In early November, Katy Butler (pictured left) and Carson Borbely, two bullied LGBT students from Michigan, started a petition urging the Michigan legislature to stop the dangerous ?license to bully? bill that had passed in the Michigan state senate. As the campaign grew and this controversial bill garnered national attention, the Michigan state house was forced to pass a new anti-bullying bill that lacked an exemption for religious and moral bullying.
On Tuesday, November 29, the Michigan state senate passed the Michigan state house's version of the anti-bullying bill -- which lacked the "license to bully" language -- after more than 50,000 people joined Katy and Carson's popular petition campaign on Change.org.
Unfortunately, the bill also lacked enumeration of the reasons why students are bullied and requirements for schools to report back on how well they're protecting kids -- two provisions that Butler and Borbely assert are necessary to actually protect Michigan students from bullying.
?As students who have been bullied in the past, we know what we need to be protected,? said Butler, a 16-year-old junior at Greenhills High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan. ?While we?re disappointed that the legislature decided to do what was easy instead of doing what was right, Carson and I couldn?t be more proud. This campaign has been about providing a voice for students who suffer every day at school, but haven?t had the opportunity to speak out."
"Our petition helped stop a dangerous bill from becoming law," said Butler. "Next time, we?ll help pass a bill that actually protects students.?
Within a few short weeks, over 50,000 people joined Butler?s and Borbely?s campaign on Change.org, which received coverage from CBS, Yahoo! News, The Detroit News, Michigan public radio, the Washington Blade and other major news outlets.
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