The Student Non-Discrimination Act (SNDA) and the Safe Schools Improvement Act (SSIA) would address anti-gay bullying and harassment and require that school initiate and enforce anti-bullying policies.

On Friday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan condemned the quiet culture of anti-gay harassment in the public schools. “Bullying can no longer be seen as a normal rite of passage,” Duncan said. “As a country, we must all work together to take action against bullying and improve the safety climates of our schools and communities.”

The April 20 announcement came on the heels of news last week that President Obama has decided against issuing an executive order that would require federal contractors to implement nondiscrimination policies based on gender identity and sexual orientation. The administration has been widely criticized by LGBT advocacy and human rights groups for its inaction on the issue. Senate votes on SNDA and SSIA could take place later this year. The bills’ sponsors, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) and Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), have said they will introduce their measures as amendments to the larger Elementary & Secondary Education Act reauthorization when that bill comes to the full Senate for a vote.

Republican U.S. Senate Candidate Compares Anti-Gay Bullying and Violence to “Teasing” ALBUQUERQUE, NM – In a rebuke to the suicides of gay teenagers who were subjected to harassment and violence, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate from New Mexico has added her voice to the anti-gay bullying chorus, claiming that proposed federal legislation to provide similar civil rights protections to LGBT students in cases of bullying “as those that currently apply to students based on race and gender” would be like criminalizing “teasing.”

The Student Non-Discrimination Act (SNDA) would establish federal protections for children against harassment based upon gender identify and sexual orientation. The measure requires schools to implement policies of nondiscrimination and to take immediate action to investigate and address cases of bullying and harassment.

It has 37 Senate co-sponsors and 157 House co-sponsors.

At a candidates’ debate on April 12, for U.S. congresswoman Heather Wilson said that “With respect to this particular agenda we have to recognize as parents that children tease each other because you’re short or you’re tall or you’re a redhead or because you’re ugly or because you’re smart or because you’re dumb or all kinds of differences and as parents we have to deal with that and strengthen our children to be comfortable with themselves and also to show empathy and acceptance towards others, but that particular act is so broad it would actually punish children and say that it’s prohibited to express an opinion with respect to homosexuality in the schools. I just think that’s wrong and it’s a violation of the First Amendment.”

Wilson said that the logic behind SNDA was “misplaced” because, she claimed, pre-pubescent children don’t know if they’re gay. She was also uncomfortable with legislation that “criminalizes bullying” of gay children.

“It basically makes federal funding dependent on school board policies that will not tolerate bullying of people based on their sexual orientation or, you know, even when kids are below puberty,” Wilson claimed.