Oklahoma Rep. Sally Kern is not alone in her perverted application of allegedly Christian beliefs. On Tuesday the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, School Board adopted a new anti-bullying policy for all grade levels in the school division. One would think that a policy aimed at protecting children from abuse and bullying would receive unanimous approval, but NOT when gay-hating, sanctimonious "Christians" are on the scene. As the Charlotte Observer reports ( http://www.charlotte.com/408/story/532543.html), Christian conservatives urged the board not to, voicing concerns that the policy will promote homosexuality. How sick: apparently they want their freedom to ridicule, abuse, bully, beat up and perhaps even kill those nasty little homos within the school system. Here is the main text of the policy these "Christians" found offensive:
It is the policy of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education to maintain learning environments that are free from harassment or bullying. This freedom includes ...freedom from harassment or bullying based on an individual's real or perceived race, color, sex, religion, creed, political belief, age, national origin, linguistic or language differences, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, socioeconomic status, height, weight, physical characteristics, marital status, parental status, or physical, mental, or sensory disability.
It shall be a violation of this policy for any student, teacher, administrator, other school personnel, or any third party ... to harass or bully any person based upon any differences of status including, but not limited to, those listed above. It shall also be a violation of this policy for any teacher, administrator or other school personnel to tolerate such harassment or bullying.
Seems like a pretty tame and straight forward policy, but not for board member Kaye McGarry who apparently needs to move to Sally Kern's district in Oklahoma. Here are some other highlights fro the Observer's story on the school board meeting [note McGarry's comments]:
More than two-thirds of those who spoke at the hearing favored the new policy. As critics of the policy spoke, dozens of the students, many of them active with campus diversity councils, held up yellow "Vote Yes" and "Stop Bullying Now" signs. The students, who also wore yellow T-shirts as a sign of solidarity, said bullying is too prevalent and too emotionally scarring for the board not to take action.
Sharon Walker, a counselor at Providence High, said that in a student survey of the campus earlier this year, more than 80 percent of respondents said they heard anti-gay slurs several times a day. "One of the biggest concerns I hear from students is that the anti-gay bullying is happening right in front of teachers," she said. The teachers "say they are afraid of being accused of promoting a pro-gay agenda if they intervene."
But the policy's specific protection of sexual orientation and "gender identity/expression" drew opposition from critics like Ante Pavkovic, who quoted the Bible and questioned what teachers will tell children about gender identity. David Benham told the board that Christian values require him to take a stand against bullying. "I'm for the anti-bullying policy," he said. "I'm just not for the agenda that seeks to institutionalize itself through this policy."
But after more than two hours of impassioned arguments from more than 40 speakers, the board approved the policy on a 6-3 vote. Kaye McGarry, Ken Gjertsen and Larry Gavreau opposed it. Students in the audience greeted passage of the policy with cheers and a standing ovation. Earlier, McGarry proposed an anti-bullying policy that didn't include specific protections for sexual orientation and gender identity. That policy failed on a 6-3 vote, with Gjertsen and Gavreau joining her in the minority. "This policy is not about education, it's about indoctrination," McGarry said. Voices for, against Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools measure
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