Rep. Jim Davnie and Sen. Scott Dibble say that recent suicides related to anti-LGBT bullying constitute an emergency and the issue should be addressed during the special session of the Legislature dealing with flood and tornado damage from summer storms.

“The special session was called to respond to emergencies across the state: The bullying epidemic in our schools is, in fact, an emergency,” Sen. Dibble said. “Several Minnesota parents have linked their children’s suicides to bullying issues in the past year, and countless other youth are dealing with harassment when they walk into their school buildings every single day. Minnesota has a crisis, but we also have the ability to address that crisis by laying a strong policy foundation and saying degradation of any form, for any reason, will not be tolerated in our schools.”

Minnesota Public Radio has this statement from Pawlenty:

“Bullying is a serious issue but there’s no need to duplicate existing Minnesota law which prohibits it. If the legislature wanted to improve the existing law, they could have accepted our invitation to do so last session, but they choose not to. Nevertheless, the special session should be focused only on providing disaster relief to Minnesotans in need. The legislature will reconvene in January – less than 90 days – to address other matters.”