Supporters confident revised anti-bullying state legislation will pass
Special to the Tortoise
A revision in the proposed bill against bullying has Florida safe school activists confident that their seven year campaign for it will end in success this year. The bill - which enumerates specific behaviors that will not be tolerated under the law - recently was amended to include youth targeted for "sexual orientation and gender identity."
"I know that there might be opposition by some people to the inclusion of these few words, but they lack the vision to understand what these words mean in terms of human cost,'' said Debbie Johnston, whose son Jeffrey committed suicide in 2005 after relentless online harassment including accusations that he was gay. The bill is named after Jeffrey, who was 15 when he hanged himself in his Cape Coral bedroom.
The bill's revision occurred after the two most powerful coalitions in the state advocating for bullying prevention legislation held a January summit in Miami. The coalitions are the Florida Safe Schools Coalition and the Lee County-based Students for Safe Schools, which was formed by Debbie Johnston. The coalitions have lobbied hard for legislative relief for the growing problem of bullying, one of the major causes of youth suicide, anxiety, and school absenteeism.
"We really wanted to come together to get legislation passed this year so work can begin to end the silent suffering," said Kathy Hersh, co-chair of the Miami Dade Community Task Force for Bullying Prevention. "We found a simple solution to the wording of the bill which ensures protection for gender minorities without creating specific categories of protection," she added.
Students for Safe Schools had feared that enumerating groups of victims might leave some students unprotected who didn't fit into categories. The Florida Safe School Coalition - working closely with Equality Florida, a gender minority civil rights organization - had refused to back previous versions of the bill that had mentioned some reasons students were bullied, but did not also state that gay or gender questioning students frequently are targeted.
With the new language, "we reached what we believe is a powerful and sensible compromise and ended the day united," said Stratton Pollitzer, deputy director of Equality Florida. "We believe this is an important change and with it we will have a united front of teachers, parent groups, and child welfare experts from across the state supporting the bill and standing ready to ensure that every school district implements the new law effectively," he added.
For more information about the legislation and about supporting children who are being bullied: http://jeffreyjohnston.org/Home_Page.html
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