Hot on the heels of revelations that at least one, and possibly as many as three students in the Anoka-Hennepin School District committed suicide because anti-LGBT bullying, State Representative Tom Emmer trumpeted his support for anti-bullying policies researchers say are completely ineffective.

At Friday’s gubernatorial debate at the State Fairgrounds, the GOP nominee for governor was asked (transcript) by an audience member who identified herself only as Patricia ‘[i]f you were elected Governor, and this is a yes/no question, and the Legislature passed the Minnesota Safe Schools Anti-Bullying Legislation, would you sign it?”

The most recent anti-bullying legislation to come before the Minnesota legislature was the Safe Schools for All bill, which Emmer voted against and which anti-bullying advocates say they will re-introduce next session. It passed through the legislature with bipartisan majorities, but was vetoed at the last minute by Governor Tim Pawlenty.

Both former Senator Mark Dayton and Tom Horner, respectively the DFL and IP candidates for governor, wholeheartedly gave their support for an anti-bullying bill.

Emmer that he would “have to see what it looks like,” but when the audience jeered, he defended himself saying his wife and he were “very well aware of what happens when a child is faced with an uncomfortable situation at school or out at a public place. But I’ll tell ya what. It’s up to Jacquie and I to educate our children…We’re the ones that have to be the frontline of defense for our children. I don’t want the government doing that for us”

Emmer’s campaign did not respond to a phone call from TheColu.mn.

According to Daryl Presgraves, spokesperson for the anti-bullying advocacy group Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, there’s a big problem with Emmer’s approach – it doesn’t work, and GLSEN and other researchers have data to prove it.

With statewide or school-wide policies that specifically enumerate groups protected from bullying, Presgraves told TheColu.mn, administrators and teachers have clear guidance for addressing bullying that may otherwise fly under the radar. Teachers are also given some support in confronting discriminatory environments head-on, Pressgraves said, for example explaining to students why they cannot use words like “gay” in derogatory ways.

“Studies show that if a teacher intervenes early, if they tell their class that it’s bad and they explain why, students realize that they can’t get away with it in that classroom” and won’t say things that create hostile environments for LGBT people, people of color, disabled people, and other frequently marginalized groups.

Specific policies also can help students report bullying they experience, he said, because they can build the expectation that their school will try to protect them.