From the heart of our nation, Project Reality gives us yet more evidence that the supporters of “comprehensive” sex education have no interest in entering into open-minded debate with those who oppose their agenda:
ABSTINENT TEENS KICKED OUT OF CAPITOL BY COMPREHENSIVE SEX EDUCATION ADVOCATES POSTED: JUN 14, 2006 Advocates for Youth, the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), and the Society for Adolescent Medicine (SAM) not interested in listening to abstinent teens Yesterday, opponents of abstinence education, the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States and Advocates for Youth, hosted a Congressional Briefing entitled “The Ethics of Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs.†The briefing featured an analysis of a case study on the “ethics†of teaching abstinence education to teens, arguing that abstinence education violates adolescents’ fundamental human rights. Abstinence advocates, including a group of teens from the District of Columbia and young adults were escorted out of the meeting by Capitol security after a peaceful protest outside the meeting. The signs they held, created by the teens included messages such as: “I’m Worth Waiting For,†“Abstinence Pride,†and “Why Should I Feel Bad for Doing the Right Thing?†Due to the respectful nature of the protest participants, security escorts encouraged the teens to continue their protest in front of the Capitol Building while attendees of the anti-abstinence briefing were leaving. While a few attendees leaving the Capitol praised the teens, most sneered at them and rolled their eyes. One lady even laughed out loud at them and stated, “We should have brought condoms.” “The teen participants were disappointed with the disrespectful denial of their rights to free speech, especially about a topic that has to do with their lives and futures,†commented Libby Macke, director of Project Reality. “It is in no way unethical to teach teens about abstinence when this is the only 100% way to avoid pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and the emotional effects of teen sexual activity. What is unethical is to shame and silence students who believe that abstinence is the best choice.†The teens also commented on the negative comments they received from attendees. “They’re giving up on us when they say go ahead and have sex, just use a condom,” stated one teen, Jasmine Howard. Brittany Henderson, age 16, said, “It was disrespectful. I feel society has no high hopes for us.†In response to comments made about most teens not practicing abstinence, teen Marcus Samuels simply said, “That’s not true, that’s all I have to say.â€
A congressional briefing questioning the ethics of abstinence-only education makes as much sense as a congressional briefing questioning the redness of strawberries. It’s too bad that Jasmine, Brittany, and Marcus weren’t allowed to address SIECUS, et al., as these three teens would have been a voice of sanity at a gathering of a dangerously arrogant and hopelessly out-of-touch hegemon.
