GOP House Leadership blocked an anti-bully bill this month that would require Iowa schools to create a policy to protect gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students from harassment. This bill would have established a statewide anti-harassment policy for schools.

Ryan Delperdang, inter-organization coordinator for the ISU Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Ally Alliance, helped lobby for the bill.

Delperdang, junior in psychology, said the reason the bill was blocked is because the GOP House Officials claimed that the bill asked for special rights to be given to certain groups.

“Students are already enumerated by race, ethnicity and religion,” Delperdang said. “It seems rather hypocritical when we can’t protect our youth. We just want to protect everybody.”

Christopher Williams, sophomore in pre-journalism and mass communication, also lobbied for the bill and agreed with Delperdang.

“This is not a gay issue,” Williams said. “This is a safety issue to stop bullies. There is no reason for students to be bullied.”

The LGBTAA now plans to try to contact GOP senators in an effort to put some pressure on them. The goal is to convince the GOP leadership to allow the legislation to be debated on the House floor.

Williams said they may have to start from scratch with this legislation and lobby more aggressively.

Supporters are encouraged to contact Iowa Senators and urge them to work toward getting this bill passed.

The Iowa Pride Network is an organization that has been instrumental in promoting this bill. According to www.iowapridenetwork.org, the organization is dedicated to educating LGBTAA students on their rights, as well as promoting support and networking to help build a sense of community while fighting bigotry and intolerance.

More information on this bill can be found on the state Legislature’s Web site.