[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Page 2381]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     STUDENT NON-DISCRIMINATION ACT

  Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, I support the Student Non-Discrimination 
Act, a bill first introduced in the 111th Congress and reintroduced 
again now in the 114th Congress. This bill represents a critical step 
forward in protecting the rights of our lesbian, gay, bisexual, and 
transgender youth to receive an education free from bullying and 
harassment on account of who they are and who they love. I thank 
Senator Franken for his leadership on this issue, and I am proud to be 
an original cosponsor of this important civil rights legislation.
  Education is the cornerstone of our democracy. In order for our 
system of government to thrive we must promote the education of our 
citizenry. It is what allows voters to make informed decisions on who 
they think is best fit to serve as their Representative, Senator, or 
President. It is a critical element of public debate and the free flow 
of ideas and it is what drives our economy forward and makes our 
country strong.
  Given the importance of education, no student should be harassed in 
school. We must do all we can to make education accessible to all. We 
must ensure that schools are safe and welcoming to all children so that 
students can enter the classroom ready and able to learn.
  Bullying touches the lives of countless young people. Each school 
year, LGBT students in New Jersey, and across America, are harassed, 
bullied, and even assaulted based on their perceived or known status as 
LGBT. Occasionally, these youth even experience bullying from teachers 
and administrators. The very people that are supposed to educate and 
protect these children at times serve as the root cause of the problem. 
Bullying a student for any reason--but especially for simply being 
themselves--is simply unacceptable.
  The consequences of bullying can be devastating and potentially life 
threatening. Studies show that discrimination at schools is a major 
contributor to dropouts, absenteeism, and academic underachievement. 
LGBT youth are twice as likely as their peers to experience verbal 
harassment, assault, and exclusion. Suicide rates are 
disproportionately high among children and young adults that identify 
as LGBT. In fact, LGBT youth are four times more likely to commit 
suicide than their peers. Most alarmingly, we have seen bullying and 
harassment tragically lead to suicides in school districts across the 
country.
  Allowing discrimination of LGBT to go unchecked in our schools 
deprives our youth from the equal access to education that they 
deserve. Whether that discrimination is in the form harassment or 
assault, we cannot stand idly by and watch our children's lives be torn 
apart.
  The Student Non-Discrimination Act is a critical civil rights bill 
that would ban discrimination against any student on the basis of his 
or her actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.
  The legislation expands the Federal definition of harassment to 
protect the rights of LGBT students. The bill defines harassment to 
include severe, persistent, or pervasive conduct that would limit a 
student's ability to participate in a program or activity at a public 
school.
  The bill prohibits harassment of LGBT students as a form of 
discrimination that is Federally protected.
  All of these provisions provide the Federal Government with critical 
new tools to prevent the scourge of persistent and offensive bullying 
of youth simply because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
  I am proud to be an original cosponsor of the Student Non-
Discrimination Act. I urge my fellow Senators to support this bill and 
promptly pass it through the Senate.

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