Act
In The Culture
Issues
Campaigns
Support
About
Advocates For Youth
Who was robbed at this year's Oscars?
Avatar for Best Picture
Gabby Sidibe
Up in the Air for Adapted Screenplay
Anna Kendrick for Supporting Actress
Fantastic Mr. Fox for Best Animation
Johnny Weir! Still bitter.

You must be logged in to vote.
You must be logged in to vote




My Sistahs - A webite by and for young women of color
Youth Resource - A website by and for lgbtq youth
Advocates for Youth - A website for parents, health professionals and educators
AmbienteJoven.org 
Blog - Amplify your voice

Thursday, May 7, 2009 at 7:07:00 PM EDT
Rating:



It is great that President Obama has removed funding for abstinence-only education in his budget! This is great news and it is amazing that we have come this far for comprehensive sex education. Not only has absitnence-only education been proven by numerous studies to be ineffective, it is also harmful to LGBTQ youth. I thought that this would be a great time to include yet another reason why abstinence only education does not work - it stigmatizes LGBTQ youth. LGBTQ youth already face many challenges in school, from bullying and harassment, so why should they also face stigma in sex-ed class? 

Here are some typical quotes from abstinence only education work books regarding homosexuality:

“The word sex is frequently used to refer to the physical and personal act of male and
female genital union, sexual intercourse.”
--Sex Respect (Student Workbook, pg 6)

“Finally, AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), the STD most common among homosexual, bisexuals and IV drug users, has now made its way into heterosexual circles.”
- Sex Respect (Student Workbook, p. 54)
Abstinence only education has been proven to be quite limited in its discussion of LGBTQ issues. For a start, the very definition of the federally-funded abstinence only education program excludes LGBTQ youth: 
"An eligible abstinence education program is one that:
a) has as its exclusive purpose, teaching the social, psychological, and health gains to be realized by abstaining from sexual activity;
b) teaches abstinence from sexual activity outside marriage as the expected standard for all school-age children;
c) teaches that abstinence from sexual activity is the only certain way to avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and other associated health problems;
d) teaches that a mutually faithful monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity;
e) teaches that sexual activity outside the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects;
f) teaches that bearing children out-of-wedlock is likely to have harmful consequences for the child, the child's parents, and society;
g) teaches young people how to reject sexual advances and how alcohol and drug use increase vulnerability to sexual advances;
h) teaches the importance of attaining self-sufficiency before engaging in sexual activity."
Note how exclusive these guidelines are to LGBTQ teens: the emphasis of "marriage as the expected standard for all school-age children" (when in many states same sex marriage is not even legal)". Furthermore these curricula not present LGBTQ relationships as ever being one of intimacy or love but only as promiscious and risky. One curricula misreported HIV rates in young homosexual men as high as 50%.

Furthermore, LGBTQ youth are harmed by the drastic emissions and mistakes taught by abstinence only education (as stated in this Congressional Report) such as the dramatization about the failure of condoms:
"“If condoms were effective against STDs, it would be reasonable to expect that an increase in condom usage would correlate to a decrease in STDs overall — which is not the case. Rather, as condom usage has increased, so have rates of STDs.
Another states:
“[T]he popular claim that ‘condoms help prevent the spread of STDs,’ is not supported by the data."
How are LGBTQ youth supposed to want to use condoms to protect themselves when they are reported as being ineffective for protection against STDs?  One abstinence only curriculum states
"“The actual ability of condoms to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS even if the product is intact, is not definitively known.”
I spoke recently with a young man who experienced abstinence only education.  He said that his abstinence only education was "horrible". He had this to say about his sex education: "We were taught that we were above everyone else and we didn't need to know what to do ... because we were not going to have sex".  Well, like many teens across the nation, he did. And he found himself utterly unprepared. He thought, "Can I get an STD from oral sex? What do I do now?". He feels that abstinence only education "is not the way to go". I could not agree more.

It is clear then that abstinence only education is failing LGBTQ youth by stigmatizing them,ignoring them and presenting inaccurate information about condoms. It is no surprise then that we get testimony like Max Siegel's. It is up to us as advocates to make sure that we can leave abstinence only education in the past and make sure that we can get as much funding as possible for comprehensive education.

TAKE ACTION: 
1. Educate yourself about the failures of abstinence only education
2. Read more about how abstinence only education fails youth especially LGBTQ youth.
3. Take ACTION against abstinence only education, use this easy form to write a letter.
4. Read more about Max Siegel, an LGBTQ young man against abstinence only education.
5. Read more about LGBTQ youth
6. Take ACTION to make your school safe for LGBTQ youth
7. Read ACCURATE reproductive health about LGBTQ people from the CDC 
8. Join Amplify's campaign for Equal Rights

Comments
This is one of my favorite posts ever. Even amoung pro-comp sex edu folks, sometimes people still miss queer kids and how sex education relates to queer experiences. I can't help but wonder at if I had gotten better sex education what would I have known and when? I wonder if I would have known myself better... Thanks for this.
# Posted By  MidwestGenderQueer | 5/11/09 09:14 PM | Report | Reply
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
          1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31            
"Ghetto" Mothers and Their Newborn Are Denied Comprehensive Maternal Health Care in Jamaica
By Nekeisha
0 comments

Inspired in Albany-Latino AIDS Activists Unite!
By AFY_Sarah
0 comments

san francisco! where great things are combined
By Leightd
0 comments

Teen Health Now Event: Online Organizing and Advocacy Training for Youth!
By dandaman6007
0 comments

My Belief About Sex
By susanacuellar
0 comments

Phenomenally, Phenomenal Women
By elizabeth
0 comments

Kenyan Men Arrested for Attempting Gay Marriage
By vanessaaishacoleman
0 comments

While in DC...
By tillyrose
0 comments

District of Columbia has the World's First Female Football Coach
By kirbygirl87
0 comments

Commodity for Sale
By justifiable
0 comments

Vatican Doesn't Believe in Safe Sex: Condom Machines "Trivalize Sexuality"
By kirbygirl87
0 comments

Sorry, No More Antiretroviral Drugs For You
By AFY_Durryle
1 comments

International Women Day in Ethiopia
By Mery
0 comments

The Celluloid Ceiling
By Culture_Voyeur
1 comments

What Do We Know About Open Relationships?
By Media_Justice
0 comments

Know your options. Respect them!
By Aye
0 comments

Naruto Shippuden!
By narutoandsoniclover
1 comments

A Step Backwards
By addiszemen
1 comments

Beijing +15
By pedlarm
1 comments

To abort? or not to abort? That is the question
By KarachiYWOCLC
3 comments

HIROSHIMA IMAGES-1 more to come.
By snorkamaiden
0 comments

Prom Cancelled Because a Girl Wanted to Bring Her Girlfriend
By RyAnYWOC
3 comments

My Love Letter to Feminism
By Jill
2 comments

Midwest Unite + Fight Conference is This Weekend
By Mahayana
0 comments

Utah: Prosecuting women is a “national model” for the anti-abortion movement
By AFY_Will
2 comments