Both Electablog and Clarknt67 have good diaries up on the despicable new "anti-bullying" legislation in Michigan. So I won't completely rehash the story but to tell you Michelle Rhee has an incredible amount of power in her hands. She can help turn this terrible piece of legislation around.
Follow me for a moment.
Rhee just made a video the the It Get's Better project. Here it is if you are interested in watching.
Rhee did the right thing with the making of the video but it comes off more as publicity stunt. The sad realization is her organization merely preyed upon her staff's sexual identity rather than living up to the message.
Rhee donated & endorsed an anti-gay legislator to the tune of $73,000. Rep. Paul Scott sits as the Chair of the Education committee. This bill moved through his committee. As a result I, and hopefully you, want Michelle Rhee to do something about it. I am petitioning her to live up to the message in her It Get's Better video and tell Rep. Scott to strengthen Matt's Safe School Law.
We cannot hide hate and bullying in the guise of religious freedom.
Please join me!!
The petition letter you should sign:
Last week you took an important step forward against bullying in schools with your own It Get’s Better video. You deserve to be commended for the gesture but your actions following the video and subsequent legislation passed in Michigan with the help of a state representative you endorsed with a $73,000 donation flies in the face of the gesture.
The piece of legislation in Michigan, deemed an anti-bullying framework, is nothing more than a blueprint for people to bully others based upon their own religious and moral reasoning. It gives way for more LGBT kids and allies to be victims of hate and prejudice.
Matt's Safe School Law, inspired in the wake of Matt Epling’s suicide after an anti-gay hazing, does not go far enough because it Republicans gutted the bill to allow loopholes for “sincerely held religious beliefs.” Hate is not a religious belief and Matt’s suicide, along with dozens of others, is a result of deeply held hate for LGBT people.
As State Senator Gretchen Whitmer said on the senate floor:
And the saddest and sickest irony of this whole thing is that it’s called ‘Matt’s Safe School Law’. And after the way that you’ve gutted it, it wouldn’t have done a damn thing to save Matt!
This is worse than doing nothing! It’s a Republican license to bully.
Even Matt’s father said he is ashamed of the last minute changes.
Michelle, we encourage you to live up to your It Get’s Better video and demand State Representative Paul Scott, your new favorite Michigan legislator, do everything in his power to convince his colleagues to strengthen the legislation and actually protect LGBT kids.
It is imperative for you to prove that it actually does get better.
