Abstinent Teens Booted from U.S. Capitol
— Posted by John (June 15, 2006 at 4:44 pm)
From the heart of our nation, Project Reality gives us yet more evidence that the supporters of “comprehensive” sex education have no interest in entering into open-minded debate with those who oppose their agenda:
ABSTINENT TEENS KICKED OUT OF CAPITOL BY COMPREHENSIVE SEX EDUCATION ADVOCATES
POSTED: JUN 14, 2006
Advocates for Youth, the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), and the Society for Adolescent Medicine (SAM) not interested in listening to abstinent teens
Yesterday, opponents of abstinence education, the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States and Advocates for Youth, hosted a Congressional Briefing entitled “The Ethics of Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs.” The briefing featured an analysis of a case study on the “ethics” of teaching abstinence education to teens, arguing that abstinence education violates adolescents’ fundamental human rights.
Abstinence advocates, including a group of teens from the District of Columbia and young adults were escorted out of the meeting by Capitol security after a peaceful protest outside the meeting. The signs they held, created by the teens included messages such as: “I’m Worth Waiting For,” “Abstinence Pride,” and “Why Should I Feel Bad for Doing the Right Thing?”
Due to the respectful nature of the protest participants, security escorts encouraged the teens to continue their protest in front of the Capitol Building while attendees of the anti-abstinence briefing were leaving. While a few attendees leaving the Capitol praised the teens, most sneered at them and rolled their eyes. One lady even laughed out loud at them and stated, “We should have brought condoms.”
“The teen participants were disappointed with the disrespectful denial of their rights to free speech, especially about a topic that has to do with their lives and futures,” commented Libby Macke, director of Project Reality. “It is in no way unethical to teach teens about abstinence when this is the only 100% way to avoid pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and the emotional effects of teen sexual activity. What is unethical is to shame and silence students who believe that abstinence is the best choice.”
The teens also commented on the negative comments they received from attendees. “They’re giving up on us when they say go ahead and have sex, just use a condom,” stated one teen, Jasmine Howard. Brittany Henderson, age 16, said, “It was disrespectful. I feel society has no high hopes for us.” In response to comments made about most teens not practicing abstinence, teen Marcus Samuels simply said, “That’s not true, that’s all I have to say.”
A congressional briefing questioning the ethics of abstinence-only education makes as much sense as a congressional briefing questioning the redness of strawberries.
It’s too bad that Jasmine, Brittany, and Marcus weren’t allowed to address SIECUS, et al., as these three teens would have been a voice of sanity at a gathering of a dangerously arrogant and hopelessly out-of-touch hegemon.
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rosie says:
Don’t they realize these kids will be voting soon? To blow them off was a really dumb move.
Comment posted June 15th, 2006 at 6:19 pm
Pansy Moss says:
Don’t they realize these kids will be voting soon? To blow them off was a really dumb move.
They always blow off voters with strong moral stances, and then can’t figure out why Bush won.
If they will not teach abstinence, do you think they will at least boil down sex ed to this statement:
“Don’t have sex with anyone you don’t want to have kids with”
It’s not very moral per se (which they would like), but practical and “realistic”.
Comment posted June 16th, 2006 at 4:49 am
mary kay says:
The problem is that if they encourage their children to follow abstinence only, then they would have to follow it themselves. My mother and I were discussing how low television has become since the days of Lucy and Ricky with their separate beds. I watch the golden girls alot, simply because it’s fairly innocuous, but even on that show everyone is sleeping around. Even Sophia was in bed with some guy last week…I don’t know. It just seems insurmountable sometimes. Going back is never easy.
They say the definition of insanity is doing the same behavior over and over and expecting different results. Pushing birth control, hoping to eliminate unplanned pregnancy, when the birth rate of unwed mothers has skyrocketed since the “condom era”, just seems like madness to me. Clearly, it doesn’t work, but they just keep pushing the same agenda. They must be incredibly stupid, blind or just plain nuts.
MK
Comment posted June 16th, 2006 at 7:33 am
Pansy Moss says:
Clearly, it doesn’t work, but they just keep pushing the same agenda. They must be incredibly stupid, blind or just plain nuts.
Or their agenda is not the agenda they speak of (trying to stop teen pregnancy and STDs), but something different altogether and it’s working.
Comment posted June 16th, 2006 at 7:38 am
Lucy says:
This is the impending problem. The organization has the right to assemble. They also have the freedom of speech. The freedom does not exist for one group to interfere with the rights of another. The phrasing of the article above indicates that the organization had made arrangements, therefore making an effort to secure a spot at a specific time to gather for their purpose. If the protest was interfering with the right to their arranged assembly, and the protesters had not registered to protest in the same fashion, then they are not actually having any rights violated.
If members of the organization behaved in an immature fashion this is unfortunate. Experience suggests that the abstinence teens may or may not have been the angels displayed in the article above. The messages they were carrying disturb me as well. An unaware observer would be of the impression that the options available are either abstinence or forced sexual activity. Comprehensive sex ed would not create a situation in which these teens were not able to choose to wait until whenever they chose.
I do appreciate however that I am now either stupid, blind or simply plain nuts.
Comment posted June 17th, 2006 at 1:42 am
Sunnyday says:
The reception that the teens got was indeed disappointing. But I hope they won’t give up after that experience!
Just think of how the tides have been turning as regards the abortion issue in America and other countries. The media has a lot to do with this. If we get our message out there, more people will know the truth, more people will know that many others still believe in the sanctity of human life. More people will realize that every human being is precious — whether he hasn’t been born yet, or whether he is sick or disabled or very old.
The same way with sex education and the abstinence option… I hope more teens go ahead and carry out their protests and let their opinions be known. That “I’m worth waiting for” sign says a lot; that is a very strong message, especially for teenagers who tend to succumb to peer pressure and are so impressionable of what they see on tv and the movies.
So congratulations to these teens and everyone else involved in abstinence programs! And keep it up! =)
Comment posted June 17th, 2006 at 5:36 am
Ales Rarus - A Rare Bird, A Strange Duck, One Funky Blog » Celeres Nexus Pro 2006-06-22 says:
[…] Generations for Life » Blog Archive » Abstinent Teens Booted from U.S. Capitol "From the heart of our nation, Project Reality gives us yet more evidence that the supporters of ‘comprehensive’ sex education have no interest in entering into open-minded debate with those who oppose their agenda" (tags: children teens sex abstinence chastity politics) […]
Comment posted June 23rd, 2006 at 10:03 am