A good thing. Manitoba has passed a piece of anti-bullying legislation.
Bill 18, the Manitoba government’s controversial anti-bullying legislation, has been passed.
The public schools amendment act (safe and inclusive schools) passed third reading 36-16 late Friday afternoon.
NDP MLAs stood up and applauded after the vote results were announced, with some hugging Education Minister Nancy Allan.
A clause in the legislation has concerned some religious educators and community members because it would require schools to accommodate students who want to start specific anti-bullying clubs, including gay-straight alliances (GSAs).
And we can’t have that, because teh gay is evil, in fact it’s so evil that bullying is a good thing when it’s gay kids who are being bullied.
Some who attended public hearings on the bill earlier this month argued that forcing schools to accommodate GSAs goes against their own beliefs and infringes on religious freedoms.
Religious freedoms to persecute people not for being murderers or violent or, in fact, bullies, but for being gay – those “religious freedoms” are not worth having or defending. Deal with it.
So certain religious people think their right to bully gays should have more standing than gays’ rights not to be bullied. If you don’t like GSAs then don’t join.
I don’t understand why it’s so hard to for Christians to kick the public homophobia. Secular human values stopped them from burning witches and owning slaves, against the wishes of their holy book, why do they still need to cling to their stick of homophobic bullying?
It shouldn’t be limited to schools in Manitoba, and if it is, it’s a disappointment. A high profile case of bullying / hazing happened in 2011 in a Manitoba junior hockey league. Just like Steubenville, the victims were blamed more than the perpetrators.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/bottles-tied-to-genitals-in-manitoba-hockey-hazing-1.1042770