It's a little hard to believe that comprehensive sexuality education is still controversial:
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) said Thursday that they’d introduced sex-education legislation limiting funding for "ineffective" abstinent-only programs.
The Real Education for Healthy Youth Act would expand comprehensive sex education programs in schools, while ensuring that federal funds are spent on "effective, age-appropriate and medically accurate" programs.
. . .
“Young adults should be presented with all of the information they need to make smart choices,” Lautenberg said. “It's clear that ‘abstinence-only’ programs simply don't work, and this bill would ensure that U.S. policy and federal funding reflect that reality. It’s time to bring sex education up-to-date to reflect the real-life situations facing American youth.”
Sens. Richard Blumenthal, Al Franken, Mazie Hirono and Robert Menendez are original co-sponsors of the Senate version (S. 372).
Here are the co-sponsors of the House version (H.R. 725):
Rep Bass, Karen [CA-37] - 2/15/2013
Rep Blumenauer, Earl [OR-3] - 2/14/2013
Rep Bonamici, Suzanne [OR-1] - 2/14/2013
Rep Christensen, Donna M. [VI] - 2/14/2013
Rep Chu, Judy [CA-27] - 2/14/2013
Rep Clarke, Yvette D. [NY-9] - 2/14/2013
Rep Clay, Wm. Lacy [MO-1] - 2/14/2013
Rep Conyers, John, Jr. [MI-13] - 2/14/2013
Rep Davis, Susan A. [CA-53] - 2/14/2013
Rep DeGette, Diana [CO-1] - 2/14/2013
Rep Deutch, Theodore E. [FL-21] - 2/14/2013
Rep Ellison, Keith [MN-5] - 2/15/2013
Rep Grijalva, Raul M. [AZ-3] - 2/14/2013
Rep Hastings, Alcee L. [FL-20] - 2/14/2013
Rep Holt, Rush [NJ-12] - 2/14/2013
Rep Honda, Michael M. [CA-17] - 2/14/2013
Rep Larsen, Rick [WA-2] - 2/14/2013
Rep Lewis, John [GA-5] - 2/14/2013
Rep Lofgren, Zoe [CA-19] - 2/14/2013
Rep McCollum, Betty [MN-4] - 2/14/2013
Rep McDermott, Jim [WA-7] - 2/14/2013
Rep Moore, Gwen [WI-4] - 2/14/2013
Rep Moran, James P. [VA-8] - 2/14/2013
Rep Nadler, Jerrold [NY-10] - 2/14/2013
Rep Norton, Eleanor Holmes [DC] - 2/14/2013
Rep Pingree, Chellie [ME-1] - 2/14/2013
Rep Rangel, Charles B. [NY-13] - 2/14/2013
Rep Roybal-Allard, Lucille [CA-40] - 2/14/2013
Rep Schakowsky, Janice D. [IL-9] - 2/14/2013
Rep Sires, Albio [NJ-8] - 2/14/2013
Rep Slaughter, Louise McIntosh [NY-25] - 2/14/2013
Rep Speier, Jackie [CA-14] - 2/14/2013
Rep Takano, Mark [CA-41] - 2/15/2013
Rep Wasserman Schultz, Debbie [FL-23] - 2/14/2013
Rep Waters, Maxine [CA-43] - 2/14/2013
Advocates for Youth highlights elements of the Real Education for Healthy Act:
- Recognizes young people’s right to sexual health information — the first time federal legislation has ever done so;
- Prepares young people to make informed, responsible, and healthy decisions about relationships and sexual health by including a comprehensive range of topics such as promoting safe and healthy relationships and preventing unintended pregnancy, STDs including HIV, dating violence, and bullying;
- Includes grants for comprehensive sex education programs for adolescents and young people in college;
- Requires all funded programs must be inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and heterosexual youth;
- Highlights the importance of, and provides resources for, teacher training to ensure that our nation’s sex educators have the tools they need to provide the best comprehensive sex education possible to our nation’s youth.
If you want your Representative and Senators to support the Lautenberg-Lee bill, here's a petition:
http://amplifyyourvoice.org/...