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Gov't At Work
Dec. 4th, 2011 08:34 amSo, 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."
