Al Franken to Introduce Antibullying Legislation

Minnesota senator Al Franken said Monday that he will introduce an antibullying bill addressing LGBT youth.

The Democratic senator recently criticized current antibullying laws during a senate education, labor, and pensions committee hearing on Thursday,The Minnesota Independentreports.

"There's something very specific that has been on my mind... LGBT youth being bullied," Franken told a panel of education experts in the hearing. "Right now we have laws that prohibit bullying based on pretty much everything, but not on gender identity and gay and lesbian kids. And the evidence is that gay kids are bullied a lot and that their achievement goes down. There's a lot of absenteeism and even suicide."