The state of Washington, controlled by Democrats, has just passed bill SB 5395, requiring public schools to teach comprehensive sex education instead of the harmful abstinence-only misinformation campaign often promoted by conservative Christians. It just awaits the governor’s signature.
The bill requires schools to teach age appropriate, inclusive sex ed which respects science, while avoiding religious myths. It doesn’t encourage kids to do anything they don’t want to do. It reminds them they control their own bodies. It also allows parents to excuse their kids from these lessons, no questions asked.
Naturally this has raised the ire of some Christians, Caleb Backholm, writing for My Faith Votes, in particular. Some of his issues with the bill are:
Consent is what determines if sex is right or wrong. As addressed above, all the major theistic religions of the world teach that sex between “two consenting people” is still usually wrong.
Abstinence before marriage may not be taught exclusively.
Students will be taught that homosexual sex is just as normal and good as heterosexual sex. They will be taught that sometimes people are born into the wrong bodies and should try to change their appearance/bodies to match their feelings about their gender — a belief that implies God sometimes makes mistakes and gets gender and sex wrong.
https://www.myfaithvotes.org/articles/sex-ed-and-religion-a-battle-in-washington-state
Here we have a classic battle between a science-based sex education curriculum and the prejudices of a Christian group which would prefer to keep children ignorant and taught only abstinence until a heterosexual marriage.
Should schools teach a science-based, frank, age appropriate sex ed curriculum, from K to Gd 12?
Does abstinence only sex ed work?
Should religion play any part in sex ed?
This Style 10/6