NEW YORK STATES WANTS TO STOP BULLYING IN SCHOOLS

New York State is taking a stand on Bullying in schools which will include sexual orientation. Although quietly introduced in the State Senate, the legislation, which includes language protecting transgender students and teachers, has been a priority of advocates for gay and lesbian rights but was ignored for nearly a decade in the Senate.

Republicans introduced the bill this week, but no sponsor was listed.

“We are focused on property tax relief,” said Scott Reif, a spokesman for the Senate majority leader, Dean G. Skelos. He said the bullying bill would not come up at a special session on Friday, and he declined to comment further on it.

Senate Republicans could bring it to the floor at another session later in the month, but it was not clear if they would do so. However, it would be unusual to go to the trouble of introducing a bill in the off-season without an intention to pass it.

Alan Van Capelle, the executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda, a gay-rights organization, said the legislation is an important recognition that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students are often harassed at school.

“In a ‘Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,’ ‘Will and Grace’ world, kids are coming out at a much younger age,” he said. “As a community, we have done a woefully inadequate job of protecting them.”

The legislation would require training to help teachers recognize and respond to bullying and require schools to keep track of bullying cases, including incidents in which students are harassed for their sexual orientation. Similar bills have been passed in the Democrat-controlled Assembly several times. [SOURCE]

If you look at the Lawrence King murder, this needed to be in effect much more earlier because this could have helped stop such a sad killing. When will people learn??