Religious Exemption Dropped from MI Anti-Bullying Law

Earlier this month the Michigan State Senate passed "Matt's Safe School Law", a piece of anti-bullying legislation named after Matt Epling, an East Lansing teen who committed suicide after being subjected to relentless homophobic bullying. The law, designed to prohibit harassment and bullying at school, was met with fierce opposition by anti-gay activists such as the Michigan AFA's Gary Glenn, who called it a "Trojan Horse" for "homosexual activists." Republican Senators briefly added an exemption for bullying based on "religious or moral convictions", igniting a firestorm of controversy and earning them a stinging rebuke from Democratic Senator Gretchen Whitmer. In response, Senator Rick Jones has agreed to drop the religious exemption and leave the bill as it was originally intended.

Hundreds in Attendance at Jamey Rodemeyer's Funeral

Jamey Rodemeyer, an openly bisexual teen who committed suicide over years of homophobic bullying, was laid to rest on Saturday. It was estimated that over 500 mourners, many of whom did not personally know Jamey or his family, attended his funeral in Williamsville, New York. According to Buffalo News, Amherst police are investigating whether or not they can charge the school bullies responsible with harassment, cyberharassment or hate crimes in relation to Jamey's suicide. It should be remembered, however, that Jamey's case is not an unusual one. According to the 2009 National School Climate Survey conducted by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), nearly 90% of LGBT students experienced harassment at school while two thirds felt unsafe because of their sexual orientation. Other key findings included that 84.6% of LGBT students reported being verbally harassed, 40.1% reported being physically harassed, 18.8% reported being physically assaulted, 72.4% reported hearing slurs such as "faggot" or "dyke" frequently or often, and the reported grade point average of students frequently harassed because of their sexual orientation or gender expression was nearly half a grade lower than for students who were less often harassed. This is a strong indication that while bullying is an issue for all school students, it is even more so for LGBT students.

Buffalo Teen Commits Suicide Over Anti-Gay Bullying

Sad news from Buffalo, NY: 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer was found dead outside his home in an apparent suicide. Prior to his death he was subjected to vicious homophobic bullying at school. Rodemeyer often blogged about these experiences, and wrote in a Sept. 8th entry that he was called anti-gay slurs by other students. Unfortunately for Jamey the taunting didn't end when he left school. He received numerous anonymous messages on his blog such as this:

"JAMIE IS STUPID, GAY, FAT ANND UGLY. HE MUST DIE!"

"I wouldn't care if you died. No one would. So just do it :) It would make everyone WAY more happier!"

On Sunday at 1:30 AM he posted a message on his blog giving thanks to Lady Gaga and expressing his desire to see his great-grandmother who recently passed away. It was his final blog entry.

The death of Jamey Rodemeyer was a particularly tragic one, but we should all remember that this teen (described as a "friend to the friendless" by his peers) was a tireless anti-bullying advocate who once took part in the It Gets Better Project. Here is Jamey's video from May, 2011:

California Senate Passes Anti-Bullying Law

Seth's Law, named for a 13-year-old California student who hung himself in his backyard after bullies targeted him for being gay, has passed the CA state senate and is expected to be signed by Gov. Jerry Brown. Seth's Law will "make schools provide bullying complaint forms on their websites, give schools a timeline to investigate and resolve complaints and have them post policies throughout campuses."

Full story here:
http://www.bakersfield.com/news/local/x682452439/Seths-Law-anti-bullying-bill-heads-to-governor

Anti-bullying message from the NOH8 campaign

Be heard... and please share.

Ellen Degeneres speaks out about LGBT teen suicides

Ellen speaks out about the heartbreaking suicides that have come to the attention of the entire nation.

Please come to the meeting on Wednesday at noon with any ideas about how OUTlaw can respond to this issue and offer our help.