Michele Bachmann Responds To Gay Bullying Petition: 'Bullying Is Wrong'

Rep. Michele Bachmann responded Monday to a petition that urged her to publicly address gay bullying.

"Bullying is wrong," she says, according to the blog Dump Bachmann.

Two weeks ago, Tammy Aaberg, whose son Justin committed suicide last July, met with members of Bachmann's staff to request that the congresswoman denounce the anti-gay bullying that Aaberg said led to her then-15-year-old son's death. She presented a box carrying 141,000 petitioning signatures, The Advocate reported.

A few days later, a Costa Mesa, Calif. rally attendee asked Bachmann about how she will address school bullying in her district.

"That's not a federal issue," she said, according to CBS News.

Bachmann's official response to the petition Monday notes that she is "very aware and concerned about the cases of bullying and suicides that have occurred" in Anoka-Hennepin Schools -- Minnesota's largest school district that falls in Bachmann's Congressional district. The blog Dump Bachmann published the full statement.

"In response, my office has been in communication with both school officials and with individuals who have lost a loved one to suicide," the statement reads. Bachmann also notes that she is just one of the members of Congress who represent the Anoka-Hennepin school district.

Over the last two years, nine teens in Anoka-Hennepin Schools have committed suicide. Several of those students were gay and reportedly acted as a result of being bullied, according to The Minnesota Independent.

The situation in Anoka-Hennepin Schools is so bad that Minnesota public health officials have deemed the area a "suicide contagion" because of the unusually high number of suicides and attempted suicides, according to the school district's website.

Monday's response marks the first public statement Bachmann has issued that address gay bullying in Anoka-Hennepin Schools. As the stories and lawsuits against the district unfolded through the summer months, Bachmann stayed silent on the system's teen suicides.

But at a 2006 Minnesota Senate committee hearing on bullying, Bachmann said, "I think for all us our experience in public schools is there have always been bullies, always have been always will be," according to a recording posted by the Dump Bachmann blog.

"Will it get to the point where we are completely stifling free speech and expression? Will it mean that what form of behavior will there be, will we be expecting boys to be girls?" She asks. "I just don't know how we can realistically expect a zero tolerance of bullying behavior."

Recently, the death of Jamey Rodemeyer has cast a national spotlight on gay bullying in schools, particularly the complex emotional and social issues that lead to extreme measures like 14-year-old Rodemeyer's suicide.

The teenager killed himself after posting a viral "It Gets Better" video, and his case drew further national attention when Lady Gaga vowed on Twitter to make bullying illegal -- even going to the president himself to address the issue.

Comments

[TarzanaGirl]

01:56 AM on 10/13/2011

Way to SKIRT the issue once again Senator. It's clear that although Bachmann makes a very LAME attempt to address bullying with the statement "Bullying is wrong", she never specifically addresses the recent rash of bullying that is directly aimed towards GAY students. Then again it would be too obviously hypocritical since she and her "gay" husband run a clinic that tries to "pray away the gay." The Bachmanns and their HOMOPHOBIC rants are contributing to school bullying, and if they had any self-respect (which they obviously don't) both Michele and "gay" hubby Marcus would take responsibility for their hateful words and sincerely be ashamed of themselves.

Perhaps most ironic of all is the fact that the American city with the highest "gay and lesbian" population - according to the recent census - is Minneapolis. Having Bachmann represent that city is like having a closet gambling addict represent Las Vegas!!!

[WalterRetlaw]

08:21 PM on 10/08/2011

At least our culture doesn't force young people into performing brutal initiation rites. In societies like that, the entire community bullies you, or ostracizes you completely, if you fail to live up to their harsh standards of what it means to be a man (or woman).

[WalterRetlaw]

08:18 PM on 10/08/2011

I think kids will always bully their peers. It stems from two factors; 1) lack of life-experience, which makes it hard to empathize with others, and 2) the propensity for children to be brutally honest. Many lack an inner monologue and blurt out whatever they're thinking, whether it's politically correct or not. If you are different in any way, kids will let you know about it. It's like the toddler who tells his grandma she has bad breath when she tries to kiss him. They have little regard for other people's feelings, and find flaws and differences in people (i.e. a big nose, or buck teeth, or a speech impediment, or homosexuality) to be humorous and/or disgusting. And once one kid calls attention to another kid's flaws and/or differences, all the other kids who don't want to be flawed and/or different will jump on the bandwagon.

But I'm pretty sure most bullies actually do feel bad about their bullying when they get older and are better able to empathize with others. But so long as kids are kids and are still developing their social skills and ability to see the world through the eyes of someone other than themselves, they'll continue to pick on each other and try to fit in. Other than keeping children isolated and separated from one another while growing up, I don't know how these self-righteous ideologues are ever going to "cure" bullying. It's as pointless as the "WarOnDrugs". We'd'''''Have'''''To'''''Change'''''Human'''''Nature'''''In'''''Order'''''To'''''Win.

[AudreyLee]

07:46 PM on 10/08/2011

Just when you thought she couldn't be any more of a b***h...

[SusanReedbullybuster]

03:03 PM on 10/08/2011

If you have a bully problem, print a sign that says:

WE EXPOSE BULLIES HERE:>>> http://www.exposethebully.net/

and post it all over your school, workplace or blog.
- Please re-post this helpful information on other blogs -

[katydid579]

05:33 PM on 10/06/2011

Doesn't millie bachman understand NO ONE CARES about her anymore? It's over. Buh-bye, Now get lost.

[Desolati0n]

07:57 AM on 10/07/2011

True that. She'll do whatever she can to get votes. Does she realize no one cares anymore?

[Nota Dualcov]

05:01 PM on 10/06/2011

Of course nobody should be bullied. Yet, interestingly, and or sadly, The only group that is politically correct to mock and stereotype is the elderly. So, I don't necessarily believe people when they say they are anti-hate speech until I see how they respond to aging jokes, etc. Isn't it odd though, that everyone either grows old or dies young, so everyone knows they are going to have to cope, one day, with being in that very demographic that is so socially acceptable to marginalize and stereotype? They are going to be in that demographic unless they die young? That is the dilemma. In the US, you do not want to get old. You will be abused.

[TXanimal]

01:20 PM on 10/06/2011

Uh, well, considering the fact that she and her hubby have made a career of bullying gay people, OF COURSE she's not going to condemn it outright!

[mrluckyman]

10:26 AM on 10/06/2011

Caption for her photo above, "the eensey weensey spider," etc. The sad part is she cant seem to figure out how to do the spider. What a mess.

[tequila2040]

09:13 PM on 10/05/2011

Anti-gay bulling, they should make bulling illegal period

[broui]

12:00 AM on 10/06/2011

Devil's advocate:

How would something like that get enforced? How would someone prove bullying in a court of law? Isn't it reasonable to see the slippery slope?

As a teacher, I dislike bullying as much as anyone, but frankly dealing with it in a solely punative manner won't ultimately solve it. Bullying is a symptom. The bully is a broken person too.

Making it illegal isn't the quick fix solution you think it is.

[mrluckyman]

10:19 AM on 10/06/2011

OK so lets start holding the parents accountable for their snot nosed brats,Let them be fined each time they act up, maybe then they will step up and be responsible for their childrens vile conduct. What these parents are missing, is the fact their children were the reason the victims parents no longer have their children. Time to make someone accountable....

[tequila2040]

12:42 PM on 10/06/2011

all I'm saying is, that they should do some kind of program where both kids are treat for this events, and making it illegal and making the parents accountable is going to make it easier to deal with the problem

[Nota Dualcov]

05:03 PM on 10/06/2011

Yes, bullying of any group, but I have seen anti-bullying activists make jokes about other demographics. They just don't see they are marginalizing one group, while pretending to protect another.

[profideous man]

07:44 PM on 10/05/2011

I especially like how Bachmann's response is so well politically tailored. Summed up: "Bullying is bad, but it's not my problem!"

[bluntobject]

09:15 PM on 10/05/2011

She is such a snake charmer....why she could charm the dress off her husband in no time! If only she didn't have a headache. This woman has the compassion of a Komodo Dragon, and the mental prowess of a hamster. She is a republican through and through. Just the kind the rabid "base" all love and respect. Just the kind most sane individuals would avoid like the plague.

[iambill09]

09:45 PM on 10/09/2011

Exactly, what I don't understand is how the well-being of US citizens is not a federal problem.

[John E Priegnitz]

05:08 PM on 10/05/2011

Cold... That is the best way to describe this heartless creature.

[jwatso7]

05:01 PM on 10/05/2011

So she'll sign a petition to make sure rich people don't get taxed more, but she won't sign a petition that could help prevent suicides among young people. Holy cow.

[oski the bear]

04:46 PM on 10/05/2011

Sometimes I wonder about the effectiveness of the "anti-bullying" campaign, because repeatedly it runs up against this response that Bachmann gave: "there have always been bullies, always have been always will be." Indeed, I hated my own junior-high/high school years. First I got teased for being unathletic. Then for having pimples. Then for not dressing fashionably enough. Finally, for just being weird when I tried to be different.

But I was never sexually assaulted. I got hit once or twice, but nothing that didn't heal within a day.

See, waking up with a zit on my nose and knowing that I'm going to be teased for it, yeah that made me not want to go to school that day and all, and I wish it hadn't happened. But seriously, Michele, others out there, what if you wondered whether you'd be urinated on that day? Or if you'd have things shoved inside you because of your real or presumed sexuality? Or attacked?

That is what is happening to kids, under the umbrella term of bullying. It IS illegal, but it's kids who are doing it and the school's role is in not preventing it.

I think that the best remedy for at-school teasing is a strong and supportive home environment that can instill in a child the true notion that it really DOES get better. But when that at-school environment crosses into outright abuse, then swift and decisive action needs to occur.

[gaydood]

04:21 PM on 10/05/2011

We Salute Marcus Bachmann
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADMgWXBzPwQ

michell time to resign !!!