States and Communities Must Reject New National Sex Ed Agenda for Kids
Madison: Much of my time and much of the Legislature’s time this past session was spent focusing on bills to improve Wisconsin’s business climate. We have been criticized for addressing other issues, but some other things had to be dealt with.
One such bill that I co-sponsored repealed the new Sex Education Mandate (Act 134) signed into law by Governor Doyle in February 2010. At that time, school districts were mandated to use age-appropriate curricula approved by relevant leading professional organizations. Who could argue with giving children “age appropriate” or “medically accurate” information as determined by experts? At the time, Planned Parenthood lobbied heavily for the bill along with the teacher’s union.
In January of this year, the experts from Planned Parenthood, the National Education Association Health Information Network (the teachers union), and other “experts” announced what national sex education standards should look like. This is presumably what Planned Parenthood and the teachers union wanted when they lobbied Governor Doyle to take curricula out of the domain of local control and give it to the experts. In the Introduction and Background to the Standards, the experts make it clear they did not like “inconsistent implementation of sexuality” nationwide. The experts don’t want local control.
Let’s examine the expert’s agenda. From kindergarten to 2nd second grade, they want children to be taught about different family structures and ways to respect different types of families. Apparently, it’s important for kindergarteners to learn some children are raised with mom and dad in different homes and some children are raised with two women or two men and they should “demonstrate ways to show respect for different types of families.” The experts also want 5 year olds to use proper names for male and female body parts. As children get older in 3rd to 5th grade, schools should delve deeper into “romantic attraction to someone of the same gender or a different gender” and under the section on advocacy “demonstrate ways students can work together to promote dignity and respect for all people.” Third graders should be taught to promote dignity for people of different sexual persuasions. By the 5th grade, children should know how people get HIV.
In the rest of middle school, kids learn about the Morning After Pill and more on contraceptives and more on plans to “promote dignity and respect for all people”—obviously more emphasis on discussing homosexuality in a positive light to 11 or 12 year olds.
It goes on. Clearly, the goal of the “experts” is early sexualization of young children and an early exposure to homosexuality.
I was pleased to vote to repeal Planned Parenthood’s extreme bill that was meant to require local districts with a sex ed curriculum to do the above.
Over Planned Parenthood’s objection, I inserted a provision in the Doyle bill requiring districts to educate children on criminal penalties related to early sexual conduct. I had heard from mothers of 17 or 18 year old boys convicted of first-degree sexual assault of a child for having sexual contact with their younger girlfriends. Planned Parenthood did not want children to know about these criminal penalties, but I worked with Democrats who stood up to Planned Parenthood to require criminal penalties be taught. It is odd the public schools teach about condoms to 12 year olds while district attorneys prosecute 17 year olds who have sex with 15 year olds.
I also attached an amendment to the repeal bill (2011 Act 216) requiring school boards to vote on which classes should be co-ed and in which classes the boys and girls should be separated. In some school districts, they have boys and girls together for very graphic discussions at very young ages—the only obvious purpose of which is to break down any shyness or reticence the kids have. Again, I had to work with Democrats like Senator Tim Cullen from Janesville to get this amendment passed.
The bill signed by Governor Walker is a big improvement over the Doyle bill and didn’t prevent us from passing many jobs bills as well. But, parents must continue to be vigilant at the local level. We must remember that the teacher’s union pushed the radical curriculum described above.
In 2006, the state teacher’s union gave $325,000 to defeat the Traditional Marriage Constitutional Amendment which banned same-sex marriage in Wisconsin. (In good news, the Act 10 which Governor Walker signed finally allows school teachers not to pay union dues!)
The coalition which includes Planned Parenthood and the teacher’s union encourages their followers to get on local committees – presumably so they can have a very bold curriculum pushed in their local classrooms.
Parents and churches that have been asleep on this issue must become vigilant. I can only do so much on a state level, so this matter needs to be taken seriously by parents and community members of good will, otherwise, powerful left-leaning groups will try to give your children and grandchildren a very anti-Christian message locally.