Catholic World News

Over bishops’ objections, North Carolina passes ‘sexual orientation’ legislation

June 24, 2009

Over the repeated objections of Bishop Peter Jugis of Charlotte and Bishop Michael Burbidge of Raleigh, the North Carolina House, by a 58-57 vote, has passed legislation that would require school employees and students to report “bullying,” “harassing behavior,” or a “hostile environment” that is motivated by a bullying victim’s “sexual orientation” or “gender identity.” The bishops had warned:

The School Violence Prevention Act (Senate Bill 526) is an attempt to eradicate bullying at public schools. Much of its language and its attempt to make all forms of bullying unacceptable are laudatory and this dimension of the bill has been endorsed by us. However, the inclusion of the terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity,” as specific examples of bullying to be eradicated, creates a potential for legalizing same-sex marriage in NC. Codifying these terms into an anti-bullying law was used in the construction of “findings of fact” by lawyers to convince judges in California, Connecticut and Iowa to mandate same-sex marriage. We oppose this language because of its future implications for same-sex marriage. Efforts to remove this specific language and simply make all forms of bullying unacceptable have failed so far.

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