Gov't At Work
Dec. 4th, 2011 08:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mark_asphodelSo, Michigan recently became the 48th state in the union to pass an anti-bullying bill. Not sure how well that's actually going to work as a preventative measure, really, and the law's not written especially well, so it's the kind of thing that's more "yay, we protected kids" than something that will actually stop kids from being bullied, IMO.
The interesting part is the discrepancy between the State Senate and State House versions of the bill (that, in accordance with practice of bicameral legislatures, had to be reconciled before it went to the governor to sign).
The Senate version contained a religious exemption for bullies. Specifically, it exempted bullying actions that arose from "a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction of a school employee, school volunteer, pupil, or a pupil’s parent or guardian.”
Think about that one long and hard. I'm not even going to offer you test scenarios, because you're all intelligent enough to come up with them on your own. I will add that one part of Michigan is very Catholic, that one is very conservative Protestant, and the precise dot on the map where I happen to live has a large concentration of Muslims. It wasn't merely a useless bill, it was worded in a way to be actively harmful, granting legal protection to certain classes of bullies. A real achievement there, guys.
[I think the paper trail makes it apparent that the bill was intended to NOT protect GLBT students, but I personally was looking forward to the kind of craziness that would bubble out of Dearborn re: Muslim/Christian relations if the stupid thing passed.]
Every Republican in the Senate voted for it, every Democrat voted against it, and the breakdown of seats being what it currently is, it passed. Fortunately the state House, though not often known as a bastion of common sense, didn't have that language in the bill, and after a good deal of outcry, screaming, letters, etc, the House bill became the one adopted by the Senate and sent to Governor Snyder.
The lesson? Your elected representatives can and will pass legislation that is so awful you'd never even think of something like it on your own. The only way to stop that is for the groups being targeted to make themselves heard and apply pressure accordingly. Otherwise you end up with laws that allow a teacher to bully a student out of "sincere moral conviction."
The interesting part is the discrepancy between the State Senate and State House versions of the bill (that, in accordance with practice of bicameral legislatures, had to be reconciled before it went to the governor to sign).
The Senate version contained a religious exemption for bullies. Specifically, it exempted bullying actions that arose from "a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction of a school employee, school volunteer, pupil, or a pupil’s parent or guardian.”
Think about that one long and hard. I'm not even going to offer you test scenarios, because you're all intelligent enough to come up with them on your own. I will add that one part of Michigan is very Catholic, that one is very conservative Protestant, and the precise dot on the map where I happen to live has a large concentration of Muslims. It wasn't merely a useless bill, it was worded in a way to be actively harmful, granting legal protection to certain classes of bullies. A real achievement there, guys.
[I think the paper trail makes it apparent that the bill was intended to NOT protect GLBT students, but I personally was looking forward to the kind of craziness that would bubble out of Dearborn re: Muslim/Christian relations if the stupid thing passed.]
Every Republican in the Senate voted for it, every Democrat voted against it, and the breakdown of seats being what it currently is, it passed. Fortunately the state House, though not often known as a bastion of common sense, didn't have that language in the bill, and after a good deal of outcry, screaming, letters, etc, the House bill became the one adopted by the Senate and sent to Governor Snyder.
The lesson? Your elected representatives can and will pass legislation that is so awful you'd never even think of something like it on your own. The only way to stop that is for the groups being targeted to make themselves heard and apply pressure accordingly. Otherwise you end up with laws that allow a teacher to bully a student out of "sincere moral conviction."
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no subject
Date: 2011-12-04 03:53 pm (UTC)and everything elsein government just baffles me.no subject
Date: 2011-12-04 06:01 pm (UTC)Well, many bad laws happen for the exact same reason that good laws happen-- a vocal group of people demands a solution to what they perceive is a problem that government can fix. Ever heard the saying "Bad cases make bad law?" You have some high-profile suicides? Pass a law. You have some specific sympathetic focus group, like breast cancer patients? Pass a law so that they have certain services covered by law (but all other forms of cancer apparently don't matter as much). Someone shoots up a high school? Better pass a law... even though last I checked murder was already illegal.
People get the government they're willing to fight for. If your dream is to have a very bad law passed, and you kick up enough fuss and put in enough effort, you'll probably get it.