Anti-Bullying Bill Clears Committee, Headed to Texas House

Good news from our friends at Equality Texas, who we partnered with on the recent Lobby Day event at the Texas State Capitol.

One of the bills designed to help defend LGBT youth in Texas, HB 1323, has cleared committee and could be debated on the Texas House floor as early as this week.   According to Equality Texas’s fact sheet on the bill, it would:

• “add reporting standards for incidents of bullying in Texas public schools.   Specifically, school districts would be required to provide reports detailing the number, rate, and type of incidents of bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, and discrimination against students.
• require districts to adopt model policies on bullying and harassment.
• provide for confidentiality, parental notification, transfer of the bully rather than the victim.
• define and proscribe ‘cyberbullying’ and off campus conduct that affects the educational environment.”

The recent, horrific account of an 11-year-old who recently committed suicide after enduring bullying, including daily taunts about being gay is sadly one of a growing number of examples of how adversely bullying can affect our kids.  The bill not only seeks better and more comprehensive protections against bullying, but it also defines cyberbullying, which past state legislation against bullying doesn’t even address because of its relative newness.

Equality Texas suggests this sample letter in support of HB 1323:  Sample Letter

To find your representative, this page can help.

If you’re in Texas, please write today to help the bill get passed this session.

Video Update from Lobby Day

Here’s some video from last week — this is former Soulforce Media Director Paige Schilt with Atticus Circle member Stephanie Molnar, talking about their experience talking to Texas state legislators during last week’s Lobby Day event. The Equality Texas event, which involved a number of Atticus Circle members, involved nearly 500 Texans who talked face-to-face with legislators about their support for a series of bills seeking to give LGBT individuals, couples, and families in Texas equal rights.

Here are Paige and Stephanie talking about their experience:

Come Lobby With Us at the Texas State Capitol March 2

We’re excited to be a partner with Equality Texas for Lobby Day on Monday, March 2 — the best possible way we can think of to celebrate Texas Independence Day!

Lobbying is easier than and not as scary as you may believe it to be – it’s simply a one-on-one conversation, in which you communicate the issues that are important to you with the individuals elected to represent you. On Lobby Day, you’ll be able to join hundreds of citizens from across the state to oppose public policy discrimination against Texans and their families based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression — and to support bills that would offer our LGBT friends and family members necessary protections and rights.

Here are the bills currently being considered by the Texas State Legislature (with links showing how the bills are progressing):

House Bill 197, relating to prohibition of insurance discrimination based on sexual orientation;
House Bill 353, relating to health care rights of domestic partners;
House Bill 538, relating to the prohibition of employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity or expression;
House Bill 616, relating to a study regarding the effectiveness of the James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act; and
House Bill 861, relating to the authority of certain university systems to provide benefits to certain qualified individuals.

If you’re interested in joining the Atticus Circle lobbying group on March 2, we ask you do two things:

1. Join Atticus Circle — our Texan members receive weekly Atticus Alerts to keep you updated on what’s happening with these bills, as well as to educate you about the legislative process and to let you know specific things you can do to help
2. Once you’ve become an Atticus Circle member, register on the Equality Texas website. When filling out the form, be sure to list Atticus Circle under “organization.” (This page also details the schedule for the March 1 welcome reception and the full slate of Lobby Day activities.)

We encourage you to participate in this very exciting and important part of the legislative process. If you can’t be there with us on the 2nd, the Atticus Alerts (and this blog) will let you know what you can do from home.