ADF Submits Model Bullying Policy

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ADF Submits Model Bullying Policy

Special Report - May 23, 2011
In response to a request from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights for public feedback on how the federal government should address peer-to-peer violence and bullying in K-12 public schools, the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) has submitted its model anti-bullying policy for consideration. According to ADF, the model anti-bullying policy, which was drafted by ADF attorneys, “would protect all students from bullying rather than only a select few,” and is intended to be implemented at the local level by school boards, and not by the federal government. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights hosted a briefing about peer-to-peer bullying in Washington, DC, on May 13, 2011. The commission has invited the public to submit email comments in response to the briefing and to the larger issue of school bullying by May 27.

“All students deserve to be protected from bullying, not just certain ones favored by certain political activist groups,” said ADF Legal Counsel Dale Schowengerdt in a press release. “The constitutionally sound policy we are recommending protects all students, is designed for local school boards where it can be effective instead of involving the federal government, and guards student rights protected by the First Amendment.”

The ADF model anti-bullying policy is intended to provide an alternative policy for states and local school boards, which have been inundated in recent years with pro-homosexual anti-bullying programs and materials that attempt to use the school safety issue to promote the normalization of homosexuality, bisexuality, and transgenderism. The Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), a pro-homosexual advocacy group, has led a strategic campaign to pressure states and/or local school boards into adopting anti-bullying policies that include the terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” in a list of enumerated categories of victims. In 2009, North Carolina succumbed to this pressure when the General Assembly adopted the “School Violence Prevention Act” (SVPA), which required the state’s 115 school districts to update their anti-bullying policies to include in the definition of bullying a list of 14 possibly “motivating characteristics,” including the terms, “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.” The enactment of the SVPA also marked the first time in North Carolina’s history that the terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” have been included anywhere in state law.

Related resources:
LGBT Advocates Celebrate New Laws - July 13, 2009
"The School Violence Prevention Act: How to Implement the New Law Without Promoting Homosexuality," - FNC - Winter 2010