Al Franken Introduces Student Non-Discrimination Act that would protect LGBT students from bullying

Franken introduces bill to protect LGBT students from bullying

By Andy Birkey 5/20/10 1:48 PM

Sen. Al Franken introduced legislation on Thursday that would protect LGBT students from bullying in America’s public schools. The Student Non-Discrimination Act (SNDA) is in response to a series of incidents where students have been bullied to death — either murdered at the hands of their attackers or having committed suicide as a result of bullying.

“It’s time that we extend the protections of our nation’s civil right laws to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students across the country,” Franken said in a statement. “No student should be subjected to the ridicule and physical violence that LGBT students so often experience in school. It’s time we demanded equal treatment for all of our children under the law.”

Last month, Jaheem Herrera of DeKalb County was bullied so incessantly that at one point he physically collapsed in the classroom. He hung himself in his bedroom on April 16.

A year earlier, Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover of Massachusetts also hung himself after being taunted by classmates who said he was gay.

And in 2008, Lawrence King was murdered by one of his tormentors.

The Family Equality Council praised Franken’s bill, which would extend federal anti-bullying laws to sexual orientation and gender identity. Current law protects against bullying based on religion, race and ethnicity.

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