Thought the brouhaha between the gay and lesbian kids who got kicked out of Rep. Jane Cunningham’s office was over? Think again. The students who were “painful” for Cunningham to look at, were advocating for the gay and lesbian group PROMO, and after they were kicked out of Cunningham’s office (the reasons why are in dispute), PROMO started a campaign asking Cunningham to apologize.

Late last week an apology was issued, but not by Cunningham. Indeed, it was Rep. Jeanette Mott Oxford, D-St. Louis, who apologized to the Chesterfield Republican. Mott Oxford had taken up the case of the purple-haired, pierced kids from Kansas City, and she and other Democrats in the House held a news conference urging Cunningham to allow a hearing on a new anti-bullying bill, which is what brought the students to the Capitol in the first place.

But Mott Oxford violated an unwritten rule of the House. Don’t throw another lawmaker under the bus without talking to them first. Mott Oxford issued a written apology to Cunningham for her role in the news conference:

“I owe you an apology. Today I led a press conference calling for passage of the Safe Schools bill (HB 1751) and for you to meet with students who were asked to leave your office. I asked for you to hear their experiences of being bullied at school and to attend the Inclusion Institute for Educators this summer. It should have occurred to me to come to you first and to ask you personally to take those steps. No legislator wants to feel ambushed by her colleagues or the media, and I had not thought this out properly.”