Stop bullying!

Keigo Oyamada, who has admitted bullying somebody as a child in a magazine, is not a gay.

アイオワ州でいじめ防止法案が出来たらしい。どこでも、教育の世界で起こる問題は似たようなものということか。

House approves bill to stop bullying
Many tied long debate to gay-rights controversy
By JENNIFER JACOBS　REGISTER STAFF WRITER
February 8, 2007

22 Comments
Classmates used to press themselves against their lockers in mock horror when Tyler Mooers walked through the hallways of Carlisle High School.

When he heard a ban on bullying - including so-called cyber bullying - was approved 62-37 in the Iowa House on Wednesday night, Mooers said he thinks the legislation will be "really effective."

The bill would force public and private schools to have policies by Sept. 1 that prevent and punish bullying or harassment of any student.

Seventy-seven school districts, including Des Moines, Urbandale and West Des Moines, already have antibullying policies, which include "sexual orientation."

More than 280 public school districts don't have the "sexual orientation" category, including Carlisle, Ankeny, Indianola, Johnston, Southeast Polk and Waukee."

A lot of people say it's just so gay kids get all these special rights, but it's not," said Mooers, 18, who revealed his sexual orientation in his sophomore year and was bullied enough that he sometimes wanted to skip school. "It's about protecting everybody."

Rep. Jodi Tymeson, a Republican from Winterset, doubted the legislation's effectiveness."

It won't stop one kid from being bullied," she said.

Several Republicans unsuccessfully tried to strike the list of specific categories, arguing schools should simply protect "all students" without distinction."

Why are the four-eyed, band-playing, choir-singing, too small to play high school athletics, why are those traits not worthy enough to make this list?" said Rep. Christopher Rants, a Republican from Sioux City. "How does adding 'any' or 'all' diminish what you want to accomplish?"

Rep. Roger Wendt, a Democrat from Sioux City, said the list includes categories most frequently targeted for bullying, but school districts are free to add more.

Many lawmakers and observers interpreted the long debate over this bill as a thinly-veiled controversy over gay rights.

A safe learning environment for every child is "a moral imperative," yet some legislators opposed the bill, said Connie Ryan Terrell, the executive director of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa. That's because they objected to the words "sexual orientation" and "gender identity," she said.

Asked if opponents didn't want to expressly protect gay students from bullying because that could be perceived as condoning homosexuality, Rep. Scott Raecker, a Republican from Urbandale, said that wasn't true.

"Not at all," he said.

Raecker, who voted in favor of the bill, had suggested the state require, and pay for, professional development for teachers and staff, including character development.

Raecker is the executive director of the Institute for Character Development. His idea failed, but the bill still encourages such training on a school's own dime. Raecker said his intention was not to encourage schools to hire his business.

The House approved other amendments, including one that states that the teaching of doctrinal matters in nonpublic schools would not be inhibited. Another prohibits bullying via cell phone, e-mail or the Internet.

The Senate on Jan. 30 approved the legislation, 36-14, but the House amendments mean the bill will go now back to the Senate.

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070208/NEWS10/702080420/1001/NEWS10