Roundup: Can You Ask Tweens About Gender Identity?
DC Public Schools are on the defensive after asking young teens and tweens what they know about sexually transmitted diseases, drugs, and how they identify themselves in terms of gender and sexual orientation.
Is it appropriate to ask young teens and tweens what they know about sexually transmitted diseases, drugs, and how they identify themselves in terms of gender and sexual orientation? Some parents don’t think so, which led to a flap in a Washington, DC, public school over a survey distributed to middle-schoolers by Metro TeenAIDS, a nonprofit organization contracted to provide a comprehensive sexuality education program called “Making Proud Choices!” (A copy of the entire survey is available.)
“Polling has been done in D.C., and parents overwhelmingsly support comprehensive sex education in schools,” Tenner told me. Metro TeenAIDS’ pre-curriculum survey is a good example of what that means: It asks students about their sexual orientations and gender identities. It inquires as to whether the students have ever engaged in oral, anal, or vaginal sex, whether they’ve been tested for HIV, whether they know basic STD prevention measures, and whether they feel comfortable saying “no.” It also asks about students’ previous alcohol consumption and drug use.
The DC Public School system released a letter saying that “the opt-out letter to parents regarding this unit in the health class went home on the same day that the assessment was administered. As a result, there was not enough time to allow for parental response before the unit began.” Oops.
However, the school system also laid down some hard facts:
In reacting to an outcry of opinion over the story, DCPS delivered some real talk: Nearly seven percent of all D.C. teens were diagnosed with chlamydia in 2008. Further, D.C. teens account for half of all chlamydia and gonorrhea cases in D.C. And more than three percent of District residents older than 12 are living with HIV or AIDS, according to the Washington Post.
So while the teen with whom Solomon spoke might have been bewildered by the school survey on sexual activity, not all D.C. teens are so innocent.
DCPS shot back that the “sex test” was no test at all.
“The ‘pre-test’ Hardy students were given was not a test at all, but an assessment used to determine the students’ baseline knowledge and to responsibly assure that students get all of the information and skills they need to protect themselves,” said a DCPS statement.
…
The survey comes in the wake of the revelation that four students killed themselves over two years in Mentor, Ohio, as a result of bullying. After it was reported that a recent gay student’s suicide was prompted by bullying, GLBT stars like Ellen DeGeneres and Tim Gunn and their allies released messages expressing support for GLBT youth suffering from bullying.
A Health Resources and Services Administration report said that a 2002 poll by the National Mental Health Association found that 78 percent of students aged 12 to 17 reported that kids who are gay or perceived to be gay are bullied.
Solomon’s writeup of the Hardy Middle School sex-ed program implied that a question asking whether students self-identified as “transgender” or cisgender was in some sense offensive.
Mini-Roundup: Human life as we know it is coming to an end, thanks to the Culture of Death (aka contraception, gay marriage, and in vitro fertilization), according to a speech given to “pro-life” leaders in Europe. Also, apparently, we’re all a part of an Islamic Jihad. (How do they come up with this stuff?)
Oct 13
- CDC report underscores importance of HIV testing – Private MD
- Excommunicated Over Abortion – In These Times
- Sex education for under-12s “doesn’t do any harm” – Radio Netherlands
- Planned Parenthood PAC of Oregon says Chris Dudley is anti-choice – PolitiFact
- Abortion jury told morals not on trial – ABC Online
- Council Speaker Christine Quinn leads charge to regulate crisis pregnancy … – New York Daily News
- Merrill sex ed committee has first meeting tonight – WSAU
- What Every Woman Should Know About Cervical Cancer – Nigerian Observer
- China court ‘to hear first HIV job discrimination case’ – BBC News
- Life and love with HIV/AIDS – Daily Helmsman
- No prison for teen’s lies about HIV, sex – Journal and Courier
- VIDEO: DCPS, Metro TeenAIDS respond to Hardy Middle School “sex test” uproar … – The Georgetown Dish
- Frenchtown High School Removes Planned Parenthood From Sex Ed Class – NBC Montana
- Helena school trustees OK toned-down sex ed policy – Billings Gazette
Oct 12
- Sex Survey Given at DC Middle School – MyFox Washington DC
- Utah clinics, hospitals hustle to absorb uninsured pregnant women – Salt Lake Tribune
- Domestic violence awareness flies on Clothesline Project – The Ranger
- When it comes to LGBT, the religious right is wrong – Famuan
- New pregnancy center opens – Northfield News
- Judge orders military to stop discharging gays – San Francisco Chronicle
- Pentagon must stop ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ federal judge rules – Christian Science Monitor
- ABCD Expands HIV Prevention Program for Young Adult Women of Color – Fenway News Online
- Cedarburg board’s attack on sex ed – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
- New Anti Abortion Ad Targets Representative Herseth Sandlin – KSFY
- City Council, Pro-Choice Group Take Aim at Anti-Abortion Clinics – DNAinfo
- Women’s Rights and Access to Abortion and Birth Control at Stake November 2 – The Sacramento Press
- Legislation Would Require CPCs Give Full Disclosure Of Services – NY1
- Afghanistan’s maternal mortality rate falls – Central Asia Online
- Buck Loses Support Of Abortion Opponents Group – cbs4denver.com
- Valerie Jarrett’s Address To The HRC – SouthFloridaGayNews.com
- 2010 National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior – dagblog (blog)
- Kansas Dems question Brownback ties to evangelist – The Associated Press
- Adopt policies that take bullying seriously – USA Today
- Let’s Talk About Sex, Babies – NBC Washington
- Abortion politics in the Washington Senate race – Seattle Post Intelligencer (blog)
- Vancouver: Public forum on maternal health – DigitalJournal.com
- 80000 affected with AIDS in Iran: health minister – Tehran Times
- City Council Bill Seeks To End Misinformation At Crisis Pregnancy Centers – NY1
- Planned Parenthood Pushes for Universal Birth Control as Coalition Fights … – Lifesite
- Correction: Abortion Shooting-Grand Jury – The Associated Press
- Coming Out Day Marked by More Gay Teen Suicides – EDGE Boston
- Hardy Middle School ‘sex survey’: Metro TeenAIDS responds to parent ‘outrage’ – TBD.com (blog)
- National Latino AIDS Awareness Day emphasizes HIV testing – Latina Lista
- Cravaack takes anti-abortion endorsement from Oberstar – Duluth News Tribune
- Domestic violence – The Daily Star
- Online extra: Wedding Bell Blues: Anti-gay activist could help Newsom’s bid … – Bay Area Reporter
- Sex survey for DC middle schoolers – Washington Post (blog)
- Brady And The Veto – Progress Illinois
- Nepal seeks to raise marriage age – BBC News
- Tall Order at Montreal’s World March of Women – The Link
- Couple face jail under Queensland’s century-old abortion law – New Zealand Herald
- Suicides of bullied gay kids in other states jolt Colorado educators to action – Denver Post
- Police: Man Locks Girl In Shed, Buys Birth Control – WLKY Louisville
- Poll: 70 percent of voters support full birth control coverage – The Hill (blog)
- Bill Brady Is Conservative, But Says He Won’t Push Social Agenda – Huffington Post
- Caribbean urged to end violence against women – Go Jamaica
- Gay and Employed – Baseline
- Pregnancy complications claim eight women daily in Zimbabwe – NewsDay
- De-population and De-Christianization Leading to Cultural Islamic Jihad … – Lifesite
- A Wipeout of Democratic Women? – Mother Jones (blog)
- What to Expect When You Change Birth Control Methods – Lemondrop
- Rev. Kathy Schmitz picked to head First Unitarian Church of Orlando – Orlando Sentinel (blog)
- LGBT youth more likely to commit suicide – The Scribe
- Not every mom goes to college – The Scribe
- UN Foundation's Tamara Kreinin Talks About Global Strategy on Women & Children – ChicagoNow (blog)
- Rachel Maddow Narrating MSNBC Special On George Tiller, Murdered Abortion … – Huffington Post
- Sex Ed Just Got Smarter – Momlogic.com
- Abortion, Spending Opponents Join For Protest – cbs4denver.com
- State Democrats question Brownback and evangelist – KTKA.com
- WHO stresses need to improve health of women (2) – People’s Daily Online
- Teen pregnancy, the unvarnished story – Sacramento Bee
- Earlier puberty for girls in father-absent homes – DoctorNDTV