By: Jassen Sanders

Jassen Sanders — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 11:22:34 +0000

Bullying is a problem that affects kids anywhere. Every school across the country has or will experience some form of bullying, whether it's physical, verbal, exclusion oe cyberbullying. The key to helping our children avoid bullying is to help our kids develop a strong sense of self. If they have a strong sense of self, they will have the innate ability to stand up for what is right and what is wrong. Others kids will recognize this and respect them for it. It doesn’t mean they will always avoid conflict, but when they do encounter bullies they will be able to stand firm. As a way of helping everyone especially the parents, who find it quite hard to manage time, I found this great service which featured a safety service which gets me connected to a Safety Network or escalate my call to the nearest 911 when needed, it has other cool features that are helpful for your kids with just a press of a Panic Button. Check it here: http://www.SafeKidZone.com/.

By: LGBT Youth Allies

LGBT Youth Allies — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 17:17:35 +0000

Very interesting, though I see a few problems here. One, the statement that "the best way to protect LGBT students may be to try to protect everyone" is a little misleading, though I'm sure you didn't mean it that way. Measures championed by LGBT groups *do* protect everyone: For example, state-level provisions favored by these groups almost invariably address bullying against *any* student based on actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity. Absolutely everybody has an "actual or perceived" sexual orientation and gender identity, and absolutely anybody can face anti-LGBT animus, so it's inaccurate to suggest that LGBT groups are pushing for laws that would only protect LGBT youth.
In any event, state-level provisions are not necessarily limited to bullying based on particular traits like sexual orientation. LGBT groups regularly champion anti-bullying laws that define bullying broadly to include mistreatment *regardless of the reasons* (i.e. not just anti-LGBT bullying); but these laws also make clear that the bullying prohibited by law *includes* bullying based on sexual orientation. For example, NY's anti-bullying law contains a broad definition of harassment and then says that prohibited harassment "includes but is not limited" to certain conduct based on race, sex, sexual orientation, etc. In this way, the law protects against *all* types of harassment but also recognizes and calls attention to the often-overlooked problem of anti-LGBT harassment. Finally, while it may be true that "there are no federal or state laws that would allow a student to sue for severe and pervasive bullying that is not linked to any discernible characteristic," this is largely because anti-bullying laws and proposals (with some exceptions, like SNDA), often don't provide individuals with a right to sue at all. So perhaps your article mis-diagnoses the problem in part? In other words, if you favor a right to sue for bullying, then you need to convince LGBT groups to favor state laws that allow for lawsuits. To focus instead on whether or not the laws protect all students is to focus on a problem that doesn't really exist; as explained above, the laws generally *do* cover all students. Of course, I recognize that the federal laws (and federal proposals like SNDA) present a different story/issue on a couple of these points, and I guess your point was to focus mostly/only on those federal laws. But most of the movement on this stuff occurs at the state level, I believe. http://www.youthallies.com

Comments on: Drawbacks to anti-bullying strategy

By: Jassen Sanders

By: LGBT Youth Allies