‘License to Bully’: Backlash Over Matt Epling Bill Passed in Michigan Senate
‘License to Bully’: Backlash Over Matt Epling Bill Passed in Michigan Senate
By Enjoli Francis, Linsey Davis and Catherine Cole
Nov. 4, 2011
LGBT advocates and the father of the boy for whom a Michigan anti-bullying law is named are slamming the state senate, claiming a last-minute First Amendment tweak gives “a major green light” to school bullies.
The Michigan Senate this week passed a bill to authorize the law, Matt’s Safe School Law, which is named after Matt Epling, a freshman from East Lansing, Mich., who killed himself after being bullied by upperclassmen in 2002.
But in a change before Wednesday’s vote, Republican lawmakers added a clause ensuring that the bill “does not prohibit a statement of a sincerely held belief or moral conviction” of a student or school worker.