The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) – already embroiled in controversy for allegedly allocating taxpayer funds to perform abortions – on Friday released two sexual education funding announcements, as part of President Obama’s healthcare law.
The new health care law will allocate $55 million to a new grant program – the Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) – and $50 million to abstinence-only programs.
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), a division of HHS, laid out the requirements of the “personal responsibility” education programs, which are to “replicate evidence-based effective program models or substantially incorporate elements of effective programs that have been proven on the basis of scientific research to change behavior, which means delaying sexual activity, increasing condom or contraceptive use for sexually active youth, or reducing pregnancy among youth.”
GAY SEX EDUCATION
For the first time, the federal government is encouraging states to include curriculum based on “the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT), and questioning youth and how their programs will be inclusive of and non-stigmatizing toward such participants.”
“This should come as no surprise to Americans,” said Candi Cushman, CitizenLink education analyst. “The Center for American Progress (CAP) and other liberal advocacy groups signaled immediately after President Obama’s inauguration their intent on changing so-called disparities in healthcare and education.”
CAP’s position papers, as well as gay activists “wish lists,” now appear to be the very road maps used by the administration through federal funding programs.
GRASSROOTS PUSHBACK
The activists’ education agenda have experienced strong resistance on the state level from concerned parents.
To the ire of activists, one such stealth campaign to implement gay sex ed into the Helena, Mont., school curriculum was exposed and received unwanted attention by national talk show hosts:
• SEAN HANNITY: “What right does a school district that can’t even teach kids to read and write — and this is, generally speaking, around the country — have to impose their values on the kids?” [Transcript, 7/13/10]
• BILL O’REILLY: “This stuff comes from the school boards and the superintendent. They want to indoctrinate the children. The reason is they don’t want bullying. They want tolerance across the board. So you take a 5-year-old who just wants to play and, all of a sudden, it’s Heather has two mommies …” [Video, 7/14/10]
• LAURA INGRAHAM: “Children will learn that sexual relationships could happen between two men or two women. Why stop there? Why are they stopping at two? I mean that’s very exclusionary, don’t you think?” [7/15/10]
Despite the federal government’s push to promote risky sexual behavior, attentive parents in Johnson County, Kan., and Helena, Mont., successfully defeated efforts to implement gay sex education.
ABSTINENCE-ONLY EDUCATION
Condemned by abortion and gay activists as being ineffective, abstinence-only until marriage advocates have overcome efforts to eliminate the much-needed programs. This year, $50 million is allocated for abstinence education.
Planned Parenthood, in its “wish list” submitted to John Podesta – in charge of President Obama’s transition team, following the Inauguration – specifically requested the elimination of abstinence programs. On page 2, it said:
“Eliminate Failing Abstinence-Only Programs & Invest in Comprehensive Sex Education.
“Complete, accurate, and age-appropriate sex education helps young people reduce their risk of unintended pregnancies and STIs, including HIV/AIDS, helps keep young people safe by delaying sexual activity and increasing contraceptive use when they do have sex.”
“Senator Obama supported an amendment to provide funding for comprehensive medically accurate sexuality education and other programs to prevent unintended teen pregnancies. He is also a cosponsor of the Responsible Education About Life (REAL) Act…which would provide federal money to support responsible sex education in schools, and the Prevention First Act, which includes the REAL Act language….
i. Abolish the abstinence-only program with the Title V MCH Services Block Grant;
ii. Abolish the Community-based Abstinence Education program;
iii. De-link the Adolescent Family Life Act (AFLA) from the A-H definition in the Title V abstinence-only program;
iv. Provide at least $50 million to promote comprehensive sex education in our schools and communities nationwide.
The Human Rights Campaign, a national gay activist organization, said about abstinence funding:
“Because only Congress can act to end funding for abstinence-only programs, HRC recommended, as part of the Blueprint for Positive Change, that in the meantime HHS could require recipients of federal funding for sexuality education to ensure that the programs acknowledge LGBT youth and the difficulty presented by an abstinence-only message when most states, and the federal government, do not recognize marriage equality. HHS’s inclusion of LGBT youth in Friday’s funding announcements, as well as its requirement that abstinence-only programs be medically accurate, are positive steps. But the real solution is for Congress to stop funding disproven programs and instead support comprehensive sexuality education that empowers students, LGBT and straight alike, to live healthy lives.
Valerie Huber, executive director with the National Abstinence Education Association (NAEA), points to recent research, showing the effectiveness of abstinence education and underscores the need for single-focused programs.
“In facing the complex problem of teen sex,” said Huber, “we must not limit solutions, we must support what works and continue to find even more effective ways of reaching our youth.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Read “Myths and the Truth”
Read “Take Twelve:Top 12 Sexual Myths Refuted”
Learn more about the National Abstinence Education Assocation.
Read ACF’s sexual education grant guidelines released Friday.
Read about Helena, Mont., parents fighting back.
Read the Heritage Foundation’s blog, “Sex Change You Can Believe In.”
Read Center for American Progress July 27, 2009, white paper on “LGBT issues in Health Reform.”
Read HRC’s “Blueprint for Positive Change.”
WISH LISTS (Submitted In January 2009 to John Podesta, Obama’s Transition Chief)
Read HRC’s “Sexual Orientation Data: Inclusion Information Systems and Databases of HHS.”
Read “The GLBT Health Access Project” wish list
Read Planned Parenthood’s wish list, “Advancing Reproductive Rights and Health in the
New Administration: Immediate Action Steps.”
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