In the beginning…
Colorado passed controversial sex-ed legislation back in 2013. What they did started national discussions about how much we want to expose children to. The Colorado legislation was a mandatory, comprehensive sex education law. It requires students undergo “culturally sensitive” lessons. “Culturally sensitive” means sex-ed lessons incorporating minority perspectives on sex. Minority perspectives included but is not limited to LGBT alternatives. In practice, this means both teaching and affirming diverse sex acts.
Many parents were concerned but they allowed their concerns to be mitigated by the fact students could discuss their moral, ethical, and religious beliefs on sex and sexuality in the classroom. The bill allows some schools to be excused from provisions of the law, if so requested. Now, Colorado’s Democrat-controlled General Assembly thinks the 2013 law is insufficient to address the sexual education of teens.
Bring on the New! Improved! Sex-Ed Plus Censorship!
Enter Colorado HB 1032. This bill does away with all the “concessions” included in the 2013 law. It specifically prohibits discussion of religious, moral, and ethical perspectives on sex in the classroom. The bill demands schools teach about the relational and sexual experiences of LGBT teens. It forbids emphasis on abstinence and sexual-risk avoidance. This measure prohibits even the suggestion that such methods are the only foolproof method of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases prevention. The legislation thereby makes it against the law to say so in the classroom. It thoroughly censors the speech of teachers.
Sex-Ed Less Curriculum Control! Less Opt Out Ability! Less parental Rights! Less Religious Freedom!
Colorado HB 1032 strips teachers, administrators, and school boards of the ability to choose the content of their comprehensive sex-ed curriculums. It no longer allows schools to be excused from the requirements of the bill. The bill is militant in its stringent requirements and prohibitions. It crushes parental rights and religious freedom in the classroom.
Today only two states, California and Louisiana, prohibit schools from mentioning religious sex beliefs. The majority of states, including Colorado currently allow abstinence to be stressed or emphasized as the only foolproof method against sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. Colorado HB 1032 flat-out bans speech suggesting abstinence is the best and healthiest choice. That’s despite the fact that the majority of American teens are choosing abstinence. Colorado teens have a lower rate of sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted teen pregnancies than the national average.
HB 1032 requires that teachers who discuss pregnancy outcomes, like adoption and parenting, also discuss abortion. Passage would make Colorado the third state in the country to have that, after Vermont and California. The vast majority of parents believe adoption and abortion are not morally or ethically equivalent options. The bill refers to teaching abortion as an example of “objective, unbiased” instruction. It makes that assertion law and does so despite abortion being one of the most contentious issues of our time.
Where did the approved curriculum… the only approved curriculum come from?
It comes as no surprise that Planned Parenthood lobbies across the nation for comprehensive sex education bills. Sex education is a supplement to its declining infanticide revenues. There is no coincidence that Planned Parenthood is one of the world’s largest providers of comprehensive sex education materials. It is unfortunate they cannot stay with the facts of biology and instead have to venture into censorship and regulating mandatory morality. The organization peddles content that most find too shocking for our taste. Now they are getting it made into law. Call it mission creep.
Planned Parenthood’s ready-made sex education curriculum just happens to fit the exact requirements HB 1032. Its materials promote virtually any type of sexual exploration and experimentation as a “safe and healthy” part of any relationship. They do not consider the child’s age, maturity or biological sex, as long as you “say yes.”
Parents tend to take issue with the government mandating teaching elementary school students the definition of “consent.” They already know the answer. The definition of consent for elementary students is: Illegal. Criminal. Unsafe. Parents have been rightfully confused about how teaching young children about consent could possibly protect them from predators. How did decades of “No Means No!” education get upended to “Yes Means Yes”? Why is that even a matter for consideration, let alone discussion?
Young children are certainly capable of voluntarily saying the word “yes”. And they can be taught to say yes to acts that might feel good but are deeply harmful and traumatic. It is a parent’s job to protect their children from an agenda that has shifted sex education dialogue. The dialogue has moved from being one of protection to one of pleasure, from prevention to gratification. Colorado HB 1032 sponsors and supporters have downplayed the parents clamoring for the bill to die. They are ignoring the national dialogue the bill has caused. But the question remains: How parents can safeguard their children’s well-being in today’s schools?
Where is the law in the passage process?
Colorado HB 1032 has passed a House committee, the House floor, and its first state Senate committee. Public outcry be damned. The bill is currently being considered in a Senate fiscal committee, which will soon vote on whether $1 million will be allocated from the general fund to schools to help them pay for implementing the burdensome legislative requirements. If passed out of committee, the full Senate will vote on the bill, and then it will be off to the desk of Colorado’s openly gay governor, Jared Polis.
Families in states such as Arizona, Massachusetts, and Texas are fighting controversial provisions similar to Colorado’s. New Hampshire, if it’s in Massachusetts, it is coming here soon. Tennessee, Alaska, Idaho, and other states are taking proactive measures to ensure family values are respected in the classroom. Washington and New Mexico parents recently took a page from Colorado parents’ book. They successfully stopped their own comprehensive sex education bill.
Something to else look forward to from your Socialist House of Representatives…
The threat isn’t limited to state legislatures. The U.S. House of Representatives will be voting soon on the deceptively named “Equality Act.” This pernicious legislation would lead to federal courts ordering schools to implement curriculums on sexual orientation and gender identity. Parents around the country need to stay informed about what’s being taught in their children’s classrooms. It is their responsibility to do everything they can to protect their children from harm.
Ref:
Daily Signal By: Stephanie Curry @ April 17, 2019