Sen. Franken sees need for ‘explicit ban’ on LGBT student discrimination
U.S. Sen
Jul 31, 202073.6K Shares1.5M Views
U.S. Sen. Al Frankencalled for an “explicit ban” on discrimination against LGBT students in a civil rights hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday.
Franken cited the high-profile lawsuit against Anoka-Hennepin School District in Minnesota, where six students and their families allege pervasive anti-LGBT harassment.
“My understanding is that LGBT persons are covered under the hate crimes act, and to the same extent that other groups like minorities and women [are],” Franken said. ”This Congress has said we need to protect LGBT Americans in the same way we protect other vulnerable groups, doesn’t it follow that we should protect LGBT students from bullying to the same extent that we protect other groups?”
U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division head Thomas Perez responded that bullying against LGBT students has grown in recent years.
“The bullying of kids who are LGBT is probably our largest growth area in our docket,” Perez said, citing investigations in multiple states. ”And we have an investigation in your neck of the woods in a matter,” referring to allegations of discrimination in the Anoka-HennepinSchool District.
Perez said the issue was one of “safety, whether it’s kids who are gay or kids who are Muslim or kids who speak English with an accent.”
“This is an emerging growth area, I regret to say. That’s why the President had a day-long summit on bullying and I very much appreciate your leadership in this area,” Perez told Franken, offering his support for the Student Non-Discrimination Act.
”Kids are dying, kids are being brutally assaulted, kids are scared.”
Franken mentioned the suit brought by the National Center for Lesbian Rights on behalf of a gay student at Anoka-Hennepin who was a “victim of harassment.”
“A student who I will call ‘E.R.’ faced physical assaults and pervasive bullying based solely on her sexual orientation and appearance,” Franken said. ”Sadly, harassment for students based on sexual orientation and gender identity is frequent and disturbing, and while the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act provides some protection based against sexual orientation based violence, it’s clearly not doing enough for LGBT students.
Franken said that “we need an explicit ban” on discrimination against LGBT students in schools.
U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, who serves as ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he welcomed an opportunity to provide oversight of the Civil Rights Division.
“The Civil Rights Division is well-deserving of oversight,” Grassley said during opening remarks. “I think the Division has pushing the envelope very far, and many of its decisions are questionable.
“The Division has taken extreme positions in religious employment cases, seeking to make school districts accommodate teachers very disruptive and unreasonable demands for time off. It has brought actions against school districts based on reading the term ‘sex’ to mean ‘sexual orientation.’”
Grassley questioned Perez regarding partisan motivations that might be present in the Civil Rights Division as well as in relation to a U.S. House investigation of alleged voter intimidation. In the case, Grassley said whistleblowers testified that the DOJ has refused to prosecute the case because it allegedly involved African Americans intimidating Caucasians. Grassley pushed Perez toward a pledge to release any and all documents related to the incident to the U.S. House Committee in question. Perez said the DOJ, and specifically the Civil Rights Division, has been “incredibly responsive” to the House requests.
(Lynda Waddington contributed to this report.)
Paula M. Graham
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