Sponsor Intends to Reintroduce "Bullying Bill"

Special Report - January 30, 2009
The sponsor of a controversial bill that would have forced all North Carolina school districts to adopt pro-homosexual “anti-bullying” policies has said he intends to reintroduce the legislation this session. Representative Rick Glazier (D-Cumberland), who sponsored HB 1366—School Violence Prevention Act, writes in the November/December 2008 issue of the North Carolina Medical Journal that the legislation will be “vigorously pursued” this year. He also credits its demise, in part, to “the harshly prejudicial arguments of a narrow ideological group.”

HB 1366, the so-called “Bullying Bill,” sought to require local school systems across North Carolina to adopt policies to prohibit bullying and harassment in public schools, despite the fact that the State Board of Education enacted a similar policy in 2004. The primary difference between HB 1366 and the State Board policy is that HB 1366 would have required every local school system in the state to add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression” as protected classifications in these local policies. As a result, HB 1366 would affirm and legally legitimize homosexuality, bisexuality, cross dressing and other “alternative” sexual behaviors in our public schools and would assure these topics would be discussed with school children on a regular basis.

Similar to the arguments proponents of the bill made last session, Rep. Glazier argues in the article that the statewide anti-bullying policy adopted by the State Board of Education in 2004 is “insufficient and ineffective” because it neglects to include enumerated categories of victims, particularly the categories of “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression.” He also contends that, “The fact that such vociferous opposition to inclusion of perceived or actual LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender] students in the ambit of the anti-bullying policy existed from ideological extremists opposed to its passage in itself made the case for the necessity of their inclusion in the enumerated policy better than any argument supporters could have articulated.”

John Rustin, director of government relations for the North Carolina Family Policy Council responded, “The Council fully supported the Senate version of House Bill 1366 that would apply to all children in all circumstances, but we did not agree that our public schools should be turned into advocacy organizations for homosexuality, bisexuality and similar sexual behaviors, which would be the ultimate result, if the original version of HB 1366 had passed. To characterize this concern as the position of ‘ideological extremists’ is to alienate the vast majority of North Carolinians who oppose the promotion of ‘alternative’ sexual behaviors in our public schools.”

For more information on the history of the pro-homosexual “safe” schools initiatives, including anti-bullying bills, read our policy paper: In the Name of Safety: How Homosexual Activists are Using Anti-Bullying Policies to Gain Acceptance.

Copyright © 2009. North Carolina Family Policy Council. All rights reserved.