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In Mississippi, the gay-sex-is-illegal mandate is among the less-noticed aspects of a sex-ed curriculum that has seen a fair amount of controversy lately. A Los Angeles Times story last week, by Alena Semuels, focused on the challenges of teaching sexual education in a place where so many communities oppose it\u2014even though the teen pregnancy rate is among highest in the nation. Since 2012, Mississippi has mandated that all districts must now offer some kind of sex ed. But, by law, the basis for the curriculum is abstinence. Classes are supposed to make clear that \u201ca mutually faithful, monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the only appropriate setting for sexual intercourse.\u201d The only question is whether classes also include basic information about things like birth control and sexually transmitted diseases. The state leaves that decision, between \u201cabstinence-only\u201d and \u201cabstinence-plus,\u201d to the school districts\u2014although 12 percent have opted not to teach any kind of sex ed at all, in apparent defiance of the law.<\/p>\n
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The source of recent controversy was an anecdote, from that Los Angeles Times story, about how educators in one community (Oxford) were applying the state guidelines. According to the article, teachers in Oxford had asked the kids to pass around a candy wrapper, from a Peppermint Pattie, to see how dirty it becomes when lots of people are touching it. “They’re using the Peppermint Pattie to show that a girl is no longer clean or valuable after she’s had sex\u2014that she’s been used,” one parent said. “That shouldn’t be the lesson we send kids about sex.” After the article appeared, and got national attention, the District Superintendent told a local newspaper (the Clarion-Ledger) that the report was misleading, because the district does not use that teaching method today. \u201cWe have been teaching an entirely different curriculum in our classrooms in the last two years,\u201d the superintendent said. \u201cWe have no knowledge of this particular aspect (example of the candy making the rounds in the classroom) being taught in any Oxford School District classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n
That would certainly represent progress, albeit of a modest sort: The evidence I\u2019ve seen suggests that abstinence education doesn\u2019t work and \u201cabstinence-plus\u201d probably isn\u2019t a whole lot better. But at least legislation is moving in the right direction. In Alabama, state Rep. Patricia Todd, Alabama\u2019s first openly gay legislator, has been calling on her colleagues to repeal the curriculum requirement on sodomy laws. She hasn’t succeeded, even though activists have gathered tens of thousands of signatures on petitions opposing the requirement. I’m aware of no similar effort underway in Mississippi (although it’s entirely possible one is under way).<\/p>\n
It’s hard to know how many teachers actually follow the state mandate to teach kids about anti-sodomy laws. (I’ve put questions to a few districts and will update this item if\/when I get answers.) But the fact that curricula established two years ago include such a requirement is sobering. Support for same-sex marriage and acceptance of homosexuality generally is rising in the U.S.\u2014and it\u2019s rising quickly. But there is still a long way to go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Article: Mississippi’s Sex-Ed Classes Teach Kids That Homosexuality Is Illegal, Even Though It Isn’t by Jonathan Cohn in The New Republic. The Text: Mississippi\u2019s sex-ed curriculum is not notable for its progressive nature. But one thing you can\u2019t say about the Magnolia State is that it follows the advice of some conservative parents who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[259],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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