Michigan Senate Minority Leader
Gretchen Whitmer has criticized a Tennessee anti-bullying bill that
excludes gay teens.
Tennessee lawmakers are expected to
debate an anti-bullying bill that neglects to protect gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgender teens and encourages the bullying of gay
students by creating exceptions based on religious or moral
convictions.
In November, Whitmer led the charge
against passage of a similar bill in Michigan, accusing Republicans
of crafting a “license to bully.”
In a 60-second video released last
week, Whitmer encourages folks in Tennessee to speak out against the
proposed legislation.
“Right now in the state of Tennessee
your Legislature is debating creating excuses for bullying, giving
kids a license to bully, if they can come up with a religious or
moral reason for doing that,” Whitmer says in the video. “It's
ludicrous.”
“Don't let Tennessee protect bullies.
We need to protect victims. Let your legislator know how you feel
about this.”
“Every kid in Tennessee deserves to
go to school and be safe. Not to be scared because they are going to
be tormented,” she adds. (The video is embedded in the right panel
of this page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)