License to Bully and Don’t Say Gay bills place TN students in double jeopardy

Over the last week, Tennessee Equality Project has called attention to the dangers of the “License to Bully” bill (SB0760/HB1123) that religious conservatives have championed as a legislative priority.  This legislation creates a loophole in current education policy that gives students permission to intimidate, harass and bully their classmates when expressing “religious, philosophical, or political views.”

The Family Action Council of Tennessee wants to issue
a "License to Bully" to student in Tennessee.

This dangerous proposal would give license to students to fully express intolerant biases based on race, religious belief, sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. Making matters even worse, the “License to Bully” bill would prohibit schools from adding socioeconomic status, academic status, disability, physical appearance, sexual orientation and gender identity or expression to the list of enumerated protections in bullying policy. SB0760/HB1123 would also prohibit the formation of student-led, teacher-advised, and parent-supported Gay Straight Alliances in schools - a strategy with a proven record for reducing anti-LGBT bullying in schools.

Since the Tennessee General Assembly adjourned in the spring of 2011, TEP has highlighted the current inadequacies of school bullying policy. Students and parents at Sequoyah High School in Madisonville, TN tried to organize a Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) to confront the bullying of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning students. School administrators and religious leaders in their community opposed this initiative and even led to charges of assault of a student leader of the proposed GSA by the school’s principal.

In December, Tennesseans learned of the tragic suicide of Jacob Rogers in Ashland City, a student who endured years of anti-gay bullying at Cheatham County Central High School. While many factors contributed to this incident, the absence of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression among the enumerated protections in the school’s bullying policy at the time was a contributing risk factor according to reports from friends and family.

While the push to enable bullying with policy loopholes in Tennessee is troubling enough, Tennessee Equality Project learned over the weekend that the House sponsor of last year’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill has requested that the house version of the bill be put on notice in the House General Subcommittee on Education (a version of the bill passed the Senate last year). As originally proposed, the HB0229/SB0049 states that “ no public elementary or middle school shall provide any instruction or material that discusses sexual orientation other than heterosexuality.”

Imagine this scenario if the “License to Bully” and “Don’t Say Gay” bills become law in Tennessee: A student expressing the teaching of his religion repeatedly tells a classmate perceived to be gay that he is a sodomite and that he faces hell and eternal damnation. Not only would such bullying be allowed by the “License to Bully” loophole, but the target of such attacks could not seek help from teachers forbidden from discussing the subject of gay people by the “Don’t Say Gay” proposal. Standing alone, these bills create an unsafe situation for students in schools. Together, these bills place students in double jeopardy. Students with an anti-gay bias would be free and encouraged to bully LGBTQ students, and teachers and other school staff would be prohibited from speaking about the issue.

The "Don't Say Gay" bill will violate free
speech protection in schools.

In an October 26, 2010 letter to school officials nationwide, the Office of Civil Rights for the U.S. Department of Education reminded that “Title IX also prohibits sexual harassment and gender‐based harassment of all students, regardless of the actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity of the harasser or target.” The “License to Bully” and “Don’t Say Gay” bills may promote the crossing of that line in Tennessee schools.

It's time for Tennesseans to stop using children as pawns in the pursuit of social, religious and political agendas. The time and effort of policymakers would be better focused on ways to ensure that Tennessee students receive an education free from bullying, harassment and intimidation. We need to increase protective factors and decrease risk factors for students in Tennessee schools. Parents, teachers, students and other advocates must contact their lawmakers in state government to voice their opposition to the “License to Bully” and “Don’t Say Gay” bills. The health and welfare of Tennessee children depend on it.

License to Bully Petition addressed to the House and Senate Education Committees:

http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-tn-lawmakers-vote-no-on-the-license-to-bully-bill

Don’t Say Gay Bill Petition to the House Subcommittee on Education:

http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-tennessee-lawmakers-to-vote-no-on-the-dont-say-gay-bill

For more information contact:

Jonathan Cole | Tennessee Equality Project | Jonathan@tnequalityproject.com | 615-669-8057

tnep.org | grand-divisions.blogspot.com | Facebook | Twitter: tnequality

Tennessee Equality Project advances and protects the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their families in Tennessee. 

Anti-LGBT bias allowed and encouraged at Sequoyah High School

The call for action to confront anti-LGBT bias at Sequoyah High School is growing. Last night, I received a call from a concerned mother in Monroe County, Tennessee. She expressed support for the group of students and parents hoping to charter a Gay-Straight Alliance at Sequoyah.

She knows first hand how Sequoyah students who don't fit in are targeted for bullying or harassment. Her son was assaulted in a poorly supervised class at the school in 2009. Several students captured her son's beating on camera phone and later circulated the video among their peers. Despite ample evidence of the assault, the school and district administration did not nothing to confront or correct the behavior of the students who assaulted her son. Read this mother's account of what happened in her own words:

I don’t know anything about being gay, but I’ve got friends who are gay and lesbian. I have a son that was beaten severely at the high school in 2009 and bullied repeatedly. In my opinion, it’s my opinion only, that there is a very bad history here of . . . especially in that school of . . . if they find something wrong that they can zero in on or if you rock the boat then you are zeroed in on and it’s never ending. My son was absolutely tortured down there. And when I tried to stop the bullying and harassment and intimidation, it was not only not stopped by the faculty, but, in my opinion, they took part in it. They held his diploma. They didn’t print his senior page in the yearbook even though we paid $300 for that. They held his transcripts. He ended up . . . . he wanted to go his prom, but he was afraid to go to his prom. He did not want to go to his graduation. They have ruined his life. And he is 19 years old now. And he left school early just to get away from it all because it was never ending. And it’s still going on to this day. We eventually had to get an attorney.  

My son is not the only one. I have had repeated parents come to me and come talk to me and ask my advice. And I can make you a list. Most of them end up saying that we have to live here. It’s no use. And, in my opinion again, this is one of the most corrupt towns and areas I have ever seen.  

I tried to get on the school board to do something. I was cut off by the Director of Schools. I tried three times. I could not get on the school board agenda. I tried to get public records. It took me over a year. I finally had to go to Nashville and get the open records counsel for the State involved. And even then, I was limited on what I could have. It’s amazing what goes on here. People, in my opinion, are afraid. They are afraid for themselves, they are afraid for their children, they are afraid for the families and they are afraid for their businesses in retaliation for what will happen.  

We need somebody, not just for the gay and lesbian teens but just for people in general, at this school. We need somebody from out of town to take a look and to help make a stand. People are afraid.

This brave mother gave me permission to share her story. I withhold her name to protect her privacy and her family's safety. Her son is not gay, but she believes the systemic culture of fear and intimidation perpetuated by the Monroe County School District must be confronted to provide a safe environment for the children who attend its schools. While addressing the safety of her own son, she learned from another parent that the administration of Sequoyah High School is not addressing specifically anti-gay bullying.

The Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education has said that

Gay-straight alliances (GSAs) and similar student-initiated groups addressing LGBT issues can play an important role in promoting safer schools and creating more welcoming learning environments. 

Organizations like GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) offer tested resources for creating safe environments for all students in schools regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. We've shared these resources with the group of students and parents seeking to form a GSA at their school. I called and emailed the Monroe County School District Director Mike Lowry earlier this week to offer TEP's assistance in identifying ways to promote a safe environment for all students at Sequoyah High School. Director Lowry has not called back.

It's time for Sequoyah High School to confront the unsafe environment that its principal and school district director appear intent on covering up. Management through inaction is not management at all - especially at the expense of children. 

- Jonathan Cole

Is Monroe County a hotbed for homophobia in Tennessee?

In September of 2010, Carol Ann and Laura Stutte returned home to Vonore in Monroe County, Tennessee to find their home burned to the ground in an apparent act of arson motivated by anti-gay bias. In early 2011, the Sweetwater Housing Authority Executive Director just a few miles down the road compared gay people with "drug users and sellers, gang members, prostitutes, cults, and murderers" in a letter to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Now LGBT students are looking for support at Sequoyah High School which is one of twelve schools in the the Monroe County School District. The students say that school officials will not allow them to form a Gay-Straight Alliance to confront years of unaddressed anti-LGBT bullying they have experienced in public school.

That's an awful lot of homophobia and transphobia for one year's time in a county of less than 45,000 people.   

- Jonathan Cole