Q-Seattle Events: Tacky Tourist Clubs

The Washington Senate passed, SB 5297, the "Healthy Youth Act," last week. The bill would establish state minimum standards for the classes if the district chooses to offer sex education. It includes opt-out provisions that would allow parents to take their children out of the classes. Under provisions of the bill, districts that offer sex-ed classes would have to teach both abstinence and contraception, and would be required to use scientific evidence-based information in the classes.

A video summary of the Senate floor debate on the bill is available from TVW. (It's the first story in the review program, starting at 1:10.) Opponents argued that the bill would erode local control of school districts. Supporters argued that the state already sets minimum standards other subjects taught in Washington schools. You can watch, listen to, or download the full floor debate (March 7) from the links on this page.

A public hearing on the bill in the House was scheduled for Friday, but is not yet available from TVW.

Both Equal Rights Washington and Lifelong AIDS Alliance support the bill. Lifelong's summary:

The Healthy Youth Act ensures that sexuality education in public schools teaches both abstinence and medically accurate information about the effectiveness of condoms and other family planning options in a comprehensive manner. As estimates suggest that 25% of new HIV infections occur among young people 22 and under, a comprehensive approach is crucial to giving young people the tools they need to prevent HIV infection.

On its official page on the state's web site, the House Republican Caucus summarizes the bill as "Requiring graphic sex education to be taught to your fifth-grade child." (Sigh. And least resisted amping up the scare tactics by claiming that it would install monsters in all closets, and under each child's bed.)

The Washington Post yesterday took a broad look at sex-ed classes in districts across the country and found that most either avoid talking about homosexuality in the classes or present some sort of condemnation of it to their students.

Several organizations... have noted a sharp rise in recent years in the number of schools and systems whose sex-ed lessons stress abstinence. They point to the role of the federal government, which since the mid-1990s has required a strict abstinence-only approach as a condition for substantial federal funds. Such programs, the government says, should endorse sex only in the confines of marriage, one reason they tend to skirt homosexuality.

The Post singled out Seattle's schools as an example of a district that buck that trend.

In Seattle public schools, sexual orientation is taught in ninth-grade health class, a one-day session that uses vignettes about fictitious teens to illustrate same-sex and opposite-sex attraction. But the topic can arise as early as grade 5, in discussions on the many changes that accompany puberty....

Seattle teachers tell ninth-grade health classes, "There are probably some people here who are gay, lesbian and bisexual.... Some people here may believe that homosexual behavior is wrong." Students take a sexual-orientation quiz: When do people first realize they are gay? (Answer: usually by their teens.) If one of your parents is gay or lesbian, are the chances greater that you will be, too? (Answer: no.)

Although there are no clear statistics, the Post notes Seattle's approach seems to be echoed only in a few West Coast and Northeast districts.

Those who monitor sex-education trends say there's no telling how many school systems teach about sexual orientation, but the subject is largely absent from the curriculum across much of the South and in land-locked mountain states. SIECUS counts nine states that require "something negative" if sexual orientation is taught, such as characterizing homosexuality as unacceptable behavior.

The topic is more accepted, although not nearly pervasive, along the West Coast and in the Northeast. Health teachers in Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco and throughout Massachusetts consistently teach about homosexuality, according to Judy Chiasson, a Los Angeles educator...

The sex-ed bill being considered by the legislature would not require districts to offer sex-ed courses, but would require those that do offer the opt-out classes to use evidence-based rather than faith-based approaches in the health courses. If the classes are offered in a district, they would have to offer "medically and scientifically accurate sexual health education" which would include accurate information on both contraception and abstinence.

A January report issued by a coalitian of groups supporting SB 5297 found that nearly a third of the Washington's schools follow national trends by allowing only abstinence to be mentioned in sex ed classes. According to the report, teachers in those districts are not allowed to discuss condoms or any other form of contraception except for abstinence in their sex education classes.

Labels: health, legislature, SB5297