Activists criticize Mass. anti-bullying bill :: EDGE Boston

Activists criticize Mass. anti-bullying bill :: EDGE Boston

Activists criticize Mass. anti-bullying bill
by Peter Cassels
EDGE Contributor
Monday Mar 15, 2010

Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover hanged himself last April after classmates harassed him because they thought he was gay. His death was one of two that motivated lawmakers to strengthen the Commonwealth’s anti-bullying law. Email Print Share

Activists continue to lament the fact Massachusetts legislators have not included LGBT-specific language in a bill that would strengthen a law against bullying and harassment in the classroom.

Activists lobbying to include what they call enumerative language to cover sexual orientation and gender identity and expression attribute the omission to the "Scott Brown effect" and the anti-incumbency mood among voters. Massachusetts voters elected Brown to succeed the late U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy in January, but activists maintain lawmakers don’t want to give conservatives ammunition that would jeopardize their re-election chances in November.

The state Senate unanimously approved the anti-bullying bill on Thursday, March 11. It now moves to the House of Representatives, where it is expected to pass. Governor Deval Patrick, a Democrat running for re-election in what recent polls show is a close race, has said he will sign it into law.

Activists maintain the overwhelmingly Democratic Legislature is leery of giving opponents ammunition by conferring what conservatives call "special rights" for LGBTs.

"You have a toxic environment in both the Senate and the House in view of anti-incumbent, anti-legislative sentiment in the populace at the moment," Dee Dee Edmondson, political director for MassEquality, told EDGE in an interview before the Senate passed the proposed legislation. "Obviously that was shown in the Brown election. People are very nervous."

She explained not including enumerative language is part of a trickle-down effect.