Bullying is bullying right? Apparently not in North Carolina.  Once you go down this road, you’d better start segmenting out EVERY potential class of victim.  Bullying in any form, directed at any kid is wrong – all kids deserve EQUAL protection from this style of school yard harassment.  From IndyWeek.com:

Shortly before the Senate version of the anti-bullying bill went down in flames Wednesday afternoon, a fiery state Rep. Paul Stam (R-Wake) dared his House colleagues: “Tell me what’s wrong with the Senate version of the bill. Tell me one word you don’t like.”

The House, signaling to Stam it wants to send the bill to a conference committee to parse the language, voted 68-56 to reject the Senate version of the School Violence Act.

At issue isn’t the words included in the Senate’s take on House Bill 1366, but the words that are left out: race, ethnicity, religion, disability, socio-economic class—and most notably, sexual orientation.

Co-sponsored by state Rep. Rick Glazier (D-Cumberland), the measure would require North Carolina public school districts to adopt a policy prohibiting harassment or bullying of any student, but especially those classes of children deemed vulnerable. The Senate version strips the bill of language listing those classes. Instead, it dilutes the wording to read: “no student or school employee shall be subjected to bullying or harassing behavior by school employees or students.”

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