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PROMO GIVES THE MISSOURI LEGISLATURE

AN "F" ON ANTI-BULLYING EFFORTS

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Representative Jeanette Mott Oxford accepts the Safe Schools Report Card from Executive Director A.J. Bockelman

Overview: On Wednesday, June 11, 2008, PROMO revealed at a press conference that it assigned the Missouri legislature a failing grade on its efforts to effectively address school bullying. The grade was displayed on a large report card and accepted by Rep. Jeanette Mott-Oxford (D-59, St. Louis) on behalf of Missouri's legislature. The following persons spoke at the press conference.

A.J. Bockelman, Executive Director of PROMO
Rep. Jeanette Mott Oxford (D-59, St. Louis), co-sponsor of Safe Schools Act
Scott Emmanuel, adult sponsor for Growing American Youth
Chris Guinther, Missouri National Educators Association
Rob Good, educator at Ladue Horton Watkins

A.J. Bockelman, Executive Director of PROMO, stated that "PROMO applauds the efforts of the legislature by seeking to address cyber-bullying as experienced in the Megan Meyer case. However, due to the lack of basic protections for Missouri Public School Students, PROMO is presenting the Missouri legislature [...] with an 'F' for failing to adequately protect all students and create a safe environment within our schools."

Rep. Jeanette Mott Oxford (D-59, St. Louis) said that she was disappointed to receive this failing report card but agreed that "we [the legislature] must take responsibility for the failure of current anti-bullying policies and find a solution."

PROMO and Rep. Oxford have recently been pushing for the passage of the Missouri Safe Schools Act (2008 HB 1751) which would require schools to create anti-bullying policies to address bullying based on various social categories, such as race, gender, religion, and sexual orientation among others. PROMO believes it is necessary for enumerated social categories to be included in anti-bullying law in order for it to be most effective. PROMO asserts that enumeration in relation to bullying legislation is needed because:

1) Bullying is often based on actual or perceived social characteristics (See statistics below or the GLSEN report, entitled, From Teasing to Torment: A report on School Climate in Missouri. www.glsen.org)

2) Although current Missouri law requires schools to create anti-bullying policies it gives them little guidance to do so. The current law also goes so far as to supersede any local school district which does identify protected categories.

All the speakers agree that PROMO's Safe Schools Act would give districts more tools to combat bullying. Scott Emanuel, adult sponsor for Growing American Youth, works with Missouri students regularly and said that "teachers, administrators and students are counting on elective officials to partner with them to produce sound, effective policy." He said that the youths with which he works are often unaware of how to report bullying or are afraid they won't be taken seriously. "Students have told me that when they do not see themselves reflected in the school policy, they are reluctant to bring up discussion about bullying and harassment when it occurs," Scott stated.

When later asked about how she plans to address the bullying issue, Rep. Oxford said that she promises to work with PROMO to build a safe schools coalition and will continue to sponsor or co-sponsor the Safe Schools legislation until "a new law and effective policies are implemented."

Bullying Statistics (See the GLSEN report, entitled, From Teasing to Torment: A report on School Climate in Missouri. www.glsen.org ):

48% of Missouri high school students have reported bullying, name calling and harassment to be somewhat or very serious problems at their school. In the same study, the national average was 36%

Biased language is often heard in schools:
- 85% of students report sexist remarks
- 86% of students reporting hearing statements like "That's so Gay"
- 45% report hearing racist remarks

Bullying, name calling and harassment presents a serious problem for students:
- Nearly 50% of Missouri Youth report this to be somewhat or serious problem --this is above the national average of 36%
- An overwhelming majority -- 86% report witnessing harassment based on physical appearance.

Worse yet is the fact that most of these incidents go unreported. Nearly 1/2 of those surveyed do not report the incident because they believe reporting the incident will make the situation worse and that no action will be taken to resolve it.

Of those students who do talk with a teacher or school administrator, only 37% report that immediate action was taken.

Let Them Know

Your elected officials have a duty to listen to you as their constituant. Write your state representative and state senator to let them know you support LGBT equality. PROMO can provide legislative talking points on important issues like discrimination in the work place, housing and public accomodations, as well as bullying against our youth in schools, and LGBT foster care and adoption. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it for help!

CLICK HERE TO FIND YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS.

Legislation

Throughout the year, both during the Missouri Legislative Session and during the Legislature's recess, PROMO is an active presence in Jefferson City. We:

support proactive LGBT legislation through research, coalition building, and direct citizen lobbying
monitor all proposed bills and amendments for implications in the lives of LGBT Missourians
act swiftly to oppose any legislation that may have negative impacts on LGBT Missourians

PROMO cannot do this work alone! It is imperative that state senators and representatives hear from you, their constituents, to know that the citizens of Missouri support LGBT equality in state law. PROMO works to actively engage our membership in legislative work through Action E-Alerts, Equality Lobby Day at the Capitol, and visits in district or during town halls.

In addition to PROMO's work in the state legislature, PROMO staff monitors local and municipal laws and policies throughout the state, looks for opportunities for changes that support LGBT equality, and works with our coalition partners and community members to enact change. Recent local and municipal successes supported by PROMO include:

updating the Kansas City civil rights ordinance to include gender identity (2008)
creating a domestic partner registry in Columbia (2009)
reinstating domestic partner benefits at the Kansas City Police Department (2009)
adding sexual orientation and gender identity non-discrimination policies as a requirement of all public works contracts over one-million dollars in St. Louis City (2009)
repealing an outdated, unconstitutional anti-flirting measure in Springfield (2009)

Legislative Priorities
For the 2010 Legislative Session, PROMO has two primary proactive legislative priorities: the Missouri Non-Discrimination Act (MONA) and the Safe Schools Act (Safe Schools). Be sure to visit the Current Legislation section of our website for updated on MONA, Safe Schools, and legislation important to the LGBT community throughout the legislation session, January-May.

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