For over 10 years now, Nebraska has been dealing with skyrocketing rates in cases of sexually transmitted diseases. Omaha, in 2004, had rates of gonorrhea 50 percent higher than the national average. Tensions over sex education classes is at an all-time high, with people on the right—in the face of all evidence available—still pushing for “purity” based abstinence-only sexual education. Things have not gotten better because teens make up well over half the STD cases in Nebraska, and not teaching your children about sex always leads to them not knowing enough about sex to make good decisions about sex. Well, there are free testing programs and now, after months of debate, Omaha’s public education system has voted for new standards in public health and sex education.
“I have no agenda other than what’s best for 52,000 students,” said board Vice President Yolanda Williams. “Whether or not I’m re-elected doesn’t matter to me. Some of this goes against my own beliefs, but sometimes we have to take a step out and look at what’s best for all.”
Board members voted unanimously to adopt the new standards for elementary and middle schoolers. Board member Justin Wayne was the lone dissenting voice on standards for 10th-graders, who take a semester-long course that covers a wide variety of health and sex-related topics, from abstinence to alcohol and drug abuse.
Here are some of the more “controversial” updates to the curriculum:
- discussion of gender roles and stereotypes starting in sixth grade
- a lesson on sexual orientation and gender identity beginning in seventh grade
- inclusion of abortion and emergency contraception in 10th-grade lessons on birth control
One supporter put it best when she said:
“I’ve taken care of kids who were bullied due to sexual preferences, treated kids with STDs and helped kids tell their parents they were pregnant,” said Amy Lacroix, a pediatrician and sex education supporter who has a child at Central High. “It’s time for Omaha to catch up. It’s time to give our children the best tools.”
Catch up, Omaha. You can help lead the others out of the darkness.