The N.C. House votes to protect N.C.'s school children from bullying

If anything is worth a bunch of !!!! and OMGees, this is it. The N.C. House voted, after much hemming and hawing from Republicans, to ensure equal protection from bullying for North Carolina's school children regardless of where they live in the state or which school district they attend.

At one point Republican John Blust claimed there had been bullying going on at the General Assembly....because we all know grown men and women just can't take care of themselves as well as 11 year olds, right?

Many thanks to Senator Julia Boseman, Rep. Rick Glazier and Rep. Tricia Cotham for taking the lead on this legislation. It's a great night for North Carolina's students.

I should add...don't rest on our laurels. There is a final vote tomorrow. Call and thank those who voted for the bill and keep working on those who voted against.

Comments

Closest I ever came to being sued

was when I got pissed off at the N.C. Family Policy Council after the bill didn't pass last cycle. This time we worked harder and we got it done.

Thank you to Ian Palmquist and the rest of the team at EqualityNC for leading the way on this.



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Vote Democratic! The ass you save may be your own.

Good stuff

I listened to the whole thing. Great speeches in support.

Braxton

Van Braxton is the biggest disappointment in Dems voting against this. We defended him against the bullying of Ted Sampley.

That is disappointing

I hope the vote is tomorrow. I don't want to wait any longer.



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Vote Democratic! The ass you save may be your own.

On for tomorrow

It's already on the calendar for Tuesday's House session beginning 3pm.

Let's pray for a speedy passage, and a bigger margin.

I didn't know if he was your Rep

but I thought of you and Linda when I saw the Republican from Southern Pines had voted for the bill. Something else to smile about, eh? If you get a chance, email him or call him tomorrow to thank him and to make sure he votes for the bill again.



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Vote Democratic! The ass you save may be your own.

Listened to it online

But I'm bad with names so don't expect me to remember them. But there was one person who complained about the enumerated classes because they would set a group aside for special protections and I was hoping someone would point out the idiocy of that by informing him that the classification of "race" applies to all races, and sexual orientation includes straight as well.

But the big issue I had with the discussion was from the ones saying "Well, I teach my child not to bully anyone, I don't need the enumerations." And I thought, I'm sure a lot of parents do, then they turn around and take their kid to some church that teaches them that gay people are sick and evil. Which message do you think is going to have more influence over their treatment of LGBT people?

Course the twilight zone part was the ones arguing the bill should fail because it was too vague, then turn around and complained about it being to specific in the examples of people that it protected.

Don't think I'll listen again tomorrow cause I already chewed my nails past the quick in irritation. But my thoughts and hopes go out for the children of this state.

Boku no otto wa totemo aishite

Please stop making sense - you confuse the bigots!

Course the twilight zone part was the ones arguing the bill should fail because it was too vague, then turn around and complained about it being to specific in the examples of people that it protected.

Now why would someone talk out of both sides of their mouth in opposition to the bill?

/snark

 

Media Watch: markjohnson #fail

What does this McClatchy-NC (or is it GOP) regurgitator not get?

Hey Mark, you've been called out in the first two comments on your post.

Still won't fix it? I guess you're too busy getting today's lazy story from Phil Berger's emails.

 

Mark's a good guy

I agree that the headline is off-base, but from a journalism point of view it reflects the controversial part of this "news".

That said, it should be re-crafted because it's neither complete nor accurate.

I don't expect that will happen though. The Dome bloggers are all print guys and they're not used to the update-able world of blogging. Plus I wouldn't be surprised if they dig in their mental heels when called out.

Not Mark's first example of GOP-lazy-gurgitation

If my purpose was to get him to change his ways, I know better than to go this route.

His bias needs to be exposed for all to see -- and for all to consider in his future reporting, er...typing.

 

Ain't over 'til it's over

This alert from the Christian Action League shows that it ain't over 'til it's over. Thank your legislator for voting yes.

Urgent Christian Action Alert!
*It’s Now or Never: Bullying Bill Passes Second Reading 59-57* /*The Last Vote (Third Reading) is on Tuesday at 3:00 p.m.*/

*Urgent Christian Action Alert!*

*The Bullying Bill passed its first vote (second reading) tonight by a very close margin of 59 to 57.* At least 6 House members who had indicated they would vote against the bill either voted for it or “took a walk,” meaning they were absent and did not vote. There were another 6 members or more who should have voted against the bill, of their opposition to advancing the homosexual agenda.
However, the House leadership is powerful, and it apparently exerted enough pressure to change votes and cause some members not to vote their conscience. This is a shame! As constituents, you should be concerned that your legislator represents you, and not the House leadership.

*Tomorrow at 3:00 pm the House will take its final vote on the Bullying Bill, and we must not sit this one out.* We must contact our Representatives in the House and firmly ask them to be present for the vote and to vote NO on Senate Bill 526.

*After tomorrow’s vote, the bill will either be dead or will go to the Governor for her signature. You can make the difference!*

Take Christian Action:*

GOP working to swing bully votes

According to Mark Binker via Twitter @binker

House calendar has round 2 of the SVPA (bullying bill). 
Rep. Stam says GOP is "working hard" to swing votes against. 3p.m. session.

Moore GOP Chair: Bully Bill should be Democrat "death warrant"

Moore County GOP Chair Robert Levy on Twitter:

@GOPChairman: Gay Agenda "Bullying" bill gets final read today 3PM. If it passes, governor's signature should be Democrat political "death warrant"