NJ Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights will have Senate and Assembly Hearings on Monday

[JackBeck]

BREAKING NEWS: This Monday, November 15th, both the Senate Education Committee and the Assembly Education Committee will hold hearings and vote on our bipartisan Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights, on which Garden State Equality has worked on for more than a year with experts from across the state and nation. A defining bill of our organization, it would give New Jersey the strongest, toughest anti-bullying bill in the United States BY FAR. The bill has massive bipartisan support: 28 sponsors in the Senate, where 21 votes are needed for passage; and 46 sponsors in the Assembly, where 41 votes are needed for passage.

Please show your solidarity with New Jersey's bullied students. Join us Monday at 9:30 am at the State House for a lobbying day and anti-bullying rally. Members, we ask you to wear purple: A purple shirt, sweater or something else purple, as purple has become the color to remember bullied students who took their lives. We'll have anti-bullying signs and stickers.

Here is Monday's schedule:

Meet 9:30 am in front of the State House Annex in Trenton, 125 West State Street in Trenton. There is a parking lot at the Trenton Marriott, 1 West Lafayette Street, walking distance to the State House. Other nearby parking lots are listed at www.trenton-downtown.com/parkdowntown.

If you park at the Marriott, it is nearest the back of the State House -- but now you can only enter through the front of the State House. So please heed these walking directions: Starting from the front entrance of the Marriott, walk three blocks to the left on West Lafayette Street. Then turn right on Barracks Street, walking uphill two blocks to West State Street. Turn left on West State Street. On West State Street, walk about a block to the State House Annex. When you get close to the State House Annex, you'll see our volunteers.

10:00 am in Committee Room 6 -- Senate Judiciary Committee hearing and vote. Garden State Equality has lined up compelling witnesses who have not yet told their stories of being bullied, of having loved ones bullied -- and some who tried to take their lives because they were bullied. They need our support. We must be there for them.

Approximately 12:30 pm , i.e. right after the Senate Judiciary hearing, on the State House steps -- Garden State Equality press conference and rally. Featuring bullied students and families of bullied students. We'll also serve free sandwiches and soda to attendees.

2:00 pm, back in Committee Room 6 -- Assembly Judiciary Committee hearing and vote.

Additional info at : http://bluejersey.com/diary/17177/this-monday-nov-15th-both-senate-and-assembly-hearings-on-the-antibullying-bill-of-rights

[BlueJazz]

1. Here in Florida, the state will pass a "Kids are just being Kids" bill.....

..which will absolve anybody from having to go through those pesky and embarrassing questions on tormenting other Kids.

[JackBeck]

2. Given that Florida finally realized that same-gender couples should be allowed to adopt

I wouldn't be surprised if this bill wasn't already in the works.

Fortunately, here in NJ, we have an active community that became even stronger after we lost the marriage equality battle in the legislature. We started strengthening the anti-bullying bill back in January, well before the Tyler Clementi tragedy. You can always contact me if you ever need to discuss strategies for combating the discrimination in Florida.

[jancantor]

3. It would be nice

if they actually posted a link, or posted the text OF the bill. I would assume it's a good bill, but w/o reading it... bluejersey should link to the bill. I tried to find a link at the article.

[JackBeck]

4. Here's the NJ Senate Bill:

http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2010/Bills/S2500/2392_I1.PDF

[jancantor]

5. Thank you.

I'm loadin' it up as we speak...

[JackBeck]

6. It starts to get good on page 7. n/t

[jancantor]

7. I;m on page 14

You aren't the "Beck" that is a co-sponsor are you?

[JackBeck]

8. No, that's Sen. Jenn Beck.

The Republican who was for marriage equality before she was against us after Christie got elected.

[jancantor]

20. ahhh

finished it. Nice bill. I'm for it.

[JackBeck]

21. And all the mandates are fully funded.

A bill that both Democrats and Republicans can love.

[jancantor]

22. Yea

My eyes started glazing over about 2/3 of the way through. I guess that's a good sign in that it's not simplistically written but has sufficient caveats, definitions, etc. that results in it being
1) targeted more successfully
2) able to avoid constitutional pitfalls

[no_hypocrisy]

9. Christie will probably veto it.

He seems to do everything backwards.

[dsc]

10. actually I would imagine his high school experience couldn't have been all that pleasant

so he might well be empathetic.

[JackBeck]

11. The bill has huge bipartisan support.

He also made compassionate (I just barfed in my mouth) http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/09/gov_christie_comments_on_rutge.html">comments after Tyler's suicide.

Let's also wait and see how the vote goes. If there is enough bipartisan support to override his veto, he may have to begrudgingly sign the bill into law. In the meantime, if you can make it down to Trenton on Monday, that would be great!

[JackBeck]

12. I just received a confirmation that I will be testifying during the committee hearing.

Both my palms just broke out in a sweat.

[dsc]

13. good luck

[JackBeck]

14. Thanks, dsc.

I can see the impact on here that these suicides have had on those of us who grew up gay, lesbian, bisexual and/or gender non-conforming. Having to experience all over again the trauma that bullying inflicts on a person can be overwhelming, to say the least.

[dsc]

15. yeah I know

I made a It Gets Better Video and frankly cried for the better part of a half hour after I did so. I didn't even go into detail you are very brave for doing this and I really hope it helps. I made a video for Equality NC when they were getting our bullying bill passed (yes NC has a bullying bill). I don't think I could have testified in person.

[JackBeck]

18. Good for you! Glad to see and hear about other people getting involved.

Sorry to hear about how emotional it made you, though, but I hope it was somewhat cathartic.

Contrary to what a few troublemakers have previously said about me on (and off) this message board, I have a very difficult time talking about things that are going on in my own life. I tend to worry about everyone else before addressing my own needs. It makes me uncomfortable to talk about myself and my own experiences. I hope it makes a difference.

I am also a health educator and give trainings both locally and nationally, and I have never done anything like this before. It will definitely be a new experience. I spent over a year lobbying both Democrats and Republicans in Trenton (and chasing them around their districts) for marriage equality, so there already exists some familiarity.

[dsc]

19. admittedly I am a bit of a drama queen

but I think it was. I think it was just a case of alot hitting at once. At the height of the whole suicide month my college roommate also committed suicide. I found out a day or two before making the video which I think added to it. I wasn't nearly as emotional with the one I made for Equality. I do wish you all luck. It sounds like you have many more votes than we did. It passed by one vote in each chamber, no GOP votes, of course.

[Initech]

16. Part of me is hoping this bill goes all the way to SCOTUS.

I believe anti-bullying laws should be nation-wide with zero tolerance for those caught in the act.

[JackBeck]

17. There's been federal legislation floating around Congress for the past few years.

And Sens. Lautenberg and Menendez announced at the Tyler Clementi town meeting at Rutgers that they support legislation that calls for colleges and universities that receive federal funding adopt an anti-bullying code of conduct. Of course, these are just 'ideas' at this point, with no one stepping forward as a leader on the issue.

Over 40 states have anti-bullying laws, yet each has varying degrees of enforcement. The legislation proposed in NJ was necessary to finally give some teeth to our current anti-bullying legislation, which many districts were ignoring since there was no way to hold them accountable if they refused to enforce the law.