Bullying has also received a lot of attention in the last month due to the recent suicides said to have been brought on by bullying. In response, many are pushing for legislation to be passed to help stop bullying. If passed, an anti-bullying bill would broaden the definition of bullying to “conduct that places people in reasonable fear of physical harm based on their real or perceived identity in regard to race, sexual orientation or gender identity, among other factors.” Currently, bullying is most often addressed at the local or state level, where definitions of bullying vary by large degree. Most states have anti-bullying laws, but there are still five states that do not and North Dakota is one of them. The other four states include Montana, South Dakota, Hawaii, and Michigan. The following links provide more information on bullying legislation: Bully Police USA and Bullying Legislation Proposed After Suicides.
Anti-gay bullying has been of particular interest most recently with campaigns such as Dan Savage’s “It Gets Better” project. The project seeks to send the message to LGBT youth that that there is hope. Hundreds of people have posted their videos, including President Obama, Kathy Griffin, Adam Lambert and Ellen DeGeneres. To date, the project has over 100,000 supporters and 10 million video views. The project is being made into a book, which is scheduled to be released March 2011. For more information on the project, check out these links: It Gets Better Project and Campaign Offers Help to Gay Youths.
Check out the following links for more news stories on bullying.
Schools Battle Suicide Surge, Anti-Gay Bullying
U.S. Dept. of Education Issues Letter to Combat Bullying
New data on bullying: 17% report regular abuse