Senate to vote on anti-bullying bill

The Massachusetts State Senate will soon vote on bill S. 2283, also known as the "Anti-Bullying Bill." It was reported out of the Joint Committee on Education on Feb. 24. The legislation would work to prevent bullying and cyber-bullying by developing anti-bullying programs and raising the level of accountability of school adults; all school employees would be required to report bullying immediately after witnessing or becoming aware of it.

"It begins the process of dealing with bullying in schools," Arlene Isaacson, co-chair of the Massachusetts Gay & Lesbian Political Coalition, said of the proposed bill.

While the Anti-Bullying Bill would, if passed, work to make schools safer, several LGBT advocacy organizations are disappointed in the lack of language specifically referring to "enumerated categories" -- students who become the targets of sexual orientation- and gender identity/expression-related bullying. "So many [lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people] have been the victims of bullying when they were in school," Isaacson said. "The victims are scarred for life."

Recent studies have shown that LGBT students can face an intense brand of bullying. According to the 2007 Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Survey, high school students who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender were almost five times more likely to attempt suicide than students who identified as straight. LGBT students also reported being bullied almost twice as often as straight students.

The April 2009 suicide of Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, a student at a Springfield charter school, brought more attention to issues of LGBT-based bullying. Classmates chronically teased Walker-Hoover, telling him he was gay and acted like a girl. The bullying and taunting became unbearable for the 11-year-old. Walker-Hoover hanged himself with an electrical cord in his family's home after leaving behind a note telling his family he loved them and giving his Pok�mon cards to his six-year-old brother.

While several groups lobbied strongly for the addition of this language, it was not included the version of the bill released from the Education Committee. "Though we are disappointed by the absence of enumerated protections, MassEquality believes this is a meaningful bill that will give all students in the Commonwealth the opportunity to learn and grow in a safe environment," Scott Gortikov, executive director of MassEquality, said. "We urge the House and Senate to act swiftly on its passage in order to prevent further tragedies like the recent suicides of Carl Walker-Hoover and Phoebe Prince [a 15-year-old high school student who hung herself after constant teasing from a group of female classmates.]"

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) struggled to convince the House of Representatives to add LGBT-inclusive language in the list of "victim-specific characteristics" that could be targets for bullying to their version of the Senate bill (HB 483). "While the ADL-led coalition didn't get everything we wanted in the committee's bill, the Anti-Violence Project is excited by the momentum for comprehensive legislative action against bullying," Don Gorton, of Boston's Anti-Violence Project, said. "It's sad that it takes deaths to focus public attention on bullying, but it's encouraging that the Legislature is moving forward."

While the current version of S. 2283 aims to combat all types of bullying, many activists are concerned that LGBT-motivated bullying will be overlooked by school personnel -- with potentially tragic consequences. Arthur Lipkin, chair of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Commission on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth, emphasized that school policies must be sensitive to the needs of LGBT students. "For example," he said, "notification of victims' parents must be done with discretion, so as not to inadvertently 'out' students to their families."

The announcement of the Anti-Bullying Bill's progression to the Massachusetts Senate comes on the heels of the passing of a similar bill in Washington State. The first version of the bill -- passed in 2002 -- contained explicit language copied directly from the state's hate crimes law, which included sexual orientation. In 2009, the hate crimes law, as well as the anti-bullying law, were amended to include protections for "gender identity and expression."

After a 2008 study revealed that bullying in Washington schools hadn't diminished since the passage of the 2002 law, new legislature was drawn up. HB 2801, or "An act relating to anti-harassment strategies in public schools," was passed by the Washington State Senate last week, and will now go to Governor Christine Gregoire to be signed into law.

"The legislature intends to expand the tools, information, and strategies that can be used to combat harassment, intimidation, and bullying of students, and increase awareness of the need for respectful learning communities in all public schools," the bill reads. The new version will still include the language borrowed from the state's hate crimes law. LGBT advocacy group Equal Rights Washington called the passage of the law by the Senate, "a victory for everyone in Washington State" and "a milestone in how far society has come in their understanding of LGBT Washingtonians."

Local LGBT advocacy groups are keeping their fingers crossed that the Massachusetts State Senate will pass the Anti-Bullying Bill quickly and without incident. "We believe this bill's requirements go a long way toward creating a school climate that ensures the safety of all students," Gortikov said.