PHOENIX – Governor Doug Ducey last week vetoed a sex education bill backed by state lawmakers representing the Rim Country and the White Mountains. The bill would have excluded any discussion of homosexuality or transgender issues in sex education classes.
However, the governor also issued an executive order urging school authorities to publish a sex education curriculum and hold public hearings to allow parents to weigh the materials and prevent their child from attending the courses. Parents can exclude their child from attending sex education courses.
MPs Brenda Barton (R-Payson) and Walt Blackman (R-Snowflake) both voted for the veto. The Senate passed the bill with one vote and therefore did not record the voice of Senator Wendy Roger. However, the measure was passed almost straightforwardly.
The legislature’s lawsuit came just two years after the repeal of a law that banned any positive mention of homosexuality or transgender issues. The state parliament repealed the law under threat of legal action. This bill would also have prevented any discussion of HIV-AIDS prevention.
Critics of the new bill praised the governor’s veto. “Indeed, the bill would have reintroduced Arizona’s discriminatory ‘No Promo Homo’ law, which was repealed in 2019,” said Rep. Cesar Chavez, chairman of the LGBTQ Legislative Caucus. “It is important to note that parents have, and still have, choices about age-appropriate comprehensive sex education, which the governor affirmed in his executive order. The intent of this law, however, was to legislate way beyond that and create a silo that viewed gender identity, expression, and sexual orientation as somehow immoral, ”he said.
Reginald Bolding, leader of House Democracy, said: “Age-appropriate comprehensive sex education helps children when they are most vulnerable, for example, to distinguish between good and bad touch, and gives them the language to tell a responsible adult whether they have been abused . Parents can already decline this instruction if they so wish. However, if lawmakers put so many barriers in place that this instruction disappears completely, it will only cause more harm. “
The executive order requires that a school district give parents a “meaningful opportunity” to reflect on a proposed sex education curriculum. This includes making materials available for review for at least 60 days, holding two public hearings, and making the curriculum available for review both in person and online at least two weeks prior to the start of the course. “
The governor said the provisions banning discussion of things like gay and trans history are “broad and too vague”.
Numerous studies have found that comprehensive, proven-based sex education courses can reduce teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease rates, and dating violence. This emerges from a summary of the research results of the Federal Centers for Disease Control.
Teenage pregnancy rates have declined since 1990, although Gila, Apache, and Navajo counties are among the highest in the state. The national average is 30 per 1,000, 20% above the national average. But the rate is 40 per 1,000 in Apache County, 49 per 100,000 in Gila County, and 55 per 1,000 in Navajo County – almost three times the national average.
In 2019, 38% of teens had sexual intercourse, 9% had four or more partners, and 7% were physically forced to have sexual intercourse. Of the 27% who said they had intercourse in the past three months, 46% were not using a condom, 12% were using no birth control at all, and 21% had been drinking before sex, according to a survey on the CDC website.
The CDC has concluded that gay, lesbian and bisexual youth are far more exposed to bullying and the resulting psychological and academic problems than most children. A national youth survey documented these challenges, including:
• 10% were threatened or injured with a weapon on the school premises
• 34% were bullied on school premises
• 28% were bullied electronically
• 23% of LGB students who dated or dated someone in the 12 months prior to the survey had experienced sexual dating violence in the previous year
• 18% of LGB students had experienced physical dating violence
• 18% of LGB students had been forced to have sexual intercourse at some point in their life.
• Gay and lesbian students were 140% more likely to miss school for safety reasons.
• 29% of LGB adolescents attempted suicide at least once in the previous year, compared with 6% of heterosexual adolescents.
Peter Aleshire covers county government and other issues for the Independent. He is the former editor of the Payson Roundup. Reach out to him at [email protected]
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