Last month the West Virginia state Board of Education unanimously approved an inclusive anti-bullying policy that takes into account bullying faced by youth due to their sexual orientation and gender identity. Unsurprisingly, the West Virginia Family Foundation, which opposes hate crimes legislation and any recognition of same-sex relationships, is outraged by the board’s decision and like others in the Religious Right’s growing anti-anti-bullying campaign, said the policy will “indoctrinate children” in an interview with the American Family Association’s OneNewsNow. Kevin McCoy, the head of the organization, said he is determined to weaken the anti-bullying policy and strip its protections of bullying against students based on their sexual orientation and gender identity in the next legislative session:
West Virginia pro-family advocate says homosexual activists have revamped a legislative cyber-bullying bill in a manner that opens the door for pro-homosexual programs in schools.
Kevin McCoy of the West Virginia Family Foundation says last-minute amendments to the anti-bullying policy, approved by the state Board of Education behind the scenes, now include the categories of “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” — neither of which was originally included in the bill. The new policy, which goes into effect July 1, includes punishment guidelines against any student who targets another because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity. Students will also be held accountable for what they write on Facebook or Twitter, and they will receive an automatic ten-day suspension from school for any violations.
“The danger is that it opens up the door for sexual orientation and gender identity to be the ‘Trojan horse’ to indoctrinate children in public schools,” McCoy warns.
Many legislative delegates were unaware that the revisions passed at the end of the session amid a flurry of other measures, but McCoy thinks the changes can be reversed in the next session.
“It can be reversed to the extent that it’ll either be reversed or there’s going to be some members of the legislature who are going to be having to find another source of employment because that is something that is a hot-button issue in West Virginia,” the pro-family activist predicts.
