Michele Bachmann Stands Up For Bullies

Bullying has been in the news a lot lately, and with good reason. In the past few years alone, dozens of teenagers (many of whom either were, or were perceived to be, LGBT), have committed suicide because of the constant harassment they faced at school. Countless more have attempted suicide, and many others have just learned to live with feeling shitty about themselves all the time in hopes it will someday get better. Celebrities like Demi Lovato and Avril Lavigne have spoken out about the issue, and Dan Savage’s “It Gets Better” campaign has recruited gay and straight celebs alike to tell kids it’s going to be okay. Additionally, many school districts have tried to save children’s lives by enacting stricter rules to protect kids from this type of bullying, as well as creating programs where kids can talk openly about how they feel. Michele Bachmann’s district in Minnesota is not one of them.

According to a piece in Mother Jones, Bachmann’s district has a policy colloquially called “no pro homo” that prevents teachers from addressing many of the issues that are often factors in bullying. Basically, teachers aren’t allowed to discuss the existence of LGBT people in any way, shape or form, nor are they allowed to teach that homosexuality is a “normal, valid lifestyle.” The law was recently amended to say that if the kids themselves bring it up, teachers must remain “neutral” on it, “a change that critics said fostered confusion among teachers and contributed to their inability to address bullying and harassment, or to even ask reasonable questions about some of the issues the kids were struggling with, like sexual orientation.” Both policies were put into place by groups Michele Bachmann has allied herself with. One, the Parents Action League, has even lobbied to put “reparative therapy” materials in schools(!!!)

Nine teenagers in Bachmann’s district have taken their own lives in the past two years. All were severely bullied. Many were at least perceived to be LGBT. One might think a congresswoman and working mother who purports to care about issues affecting children and families would at least make a non-committal, easy to agree with speech about how tragic it is when teens take their own lives, but she has yet to address the issue in any way. She did, however, have this to say about proposed anti-bullying legislation in 2006:

“[T]here have always been bullies, always have been, always will be. I just don’t know how we’re ever going to get to point of zero tolerance and what does it mean? … Will it get to the point where we are completely stifling free speech and expression? Will it mean that what form of behavior will there be – will we be expecting boys to be girls?…What is it exactly that we’re asking for? I don’t say that as a sexist comment…there are just differences with boys and girls, when they’re on the playground, when they’re in the classroom…I just don’t know how we can realistically expect a zero tolerance of bullying behavior.”

All this talk of differences between boys and girls seems like a red herring. Is she implying that boys are naturally more prone to being bullies, and that anti-bullying intervention would force the boys to be nicer to other kids and hence less boyish? Because I think ten girls out of ten will agree that girls can be just as mean as boys, if not meaner. What is she saying, then? Reading between the lines, it seems like in her twisted fantasy world, bullying can keep kids from expressing “abnormal” types of gender. Because you can totally bully the gay out of someone.

The Mother Jones article is a good, if infuriating read. I am astonished that someone who has kids herself would support this kind of irresponsible policy. Can’t we all agree that “keeping people’s kids from dying” should supersede any ideological agenda one might have?