For the past three weeks, we have chronicled the sad tale of Derek Dye, the abstinence clown. Derek is employed by an organization that received an $800,000 CBAE grant in 2007 to promote abstinence-only until marriage sex education. He juggles, he misleads, he... frightens. And his qualifications for teaching middle schoolers about sex? A “Bachelor of Fun Arts” from Barnum Bailey Clown College, and an abstinence educator certification that can be purchased for $50. If you haven't seen the video yet, seriously.... check it out, it is amazing.
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To date, we have spent $1.5 billion on these failed, ridiculous abstinence-only sex education initiatives. IT MUST. STOP. NOW.
Right now, President Obama is hard at work on his first budget for the fiscal year 2010, and this is your time to weigh in and make sure that he ZEROES OUT funding for this program.
Click here to TELL PRESIDENT OBAMA TO SEND OUT THE CLOWNS! Stop funding failed abstinence-only-until-marriage programs!
We know that President Obama has stated that he supports medically accurate, age-appropriate sex education to help young people make responsible, healthy decisions. But we also know that the president is under direct pressure from Republicans and conservative Democrats that have kept this funding alive in the past two years. They will do everything they can to keep funding these failed programs, and will also try to block funding for responsible, comprehensive sex education. (We all remember this HORRIBLE McCain attack ad from last year on Obama's sex ed policy "for kindergartners", right?)
This is why it is so important to let President Obama hear your voices right now. We must convince him to stand strong against the social conservatives and do the right thing.
TELL PRESIDENT OBAMA TO SEND OUT THE CLOWNS! Stop funding for failed abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, and fund comprehensive sex ed!
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WOW. That is deplorable. Deplorable on all accounts. As a student in public health I focus on two things (everything in general but my two favorite) Tobacco and Condoms. Clearly the best way to not get pregnant and get and STI's is to not have sex. . . but GUESS WHAT Mr. JOKER that is not enough. . . I am from Utah, and the state is in a meltdown. In general the teen pregnancy rates are lower etc, but guess what? The Mormon kids are having sex too!!! Shhhh don't tell . . .someone might actually do something about educating them. . . I am so glad that I was an educated Mormon. :0
As a sex ed teacher, I recently read about The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy who released a document titled Emerging Issues 2007. This showed that there were abstinence programs and comprehensive programs that worked and those that didn't work.
I know there are good abstinence out there, such as Choosing the Best in Georgia and Why Know in Tennessee that have led to a dramatic decrease in teen pregnancy rates in their communities. I also know of comprehensive programs that have had positive effects.
Let's keep the best of both!
I watched the video, it wasn't nearly as bad as you have me believe. I would like to think most parents would appreciate this clown's positive message of acheiving your dreams by abstaining from engaging in risky behavior. e.g. illegal drugs, under-age drinking, and - yes - even premarital sex.
Also, does anyone else find the direct appeal to the president as funny as I did? What, does the president have a bad case of coulrophobia too?
The message was positive....But... dude made sex seem like it is a "Scary Movie". Some people would agree with it, and some would agree with comprehensive sex.
"Only if LIFE is as simple as a fairy- tale"