Conservative groups claim bullying bill is about gay rights

Conservative groups told state lawmakers that a bill meant to prevent cyberbullying in schools may result in special protection for gay students.

Rep. Mark Strama's bill brought in a long line of supporters and opponents at the House Public Education committee on Tuesday. The bill would define cyberbullying in the Texas Education Code, add additional reporting requirements for districts and -- most controversially -- would give teachers the power to discipline students for off-campus texting and other online activities.

Jonathan Saenz, the conservative Liberty Institute's spokesman, said although sexual orientation is not currently singled out in the bill's language, he feared that Strama had plans to add gender identity and expression as a protected classification in the bullying reporting requirements for districts.

"There was another version of the bill with categories attached to it," Saenz said. "It's about gay rights. It's intent is to create special categories and special rights to carve off protection for some groups and not others."

The bill as written directs the Texas education commissioner to specify what types of bullying must be reported.

"This is actually another way to have a certain amount of categories amended to the bill," Saenz said.

Strama told Saenz that he was impugning a motive that isn't there.

"We can disagree about my intentions, but only I can be right," Strama said.

Mary Lynn Gerstenschlager, legislative liaison for the conservative Texas Eagle Forum, seemed to share Saenz's concerns. She told the committee that the prevention of bullying should be left to at a local level.

"It doesn't matter what group a child falls into...Each child should have equal protection," Gerstenschlager said. "Bullying can happen across the board whether it's life threatening or just teasing."

She also noted that statistics indicate that race, ethnicity and opposite sex harassment is more prevalent than gay-related instances.

Equality Texas, an LGBT advocacy group, backs the bill as filed, as the most comprehensive way to prevent bullying in school districts. Many of the high profile youth suicides in recent years have been results of gay student abuse.

Strama said in the committee that it was not his intent to change the language of the bill down the line in the legislative process, which Saenz suggested.

"Someone referred to the bill as controversial, but it is complicated. I would like to keep it the way it is to keep it moving through the process," Strama said.

Source: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/03/conservative-groups-claim-bull.html

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