Nothing says "god is love" more than bullying little gay and transgendered children...according to some Iowa Republicans, that is.
A pair of Republican state legislators has introduced a bill that would remove protections for gay, lesbian and transgender students from an anti-bullying law passed in 2007.
State Reps. Jason Schultz, R-Schleswig, and Matt Windschitl, R-Missouri Valley, sponsored the legislation to remove sexual orientation and gender identity as definitions used for purposes of protecting students in public and nonpublic schools from harassment and bullying.
Schultz told NBC affiliate WHO-TV that the rationale behind the move is to force a vote on a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, since the Iowa Supreme Court pointed to laws like Iowa’s Safe Schools Law in making its April decision to legalize same-sex marriage. Ryan Roemerman, executive director of Iowa Pride Network, said the bill would open up LGBT students to bullying and harassment.
“When our state is facing record budget deficits and unemployment, House Republicans feel their time is best spent picking on Iowa’s LGBT youth,” Roemerman said in a statement. “There is no better example as to why we have this law, so youth in Iowa don’t grow up to be like these bigots.”
"People smeared paint on my locker and pushed me in the hallway and I've been made fun of for who I am. Why would lawmakers want that to continue? Why wouldn't they want to protect me and better my education and time in my community?"
It's appalling that the anti-marriage-equality bigots in Iowa are using vulnerable and exposed children as political bait to try and reverse the Iowa Supreme Court's decision in favor of marriage equality. Thankfully, the majority of the democratically elected representatives in Iowa (which all just happen to be Democrats) voted to halt the Republican-lead charge to initiate the process of amending the Iowa constitution to strip same sex couples of their civil marriage rights.
I guess all the political bullying failed.
Postscript: I had a couple of bullies in middle school. One was a freckled, fiery redhead who was much bigger than me. Red would taunt me and even called me a fag and queer. He had a crush on my hot older sister, all the "straight" boys did. In seventh grade, I covered my skin and bones with pads and a helmet like all good little American boys do. Even with the football pads I must have weighed less than ninety pounds. We went through our warm-ups, etc. and during the first play that I was on the field in a hitting drill, Red lifted me like a pillow and body slammed me into the hard dirt. "If you come back again, faggot, I'll kill you," his crazed crystal eyes dripping with blood-lust swore as he strutted over my windless corpse.
I never played football again. I told the coach that my mom, who had just started back to work full time, needed me to babysit my younger siblings (which she did, but she didn't force me to so). My older sister used to challenge and scare off Red when he bullied me. Now, she supports traditional marriage in Jesus' name.
Post-postscript: In high school, I was a choir star. I made All-State , twice, as a baritone. Choir was my football field! Guess who eventually joined the choir? Yep: Red. He was a high tenor.
Photos:
- Jaheem Herrera, 11, hung himself after being bullied and called gay repeatedly at school. Photo by CNN.
- Lawrence King, 15, shot and murdered at point blank range in the classroom by the boy on whom he had a crush. Photo by AP and Ventura County Star.
- Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, 11, hanged himself after being bullied at school, including daily gay-bashing taunts, despite his mother's weekly pleas to the school to address the problem. Photo by GLSEN.
