Virginia has recently joined a group of 13 other states in refusing abstinence-only “sex education” funding from the federal government. Basically, this allows these states to design their own sex education programs – theoretically because they want one that is comprehensive rather than abstinence-only. Where does your state stand? Here are the states which have declined federal abstinence-only “sex education” funding:
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Maine
- Massachusetts
- Minnesota
- Montana
- New Jersey
- Pennsylvania
- Ohio
- Rhode Island
- Virginia
- Washington
- Wisconsin
This is great news. Probably.
What I am mostly concerned about is that it is darn hard to find actual information about what kind of sex education programs these states DO offer. It was my intention with this post to link to a description of the sex education guidelines from each of the states listed above. And I am pretty good at finding information on the net, if I do say so myself. But after extensive searching on California, Colorado, Connecticut, and Maine, I could only find information from California. So I gave up, and am writing this critique instead.
Because, while I do not support abstinence-only “sex education” programs, I do think that there needs to be some sort of sexuality education in schools. I am highly disappointed that what states are mandating (or not mandating) their schools teach (or don’t teach) about sexuality is so hard to come by.
And in the end, I’m not sure that silence on the subject of sexuality is any better than abstinence-only “sex education.” At least it’s probably not much worse.
Oregon (where I live) is one of the few states I believe that has actual legislation about its “comprehensive” program requirements. Not sure if it is online, though. They take abstinence-only monies, even though the state requires that condoms and birth control be taught. Go figure.