Update on Bullying Bill in Michigan

A happy ending to an earlier post about a bullying bill in Michigan.  Originally, the bill allowed an exception to bullying on the basis of religion.  Fortunately, that has changed since then:

Michigan's state Senate dropped a bill Tuesday that critics called "a license to bully," and instead adopted a House version that represents a compromise among Republican lawmakers in a more comprehensive piece of legislation that would require anti-bullying policies in schools.

After the Senate passed the controversial anti-bullying bill, "Matt's Safe School Law," earlier this month, a wave of criticism poured in to lawmakers. The staunch opposition stemmed from a provision in the bill's language that permitted harassment by teachers and students if they can claim that their actions are rooted in a "sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction."

That fact such an amendment was put into place to begin with is absolutely shocking.  But given how the Republican Party currently exists, I must say that one can never underestimate the power of stupid or cruel. And when I talk about the Republican Party, I don't mean the extremes or fringe elements of the party; I mean the mainstream of the party.

The need to explain why such a proposal was a terrible idea to begin with seems almost preposterous.  But Michigan Democratic Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer did an excellent job of explaining why such a proposal was both asinine and cruel when the provision was first put into the bill.