SOMERSET, N.J. – New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has signed an anti-bullying bill that advocates say is the toughest of its kind in the nation, giving a sense of progress to the people attending a conference dedicated to preventing suicide by gay young people.
The “anti-bullying bill of rights” had been in the works for several months, but it picked up steam in the state Legislature after Tyler Clementi, an 18-year-old Rutgers University student, committed suicide in September 2010. Clementi’s roommate and a third Rutgers student were charged with using a webcam to spy on Clementi during his dorm-room liaison with a man days before the suicide.
Christie signed the law Wednesday but did not announce it. Spokesman Michael Drewniak confirmed the signing on Thursday.
The Clementi incident, along a spate of high-profile suicides of other gay youth in September and October, turned an issue that had long been a concern for some in the gay community into a national concern that attracted the public attention of President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and entertainers like Ellen DeGeneres and Margaret Cho.
The suicides are seen as extreme reactions to bullying, a problem that affects many students, but particularly young gays and lesbians.
“New Jersey is sending a powerful message to every child that school will be a safe place for them to learn and grow, not a place for them to dread,” said state Sen. Barbara Buono, a Democrat from Metuchen and one of the sponsors of the new law.
In 2002, New Jersey joined a wave of states that adopted anti-bullying laws in the aftermath of the Columbine school shootings. But some lawmakers said they quickly realized that law didn’t offer enough protections for those who are persistently bullied.
