Hey Amplify Family :)

In recognition of World AIDS Day 2010, I wrote a guest opinion piece for the Daily Texan, the University of Texas at Austin's university newspaper and one of the largest university papers of the country. Real sex education saves lives, and that's the truth. This World AIDS Day, join the fight for comprehensive sex education in Texas by signing the petition at www.tfn.org/sexed!

I have pasted the article below, but for a direct link you can go to www.dailytexanonline.com/content/take-action-world-aids-day-2010. Enjoy!

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Take Action on World AIDS Day 2010

By Mackenzie Massey, Daily Texan Guest Columnist

Today is World AIDS Day, and I can’t help but wonder what Texas is really doing to decrease our alarmingly high rates of HIV/AIDS in youth. As we stand now, Texas has dubious distinction of having the third highest rate nationally of new cases of HIV/AIDS diagnosed in young people between the ages of 13 and 19. While nobody is pleased about this, those who set education policy in Texas don’t seem to be doing much to stop the spread of HIV in young people. Education is the most effective tool in preventing the spread of HIV, and only through comprehensive education about HIV/AIDS will we begin to see a decrease in rates of infection in our young people.

Texas has been the poster child for abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education for years. Our Texas Education Code explicitly requires abstinence to be presented as the preferred choice of behavior for youth. As recent graduates from Texas high schools, we know what we were taught in our health classes, and how little information we received about HIV/AIDS. According to a Texas Freedom Network Education Fund study, as of 2009 a whopping 94 percent of school districts in Texas teach exclusively abstinence-only sex education.

Abstinence-only sex education is exactly what it sounds like: only abstinence. Abstinence-only programs teach students that the only healthy and morally correct way to prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unintended pregnancy is through abstinence. While it is unquestionably true that abstinence is a great method to prevent STIs and unintended pregnancy, not all teens remain abstinent until marriage. In fact, the overwhelming majority don’t — 70.7 percent of Texas students had sexual intercourse by the age of 19, according to 2009 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. By denying Texas students medically accurate information about healthy relationships, anatomy, condoms and contraception, we put more than seven out of 10 Texas teens at risk of contracting STIs or becoming pregnant.

The CDC states that condoms, when used consistently and correctly, are highly effective at preventing the transmission of HIV. Because condoms are so widely accepted as a crucial component of HIV prevention, it is natural to expect that Texas classrooms would discuss condoms when covering HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Unfortunately, this is far from true. The three leading health education textbooks in Texas fail to even mention the word “condom” once. When sex education materials do mention condoms, they aren’t always medically accurate. An alarming 40.1 percent of Texas school districts were found to contain factual errors in secondary school sexuality education materials related to condoms, according to the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund. The implied message to Texas students is that condoms don’t work. So when teens do decide to have sex, they too often do so without lifesaving information and protection. Sure enough, according to the CDC’s 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 43.6 percent of sexually active students in Texas did not use a condom during the last instance of sexual intercourse. This is dangerous.

On this World AIDS Day, I urge you to join me in speaking out against life-threatening abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education programs that put our youth in danger of contracting HIV. Sign the Education Works petition for responsible, comprehensive, medically accurate sex education in Texas public schools at www.tfn.org/sexed. To read the ground-breaking report on the state of sex education in Texas, go towww.tfn.org/justsaydontknow. If you are interested in doing more to advocate for comprehensive sex education in Texas, come to a Texas Freedom Network Student Chapter meeting in the spring semester to get involved. Together, we can ensure sane health education policy that will, quite literally, save lives.

Massey is a government sophomore and President of the Texas Freedom Network student chapter.