Watching A Dream Come True, for REAL!

Tuesday on Capitol Hill Congresswoman Barbara Lee and Senator Frank Lautenburg re-introduced the REAL Act, federal legislation that would for the first time in history put federal dollars toward comprehensive sex education.

I was honored to be at the press conference for the introduction of the bill; it's was like watching a dream I've had for a long time almost come true. I have a long history with abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, starting when I was fifteen in Lubbock, Texas. I've now spent eight years (more than 1/3 of my life!) as an advocate for comprehensive sex education because I've seen my generation lost to programs that put ideology before our health - and I don't want it to happen to the next one.

My school district had a strict abstinence-only-until-marriage policy - and some of the highest rates of STI's and unwanted pregnancy in the nation. Not only did we skip the anatomy portion of biology in deference to the ab-only policy, our "sex education" didn't start until high school - FAR too late to do us much good. During freshman year we were herded into the auditorium to listen to a lecture from a local pastor on 'Love, Sex, and Dating.'

As the culmination of every presentation, the pastor pulled a girl up onstage, produced a dirty, dingy toothbrush from his pocket and asked if she would brush her teeth with it. When she invariably said no, he pulled out another toothbrush, this one in its original box, and repeated the question. When she said she said yes to that one, he brandished the rejected toothbrush above his head and announced to the audience, "If you have sex before marriage, you are the dirty toothbrush."

While this sounds extreme (and bizarre), abstinence-only-until-marriage programs commonly use degrading scare tactics like these, provide misinformation about condoms and contraceptions, forward generalizations about sexuality that are based on biases about gender and sexual orientation, and, as in my high school, contain religious messaging that violates the U.S. Constitution.

This year is the year to rid our schools of these programs and provide young people with medically accurate, age-appropriate comprehensive sex education that will equip them with the tools to make responsible decisions about sex and relationships throughout their lives. The REAL Act would do just that - send a letter to your representatives asking them to support the bill. (May I suggest donating your Facebook status to this link and tweeting and re-tweeting it, too?!)

This can be the year of youth - fitting after an election that mobilized a generation and elected a president that recognizes young people as assets to society who deserve more than junk science and ideology. Enough is enough - it's time for REAL sex education in America's schools.

This post was first published at Amplify.