The failure of a bill that would have specified definitions of bullying in schools and required school boards to set anti-bullying policies is a sorry commentary on the way in which some North Carolina lawmakers bend to pressure from special-interest groups. The provision that killed the bill -- action simply was never taken -- was one in which "sexual orientation" was listed as one of the factors that might subject a student to being bullied. Opposition groups overreacted, arguing that it would prompt gay-rights groups to leverage other rights under law.

Lawmakers should have stood up and done the right thing, which was to act to protect kids, all kids, from the cruelties of bullies, whether those kids are picked on because they're overweight, or because of gender, or any number of other reasons. Some have argued that such a law was unnecessary because schools deal with the issue themselves, and that bullying is forbidden, period. The problem is that there is variation as to how officials deal with bullying. Absent something on the books, that's likely to continue.

This wasn't heavy-handed legislation. It simply defined the types of students who might be subject to bullying, to make it clear to school systems that bullying is what it is, whether a child is abused because of appearance or, yes, sexual orientation.

And it's a problem, which all school officials acknowledge. Those who choose, probably because of their own insecurities, to injure or humiliate or taunt other students are a distraction from learning for everyone. And in these times, a situation in which a bully does physical harm, potentially serious harm, to another student opens up all kinds of liability issues for schools.

Alas, some legislators didn't respond to logic, common sense and the compassion this legislation would have offered. Instead, they got their arms twisted and feared the vociferous opposition of groups with a narrow agenda. In other words, they got bullied.

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