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I am a part of an organization in Georgia called Chatham County Youth Commission (CCYC). Every year CCYC travels to DC and NY and I just got back yesterday from the trip. This year, I was so grateful to be a part of Georgia Youth Understanding Pregnancy Prevention (GYUPP) because it really helped to prepare me. While in DC the National Association of Black County Officials invited me to serve on a panel to help raise awareness about HIV/AIDS... what an awesome opportunity. We were all on the same page, agreeing that we can put an end to this with proper education, and I was able to find many county commissioners interested in the Responsible Education About Life Act and signed a petition in support of it.
You can also sign the petition here: http://www.amplifyyourvoice.org/REALact
A couple of days later on the Hill I found myself talking about comprehensive sex education with politicians who certainly were not on the same page let alone the same book. I met with Congressman Kingston from my hometown, Savannah, and he feared that there is too much pressure from competing countries in math and science and that we should put less attention on "majoring in sex." He had never heard of the REAL Act, which was disappointing because AFY lobbied at his office in September... but he wants to stay involved and learn more about it, which I promised him would happen... Then we went to talk about health care and I asked about his feelings on the Stupak Amendment, knowing he was a strong pro-life advocate I knew what he would say, but I appreciated him taking the time to talk about it. When we were finished with the conversation he said, "talking about Stupak... there he is." I have done work with AFY with Stop Stupak and the Hanger Project against Congressman Stupak and there he was. So next to Congressman Kingston and with the support of CCYC I walked up to him and voiced my opinions... Neither of us were trying to push our feelings on each other -- it was clear we had our minds made up -- but it was great to be respected and vocalizing my views in DC!
Thanks for blogging and tweeting about your experience. I love how you know what's going on and know with whom to speak. You are a force to be reckoned with!!!