Indiana Legislature Now Approves Opt-Out Bill
Just the other month, an Indiana House committee rejected a bill that would make sex ed opt-in, versus opt-out. Since then, the state Senate has approved a bill that would allow parents the opportunity to review the sex ed curriculum and, if they so desire, opt their kids out of the class.
Various School District Press Pause on Sex Ed Courses Due to Parental Pressure
In Washington, the Sequim School District has ceased teaching a sexual health education course in response to push-back from parents, who feel it’s not age appropriate. A primary topic of concern was the curriculum’s new focus on gender identity, which parents feel is only confusing their kids. Meanwhile, after a petition was circulated in Fremont, California in opposition to a new sex ed series slated to run in their community for students in grades 4-6, the school board has voted to postpone it pending further review.
New Bill in Ireland Would ‘Remove Religious Ethos’ from Sex Ed
Because sex ed classes in Ireland are often “outsourced” to Catholic counseling agencies, Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger TD has proposed the Objective Sexual Education Bill, which aims to introduce “objective” sex education, and to remove “religious ethos” from the present curriculum. If passed the bill would require the curriculum to be delivered “factually and objectively.” The bill will be debated in the Dáil on April 18.
Louisiana House Committee Decides Against Comprehensive Sex Ed
A pair of bills that supported comprehensive sex ed were recently voted down by Louisiana’s House Committee on Education. House Bill 499 would have required comprehensive sex ed in public schools, and would have given parents an opt-out option. House Bill 554 would have allowed high school students to participate in an anonymous survey about their sexual activity.
Parents Planning to Pull Kids from School in ‘Sex Ed Sit-Out’
On April 23, parents in school districts across the U.S., and in Canada and Australia, plan to pull their children out of school for the day in order to protest sex education they say has become too graphic due to the influence of pro-choice and gay rights groups. The Sex Ed Sit Out started with parents in Charlotte, North Carolina, and has spread to nearly a dozen other cities in three countries. Elizabeth Johnston, one of the protest’s organizers, has said that most parents wouldn’t “stand for the kind of graphic, gender-bending sex ed” that schools are teaching.
Sex Ed Bill in Oklahoma Aims to Improve Consent Education
Oklahoma House Bill 2734—nicknamed “Lauren’s Law” after Lauren Atkins, a high schooler who was raped at a party last year—aims to provide high school teachers with the training and resources required to have “nuanced, evidence-based conversations” with their students about consent. The bill was passed in the House, 54-34, and will be voted on in the Senate this week.
