Al Franken: “I rise to speak about the urgency of passing the Student Non-Discrimination Act, which takes the same protections that…”

“I rise to speak about the urgency of passing the Student Non-Discrimination Act, which takes the same protections that children have against discrimination on the basis of race and national origin and gender and disability, and it extends those protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender children-- LGBT children. That is it. It is a simple bill. It stands for the principle that LGBT kids have a right not to be bullied just because of who they are. There are people who will say: What can you do to stop bullying? Kids will be kids. Boys will be boys. I don't think that is right. Because what we are seeing in our schools today is not just teasing; it is not playground behavior. What we are seeing is more than just bullying. We are seeing discrimination. Let me explain what I mean. If a Black child was referred to by a racial slur at school, would we say kids will be kids? If a Jewish student got beat up because he wore a yarmulke to school, would we wave it off and say boys will be boys? If a shop teacher told a female teacher she didn't belong in his class, would we be fine if the school just looked the other way? No, we would not. In fact, there are Federal civil rights laws that are specifically designed to stop this kind of conduct.…”