The Iowa Senate has approved an anti-bullying bill with an emphasis on bullying based on sexual orientation.

“Well, I don’t think it’s okay for any student to be bullied for any reason,” said Sen. Daryl Beall, D-District 25.

The bill itself will make harassment on the grounds of sexual identification or orientation illegal. The bill, pending approval by the Iowa House of Representatives, would require that schools adopt an anti-bullying policy with an emphasis on sexual orientation by Sept. 1, Beall said.

“I have been a sponsor of it in the past,” he said.

He said he insisted that the bill cover whether students actually are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered, or if other students just believe they are.

Many schools already have an anti-bullying policy in place. The bill was pushed through to make sure schools have a clause in place for sexual orientation.

“There’s not a single school that has said bullying is allowed,” said Matthew Fender, president of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Ally Alliance and senior in Spanish. “But a large bank of statistics show lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered students are still being bullied.”

Some believe the bill is redundant because no school system supports bullying. The bill is thought of as more of reaction to the times, Fender said.

“I think the reasoning behind this statute is to make a stance against certain types of bullying,” Fender said. “In a sense, being gay is especially stigmatized. Personally, I think it’s good step against discrimination; Iowa doesn’t have a civil rights statute that protects sexual orientation.”

School districts are expected to write their own policy regarding bullying and what they emphasize, Beall said.

Some senators feel the bill needed an amendment to emphasize bullying in general shouldn’t be tolerated.

“I had an amendment to say no one should be bullied, but it failed in the education committee,” said Sen. Dave Mulder, R-District 2.

Certain senators disagree with the emphasis on sexual orientation and think the bill should cover bullying in general – because of private schools.

“[The bill] can present some problems for private schools without the amendment,” Mulder said. “Private schools have a right to teach their doctrine; that’s why they are private schools – because they don’t want to separate church and state.”

There had been pressure in the Senate to not put amendments on the bill and to keep it as it is.

“I have said all along that I favor an anti-bullying bill,” Mulder said.