullying campaign entails. Anti-bullying programs are good. Perhaps this one really does give school authorities "practical help."

However, when I see phrases like "nearly four out of five teachers surveyed were aware of instances of homophobic bullying in their school," I can't help but read "nearly four out of five teachers surveyed were aware of instances of homophobic bullying in their school and did nothing about it."

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Feral
Post subject: Australia -- Gay student safety fear  PostPosted: Nov 10, 2006 - 07:46 AM



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Gay student safety fear

Quote:
KEITH Phillips once told his teacher he would die for the right "to be himself".

The Year 10 Alexandra Hills State High School student is openly gay and says Year 12 students have bullied and taunted him with verbal abuse.

Yesterday Keith, 15, missed school because of a warning of possible violence.

Keith's mother Trudy Lillicrap said the school had called her on Thursday night asking her to ensure Keith took the next day off because the school had received information his safety was under threat from a group of Year 12 students.


There is some question as to whether or not the offending students will face any consequences. After all, it's the end of the school year and boys will be boys, right? Then again, Queensland is said to have some pretty good policies on homophobia. Keith had plenty to add in the paper's comments section:

Quote:
I think that Alexandra Hills State High School has seriously failed in their role, for duty of care.

The school is yet to adress the issue with any students, the police were called into the school because of "food throwing" that day. What do we think that food throwing is more of an offence then threatening to "bash the crap" out of a student?

Are we raising our children and setting society up for a massive fight at the end of every year 12. The boys that threatened this have gotten of "scott-free" there were no reprocussions for their actions. They were shown that obviously the Education Department and the Education Minister deem it acceptable for this type of behaviour to occur not only in the schoolyard but also in the "real world" when they leave school. And by the Education Department and Minister deeming this as acceptable what else will they deem acceptable on behalf of our "Smart State" bashing students because you are bored, because they looked at you once.

Obviously this is ridiculous that students should be allowed to make these "threats" and actually plan to carry them out, and because it's the end of the year they are let off.... In the workplace are you allowed to run around and bash people because it's their last day.

I think more should be done, because frankly this is clearly unnaceptable.

(and yes I am the student in the article)

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Feral
Post subject: UK - MP Stephen Williams on homophobic bullying  PostPosted: Nov 21, 2006 - 08:45 PM



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MP Stephen Williams on homophobic bullying

Quote:
Gay Bristol Liberal Democrat MP Stephen Williams, has produced a YouTube video about homophobic bullying as the party highlights its campaign during anti-bullying week.

Mr Williams uses the video to discuss the unique aspects of homophobic bullying and calls on people to support the Liberal Democrat campaign against it.

The Lib Dems are campaigning for homophobic taunts and name calling in schools to be challenged immediately by staff, for anti-bullying policies to include measures specifically to deal with homophobic bullying and for at least one teacher in every school should undergo training which includes how to tackle homophobic bullying.


You can watch it here.

Mind you, I hardly think the Liberal Democrats' proposal is anywhere near adequate. Criminalizing the behavior would be a far better strategy. In my opinion, straight people would apply themselves far more rigorously to the task of keeping their little urchins out of juvenile detention centers. Motivation is the key.

The Liberal Democrats' petition is here.

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vanrozenheim
Post subject: RE: UK - MP Stephen Williams on homophobic bullying  PostPosted: Nov 21, 2006 - 09:06 PM
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A noble initiative from the Liberal Democrats, though. The problem is that the phenomenon of bullying is so wide-spred that teachers and parents prefer to turn a blind eye on it, or else they would have to expell from schools and close in juvenile detention centers a large portion of these "kids". No doubt, a couple of weeks being educated and re-soziallized behind the bars would cause most radical changes of attitudes against bullie's fellow students.
 
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Feral
Post subject: RE: UK - MP Stephen Williams on homophobic bullying  PostPosted: Nov 21, 2006 - 09:35 PM



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I think it likely that a demonstration of real consequences for their behavior would cause a sudden transformation in the behavior of bullies. As much as I would prefer to imprison all of them at once, I don't think that it would actually become necessary to do so. When it becomes clear that the bullies are marked, many of them will find something less risky to do with their time.

A simpler solution, considering the magnitude of the problem (bullying IS very wide-spread) is to remove the gay kids to their own schools. There are far fewer gays than there are bullies. It would be less taxing on the resources of the state to build a few schools -- after all, were they to actually do as I suggest they would need to build a number of additional detention centers.

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Feral
Post subject: Homophobic Bullying in Schools  PostPosted: Feb 25, 2007 - 08:52 AM



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Feral wrote:
COMMENT: Gay adults must challenge homophobic teachers

Quote:
Stopping homophobic bullying and the protection of gay and lesbian kids at school should be our first priority as gay adults.

We got away, we escaped into the land of Oz and look at us now with our houses and our careers and our civil partners. As adults, we forget too easily what it is to be fifteen, gay and scared senseless.

Gay kids are our kids and we have to stand up for them. We have to take on complacent schools, not with surveys or petitions, but with legal threats. The rights of children are enshrined in law, and schools are failing to protect gay kids - our kids.

It is time to use our fancy law degrees to threaten and cajole and argue with educational institutions until homophobia is as taboo as racism.

We need to empower gay kids by our visibility but more importantly we need to start fighting their battles with them. We need to organise in a way that targets homophobia to the exclusion of all other forms of bullying.

We will not have the message that the gay 'community' does not tolerate abuse and violence against gay kids diluted into a 'wider' message.

...


It falls upon us as citizens to give help, support and advice to younger people.

It is our responsibility, not a word you hear that often in gay conversation.

With more rights comes more responsibility. We got what we asked for, we got equality in marriage and an equal age of consent.

We have our rights – it is time to start taking responsibility for our behaviour and for our wider 'gay family.'


The piece is much longer than my excerpt and is worth reading in its entirety.

I would underscore the author's last point. It might, from an assimilationist point of view, be the responsibility of adult gays "to give help, support and advice to younger people". I don't have an assimilationist point of view, so I would point out that we have a duty to defend, aid, and support gay youth.

I have commented before (though I would certainly forgive one and all if they happened to miss it) on the "generation gap" that exists between gay youth and adults. It should come as no surprise that there are differing opinions between generations.

Quote:
"In interviews with LGBT youth and adults, we found a noticeable gap in communications across generations," noted Dr. Glenda Russell, a co-author of the report. "LGBT adults tend to project their own experiences onto today's young people, when in fact the lives of today's young people are often quite different."

The study notes several examples of this generation gap. "Alternative proms" organized by LGBT adults for LGBT high school youth often seem to be designed to meet the needs of the adult organizers who missed their own proms rather than the needs of today's young people. Adults tend to focus on the suffering and isolation of LGBT youth, even though many LGBT teens are actually doing well. From the other direction, young LGBT people sometimes complain that no one is doing anything about discrimination, apparently unaware of decades of prior activism by LGBT adults.

The challenge for the community is to turn these differences into opportunities for learning and growth. Co-author Dr. Janis Bohan notes, "The good news is that both sides can learn from each other. LGBT adults should be willing to follow the lead of young people, and young LGBT people should be willing to use adults as mentors."

Young people often provide a fresh perspective on issues that is both less constrained by past strategies for problem solving and less reliant on older--and perhaps incorrect--assumptions about the degree of homophobia. Adults, on the other hand, have greater experience and resources and are more familiar with the historical roots of the LGBT movement.


Our youth have time and time again demonstrated that their number one priority is discrimination -- discrimination as they face it every day. The adults seem to have gotten it in their heads that their fight for civil rights would eventually "trickle down" into the schools where our youth spend the bulk of their waking hours. I think it's likely that our youth is "unaware of decades of prior activism by LGBT adults" precisely because it has been so completely without effect in their day-to-day realities -- which is the only place that matters. It's about time some real efforts were made to achieve real results, and not in a handful of test cases, but across the board.

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Kyleovision
Post subject:   PostPosted: Mar 04, 2007 - 06:01 PM



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Meanwhile, we talk and talk and talk.

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Feral
Post subject:   PostPosted: Mar 04, 2007 - 11:00 PM



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Quote:
Dressell helped organize Saturday's Safer School Summit at County College of Morris for 65 parents, students and educators to start a conversation about how to stop harassment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youths in Morris County area schools.


And well they should have this conversation -- Morris County is in northern New Jersey. The schools there are required to respond to homophobic harassment with steps that are calculated to end it. Failing to do so is costly. In light of the Toms River decision, James Dressel quite likely has an excellent case. His mother should consult an attorney. Every harassed gay kid in New Jersey should consult attorneys.

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Feral
Post subject:   PostPosted: Mar 07, 2007 - 07:50 AM



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Report says homophobia still a problem, especially in Quebec schools

Quote:
MONTREAL -- A report done for the Quebec Human Rights Commission says gays and lesbians still encounter discrimination at school, in the workplace and at home.

It comes after Quebec’s justice minister asked the commission in June 2005 to create a task force to draw up a list of problems created by homophobia.

Marc-Andre Dowd, the vice-chairman of the provincial agency, says Quebec is not a homophobic society, but homophobia still exists in the province.

He says traces of homophobia continue to show up in a number of areas, including education, social and health services, justice, and public security.

The commission has called on the province to create a policy on homophobia and to designate a minister to be responsible for its implementation.

It’s particularly worried about young gay or bisexual males who are many times more likely to have suicidal tendencies than young male heterosexuals.


I applaud the call to create a policy on homophobia... I look forward to reading it. Here's hoping it contains a good deal less happy horse shit than the news article. A minister responsible for its implementation is even better. I can't help but wonder which of the other provinces of Canada have done likewise. Surely Quebec is not the first?

It may well be that Quebec is not a homophobic society, though I'm afraid that, when "traces" of it show up in the areas of education, social and health services, justice, and public security, there just aren't all that many areas of the society left to base this claim upon. Of course, much depends upon what one is to take "traces" to mean.

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berto
Post subject:   PostPosted: Mar 07, 2007 - 09:41 AM



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Quote:
Surely Quebec is not the first?


It certainly wouldn't surprise me...

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Feral
Post subject:   PostPosted: Mar 07, 2007 - 04:47 PM



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I am rather curious as to what provoked Quebec’s justice minister to ask the Quebec Human Rights Commission to create a task force on this issue in the first place. After all, when one can blithely declare that "Quebec is not a homophobic society," it is more customary to leave it at that. It bespeaks some other issue... something along the lines of evidence that Quebec IS, in fact, a homophobic society. Still, adding the implimentation of a homophobia policy to the portfolio of a minister seems a fine idea on its face.

I really shall look forward to reading this policy.

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berto
Post subject:   PostPosted: Mar 08, 2007 - 11:05 AM



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Quote:
I really shall look forward to reading this policy.


Maybe this is somewhere to start? I don't speak/read French, but I think I recall that you do...

lagatta wrote:
I started a thread on the Québec campaign against homophobia over on bread and roses, on its own thread. I'm copying the press release here, as I think it is an important initiative:

Pour votre information (de la Fédération des femmes du Québec). (When I copied it, there was no CNW/Telbec release in English, though there may be by now).

*****

Les communautés gaie et lesbienne (LGBT) satisfaites des recommandations de la CDPJ - Le gouvernement du Québec doit adopter une politique nationale de lutte contre l'homophobie et les partis politiques doivent prendre position

MONTREAL, le 6 mars /CNW Telbec/ - Les communautés gaie et lesbienne (LGBT) québécoises accueillent avec enthousiasme les recommandations de la Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse(CDPJ) visant à combattre l'homophobie, rendues publiques aujourd'hui lors d'une conférence de presse tenue à Montréal.

La sortie du rapport "De l'égalité juridique à l'égalité sociale" est l'aboutissement des travaux de réflexions d'un groupe de travail composé de représentants des communautés LGBT et de représentants de la fonction publique dans les secteurs d'activités concernés.

A l'instar des communautés culturelles, les communautés gaie, lesbienne et celles des autres diversités sexuelles apportent un enrichissement collectif à la société. Longtemps isolées et invisibles, elles sortent de l'ombre et aspirent à l'égalité sociale.

L'homophobie est avant tout une attitude empreinte de préjugés et d'ignorance. A juste titre, pour lui faire la lutte, la CDPJ propose des mesures de redressement, de sensibilisation, d'éducation et de formation. Nos communautés soutiennent les recommandations contenues dans ce rapport, dont principalement

- l'adoption d'une politique nationale de lutte contre l'homophobie;

- la désignation d'un ministre responsable de la "condition homosexuelle et des autres diversités sexuelles";

- la mise en place d'une structure administrative responsable de l'application de la politique;

- l'affectation des ressources nécessaires à la mise en place de la politique.

Il est connu que les formations politiques de Québec sont sympathiques à l'idée de mettre fin aux discriminations et de combattre l'homophobie. Les communautés LGBT demandent à toutes les formations politiques de prendre position en faveur des conclusions du rapport "De l'égalité sociale à l'égalité juridique" et de s'engager à adopter une Politique nationale de lutte contre l'homophobie.

Source: http://www.cnw.ca/fr/releases/archive/March2007/06/c7446.html


First posted over here

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Kyleovision
Post subject:   PostPosted: Mar 08, 2007 - 01:37 PM



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Relevant bits from above (roughly translated; my French is wholly broken and bastardized):

Quote:
- adoption of a national policy to fight against homophobia;

- designation of a minister responsible for promoting the well-being of homosexuals and sexual diversitiy";

- the installation of an administrative structure responsible for the application of the policy;

- the resource allocation necessary to ensure the installation of the policy.

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Feral
Post subject:   PostPosted: Mar 15, 2007 - 05:57 AM



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Gay protections enter anti-bullying debate

Quote:
TALLAHASSEE — A bill intended to curb bullying at public schools is once again becoming a lightning rod for Florida lawmakers' views on homosexuality.

Several students who came to Tallahassee this week on behalf of the "Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up For All Students Act," were told by one lawmaker that they needed psychological treatment because they're gay.

The bill named for a Cape Coral teenager who killed himself in 2005 after being bullied at school would define "bullying" and direct schools to set up clear rules for how to handle threatening behavior.

But a group of students called the Florida Safe Schools Coalition implored a House committee Tuesday to include specific protections for gay students.

The bill defines "sexual, religious or racial harassment" as bullying, but makes no mention of sexual orientation.

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Feral
Post subject:   PostPosted: Mar 17, 2007 - 04:34 PM



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Anti-gay bias rages in Dallas schools

Quote:
A teacher uses class time to talk about how specific LGBT students are going to hell.

A security guard calls an LGBT student a “faggot” within earshot of school administrators, who do nothing about it. The student subsequently drops out.

An LGBT teacher is reprimanded for using his school’s video system to disseminate information about the Gay-Straight Alliance.


Sounds like they need an anti-discrimination policy. The funny thing is, it seems they've had one for 16 years.

Quote:
Lambda Legal Regional Director Dennis Coleman, a member of the committee, said DISD is not legally required to implement the policy.

However, if it does not, it runs the risk of lawsuits from those who are discriminated against, he said. “The school district has been very lucky,” Coleman said.


"Risk"?

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Feral
Post subject:   PostPosted: Mar 27, 2007 - 07:32 PM



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There's a flurry of stories out of the UK today, all provoked by the same event -- a committee report.

Bullying: calls for national inquiry

Quote:
The committee says schools should be forced to record all instances of bullying, including detailing those related to race, faith, disability or homophobia. The lack of reliable data is a barrier to more effective anti-bullying work, say the MPs, who want the government to commission long-term research into trends and evidence of which approaches worked.

Though some experts have argued that bullying is decreasing, the telephone counselling service ChildLine said last night that it had received 37,000 calls about bullying in 2005-6, 12% up on the previous year.

Schools are required by law to have an anti-bullying policy, which Ofsted, the school inspectorate, is expected to monitor. But the select committee fears schools might be trying to avoid damaging their reputations by not collating figures; it says some anti-bullying programmes involve a "no blame" approach specifically stating that incidents should not be recorded.



Gay Bashing in Schools Must Be Tackled Now Says LibDem MP

Quote:
The committee’s concluding report published today says all schools, including faith schools, should be required to record all incidents of bullying.

Anti-bullying policies should explicitly mention specific kinds bullying, including disability-related, race-related, faith-based and homophobic bullying.

“Anti-bullying programmes have taken a back seat to political rhetoric about stamping down on discipline and raising standards,” Mr. Williams said.

“But if we cracked bullying, we would see benefits in a lot of other areas too.




Gay Bullying: Catholics Not Fit To Run Schools – Humanists


Quote:
LONDON, March 27, 2007 – Such is the level of homophobia in the Catholic Church that its schools should be taken from it and returned to the community sector, says the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA).

The Association was reacting to a House of Commons Select Committee report on bullying, published today, which shows that the Catholic Church is refusing to tackle homophobic bullying in its schools.


Talk, talk, talk. Oh, and what a surprise -- calls for more data... information which will no doubt be fine fuel for yet more talk, talk, talk. The MPs are condemning schools that exclude the victims of bullies for "health and safety" reasons, while failing to tackle the problem itself. Yet they claim that excluding children, even the bullies, should be used as a punishment only with caution.

Due process is a fine thing. No one could reasonably wish to deny children of due process. Punishing bullies is also a fine thing -- after all, they are criminals; their acts are real, live crimes that have been on the books for generations in most instances. The punishment of criminals is the jurisdiction of the police and the courts, not the educational system. If the schools wish to try their hand at "educating" children into not committing criminal acts... by all means: have at it. I believe they will fail, but I'll not condemn either the attempt or the inclination.

But this "caution" thing... where is this coming from? Rapists are not removed from the general population "only with caution," they're removed as a matter of course for good reason... after due process. Would someone really suggest that rapists need to be "educated," and that a woman's shelter might be as good a place as any for them to be employed during this educational process?

Reporting all instances of bullying for statistical purposes is a nice bundle of words. I hope they'll consider doing this record-keeping electronically, because it sounds like a nice bundle of paper as well. In the end, the UK needs to wrap its collective mind around the fact (and it is one) that they must DO something about bullying apart from prattle on about it over tea and examine records detailing it.

Physically removing bullies from schools is a necessary first step. Without this first step, the rest is just talk, talk, talk.

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Feral
Post subject:   PostPosted: Mar 28, 2007 - 12:23 AM



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Schools activist: bullying recommendations not good enough

Quote:
A gay rights activist who has been working for LGBT equality in education since 1974 has said that defeating homophobic bullying in schools will not be achieved by the recommendations of today's report from MPs.

Sue Sanders, who is co-founder of Schools OUT, told PinkNews.co.uk that while she welcomed the focus on harassment in schools, without changes to the entire culture of education little would be achieved.
...

"You are pulling people out of the river but not asking why they are being pushed in in the first place," she said.

"While I am certainly very pleased the MPs are putting a spotlight on bullying, for someone who has been doing this for 30 years, I have to say they are focusing on the obvious.

"They are asking what is happening rather than why it is happening.


Ms Sanders is certainly right about one thing -- the recommendations are assuredly not enough. I'd go so far as to say they aren't even helpful. I'm not at all sure how useful Ms Sanders' river analogy is but, to go with it, the MPs' seem concerned about counting the number of bodies that wash up on the banks of this river. I don't see anyone "pulling people out of the river." If you have someone who is pushing people into a river, it makes as little sense to ponder that person's motivation as it does to tally up that person's body-count. You need to pull the kids out of the river, certainly. You need to prevent more kids from being pushed into that river.

Ms Sanders can be excused for bending this particular issue to her own assimilationist agenda. She's fond of this agenda... I understand that perfectly. I happen to think her quest to change "the entire culture of education" is more than a bit Quixotic. While they're at it, perhaps they'd like to try their hand at changing the entire heterosexual culture (they'll have to in order to achieve their aims). I don't know which I'm more in awe of: the fantastical scope of imagination these integrationists have or their monumental hubris in imagining that they have this sort of power. Still, she is right -- the recommendations are yet another version of asking "what" is happening when it is (and has been) perfectly clear "what" is happening. As for asking "why" this is happening -- I can't imagine anyone seriously posing that question. Surely the answer is plain. In any event, the answer is irrelevant.

If someone is pushing children into a river, you have a moral duty to pull those children out of the river, and with some promptness.

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berto
Post subject:   PostPosted: Mar 30, 2007 - 12:38 PM



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Michigan: anti-bullying bill headed for Senate showdown

Quote:
Legislation that would protect students from bullying that includes protections for LGBT pupils is expected to get a rough ride in the Republican-controlled Michigan Senate, after passing the Democratic-run House.

[...]

The legislation covers race, ancestry, national origin, sex, height, weight, religion and sexuality.

Supporters said some schools aren¹t doing enough to help students who¹ve been bullied. The bill is named after Matt Epling, a high school student who killed himself in 2002 after a hazing incident.

Republicans and social conservatives oppose the legislation because it includes protections for gay students.

[...]

The legislation narrowly passed the House on a vote mostly along party lines. It's future in the Senate is far from certain.

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Feral
Post subject:   PostPosted: Mar 30, 2007 - 08:13 PM



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Quote:
It's future in the Senate is far from certain.


If by this the writer means to say that the measure will not pass... this is truer than not. If by this the writer seriously means to suggest that its fate is in any way difficult to forecast... what nonsense. As the article points out:

Quote:
Republicans and social conservatives oppose the legislation because it includes protections for gay students.


Do you think that "social conservatives" are included in that phrase because they are a species of Republican, or do you think they are included in that phrase because they are a species of Democrat that will vote with the Republicans? If the vote is along party lines (as it was in the State House) the bill will fail. If non-Republican "social conservatives" also vote against the bill it will rail resoundingly.

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vanrozenheim
Post subject:   PostPosted: Mar 31, 2007 - 12:37 PM
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Feral wrote:
Quote:
Republicans and social conservatives oppose the legislation because it includes protections for gay students.


Do you think that "social conservatives" are included in that phrase because they are a species of Republican, or do you think they are included in that phrase because they are a species of Democrat that will vote with the Republicans?


Oh, there is not much "social" or "conservative" in their expressed views, probably as there is not much of "Republican" there. There is even nothing "christian". It's simple homophobia: better dead than gay. Why should these people vote for protection of gay students, while they believe that gay people are some cancer within the society which shall be exterminated? They will most certainly vote on some anti-gay legislation, not on something contrary to their worldview (based on Leviticus).
 
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