Today is Constitution Day all across America, recognizing and celebrating the 222 year old document that defines our political system, rights and liberties.

Except, perhaps, in Mississippi.

Why? In May, the state of Mississippi threw a state-funded abstinence-only rally for students where they were told the value of not having sex until marriage (including a chant that went “Stop! Don’t touch me there! This is my no-no square!”). That in itself is legal, but not when the rally itself is from start to finish a blatant attempt at proselytizing students in Christianity.

The ACLU just brought forth a lawsuit against the state of Mississippi last week for violating the First Amendment, which prohibits the government from promoting one religion over another. Which elicited this mind-numbing quote from Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant (also in video below):

"I was so disappointed that the ACLU has decided that we don’t need to tell young women in the state of Mississippi about our faith; we don’t need to explain to them that abstinence, we believe, is related to our faithful Christianity beliefs."

Wow.

First of all, I don't think this is going to help you out in court, Mr. Bryant. We'll just call this video "Exhibit A".

Second of all, why point out "young women"? ACLU's blog hits the nail on the head:

Second, it is revealing that the lieutenant governor believes that we need to tell “young women” that they should remain abstinent until marriage. This is the age-old — and sexist — double standard that dictates that women and girls must be the gatekeepers of sex, and are solely responsible for the consequences. Instead of reinforcing these outdated gender stereotypes, we should be providing all teens with the tools they need to make healthy and responsible decisions.

Proselytizing, harmful gender stereotypes and misinformation are of course the cornerstones of abstinence-only education, and as the teen birth rate statistics in Mississippi show, it is not working. Mississippi currently has the highest teen birth rate of any state in America.

As much as the Lt. Gov. wants to pray the teenage sex away, we shouldn't expect this trend to reverse itself until Mississippi students actually get real comprehensive sex education in their schools, and rid themselves of the proven failure that is abstinence-only-until-marriage.