Nice Try, Bad Fail

Update | Closing Loopholes in Bill

Civil Rights – Michigan’s new Anti-bullying bill which contains controversial language that essentially gives bullies permission to harass people as long as they have a “sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction” against homosexuality, is likely to be revamped.

According to the Detroit Free Press, “The intent was that if a child were to stand up in a class and say they don’t believe in homosexuality, for instance, that child would not face discipline.”
 
However, after much criticism about the religion-related language, House Speaker Jase Bolger’s spokesman, Ari Adler, said the House “would be agreeable to a compromise that would protect all students.”

“There is concern that the language would provide an excuse for bullying, [...] and as far as he is concerned there is no excuse,” Adler told the Free Press.

The bill’s author, Senator Rick Jones said he “welcomes the idea of a compromise but believes the religious wording has been misinterpreted.”

“I think people are using it for political purposes,” he added. 



Democratic Senate leader Gretchen Whitmer, a strong critic of the bill, said “any compromise must ‘say that no child or adult can harass, torment, or threaten a pupil in any of our schools.’”

Read more at the Advocate.

Original Article November 5, 2011:
Civil Rights – In light of the recent trend of bullying inflicting the U.S., the Republican-led Michigan Senate passed “Matt’s Safe School Law” which will require schools to implement anti-bullying policies; which sounded like a good thing until Senator Gretchen Whitmer called bull shit on the whole thing.

The new law, inspired by a Michigan teen who committed suicide after an “anti-gay hazing incident,” will effectively ban “harassment in schools and requires every district to have an anti-bullying policy.”

It’s good to know that at least one politician out there has the brains to see through what the law actually does, and the balls to call the rest of the politicians out for their asinine and backwards legislation.

Wilson “expressed her dissatisfaction with the new law, which is said to create a special exception for bullies who have ‘a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction’ as well as neglecting to protect bullying against students based on sexual orientation or gender identity.”

She continued on with her stinging speech by saying “You may be able to pat yourselves on the back today and say that you did something, but in actuality you are explicitly outlining how to get away with bullying. [...] As passed today, bullying kids is okay if a student, parent, teacher or school employee can come up with a moral or religious reason for doing it.”

Kevin Epling, Matt’s father, also expressed his distaste of the new law stating “This is government-sanctioned bigotry” and he is “‘ashamed’ that lawmakers added the special language at the last minute.”

Apparently, as the bill was originally written, it clearly outlined that there should be no tolerance to bullying, however, the Republicans added the language to the bill and essentially gave permission to bully, harass, haze, and torture another human being, as long as you know—you have a reason for doing it.

Read more at the Huffington Post.