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My name is Garrett Mize. I'm the Youth Advocacy Coordinator for the Texas CAMI project. I live and work in Austin and love working with fellow young people to make sure our voices heard.
miniMIZE
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A few weeks ago I wrote a blog about the possibility that a central Texas school district would ditch abstinence-only policies and adopt abstinence-plus. Now I’m writing about that reality.
The move didn’t come without opposition though.
“I assume that the majority students at San Marcos High School are Christian,” Trustee David Castillo said. “And if that is the case, then this whole thing is anti-Christian.”
Sounds to me like David Castillo needs a lesson in separation of church and state.
Trustee Castillo and Trustee Jesse Ponce were the two who voted against the change. According to the San Marcos Local News “Ponce expressed horror at reading a proposed abstinence plus curricula that teaches students how to use condoms.”
“That has never left my mind,” Ponce said. “That part I read where he shows someone how to put on a condom — that only tells me one thing.”
Other Trustees said they believed their Christian religious beliefs did not conflict with the teaching of abstinence-plus.
They also spoke up against the idea of removing controversial subject matter, such as condom usage, due to the sentiments of the majority of the community.
Members of the Unitarian Universalist church also spoke out in support of the abstinence-plus change.
They demonstrated that people of faith are a powerful ally in our fight for comprehensive sex-ed.
The School Health Advisory Council (SHAC) is the group that made the recommendation to the Board.
This case serves as an example of the effectiveness of SHACs and the impact they can have on local policy.
If you want to change the sex-ed curriculum in your local schools, join a SHAC.
Once the recommendation had been made Amanda Domaschk, local progressive activist and rapid responder for the Texas Youth Leadership Council, sounded the alarm and activated young people and progressives in her community to pressure the Board of Trustees to support abstinence-plus.
She used e-mail, Facebook and personal phone calls to accomplish this.
The co-author of the Texas Freedom Network’s report Just Say Don’t Know: Sexuality Education in Texas Public Schools, Dr. David Wiley, also pressured the Board to adopt abstinence-plus.
Dr. Wiley is an expert on public health and sexual education and the report he helped author demonstrates that 94% of Texas school districts teach abstinence-only.
2.3% teach nothing at all and 3.6% of school districts teach abstinence-plus.
The Texas Freedom Network also sent out a message to its members in the San Marcos area, including students at Texas State University which is located in the city, to become active. In this way students who previously signed the Youth Leadership Council’s Education Works petition for comprehensive sex-ed helped to make a difference.
Soon, the TFN Youth Leadership Council will have two members living in San Marcos and attending Texas State University where they can join this SHAC and push even harder for fully comprehensive sex-ed.
Read the full story here.
miniMIZEEveryone associates Texas with the Republican Party.It’s hard not to. But what does the Republican Party of Texas actually stand for? Are they homophobic? Transphobic? Close-minded? The answer is a resounding yes – and we should pay attention. Texas is an influential state in national politics. Its sheer size can determine a presidential election and swells the state's importance in the House.
Texas is a friendly place. In fact, the name "Texas" comes from the Native-American Caddo language and means "friend" or "ally". It is a place where individualism is celebrated and everyone is encouraged to chart their own path in life.People really do believe there’s nothing they can’t do. As a Texan, I believe in these things. But we're not living up to our name. The State of Texas is not even close to being called an "ally" to gay, lesbian and transgendered people.
In Texas, you're told you can do anything, but if you're a particular type of person, there are some basic things that you can't do.If you’re gay or lesbian couple, you can’t get married.If you’re a young person, you can’t rely on your public school to provide you with medically accurate sex education.
How can a state that is seemingly so open and accepting of diverse people and individuality be so close minded at the same time?
A part of this is politics. Currently, the Republican Party of Texas has a stranglehold on Texas politics; they hold every state-wide office.Recently the Grand Old Party in Texas adopted its newest platform. See for yourself.
WARNING: Some of the content you are about to read is disturbing and may be objectionable to some readers.
miniMIZE
miniMIZEI recently found an interesting video on the blog ran by the folks of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.)
These days it’s just common sense to have your dogs and cats spayed or neutered. Overpopulation of dogs and cats has led to a strain on animal shelters yet people still tend to buy designer dogs from breeders rather than adopting. Is it a lack of education? Watch this short, tongue-in-cheek public service announcement about spaying and neutering and look for the parallels between its message and our struggle for comprehensive sex-ed.
miniMIZERecently, students at the University of Texas in Austin hosted a free screening of the film Abstinence Comes to Albuquerque. The film event was a means by which the students raised awarness about the abstinence-only policies being implemented in Texas and offered students a chance to get educated on how to do something about it. The students who ran the event were members of the Advocates for Youth Texas Youth Leadership Council and members of the Texas Freedom Network Student Chapter.
But why show a movie on campus? Because it is an effective way of getting information out about sex-ed policy and an opportunity to tell people how to stand up for comprehensive sex-ed. In Texas, the students encouraged the movie-goers to attend their local school district’s School Health Advisory Council (SHAC) meetings.
Every school district has a SHAC or similar group that makes suggestions to the school board on what sex-ed curriculum to adopt. Joining your local SHAC is a critical part of successfully advocating for comprehensive sexuality education. As students our strategy must be grassroots and top down. We should do everything we can to lobby our members of Congress in Washington DC, but we should also spend time making sure things are right in our own neck of the woods. That’s why it’s important to be active on your campus. Show movies and hold panel discussion events and also join your local school district’s School Health Advisory Council.
Young people have a right to medically-accurate comprehensive sexuality education. Young people deserve the respect to be trusted to make healthy decisions when they are provided with the right information. We have a responsibility to make sure this happens.
miniMIZE
On Wednesday, the Texas Youth Leadership Council, the Cultural Advocacy and Mobilization Initiative of Texas, hosted a rally on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin. The Advocates for Youth group also hosted the event with the Texas Freedom Network Student Chapter and Voices for Choice.
The group had a goal of getting 500 signatures on petitions for comprehensive sex-ed and they exceeded it. The groups were able to obtain 350 signatures on their Education Works petition, a Texas-specific campaign for comprehensive sex-ed as well as 350 signatures on the peiution for the REAL Act.
The student group was featured on the front page of the Daily Texan, the UT student
newspaper. Make sure to check out the story here.
Altogehter the group rallied 700 voices for sex-ed. Even in Texas, students are standing up, speaking out and demanding medically accurate, comprehensive sexuality education. Our generation has a powerful voice and a meaningful message, and its up to us to make sure it's heard.
