Equality NC LinkFriends,
Wanted to share this good news with you! Read on...
For Equality,
Ian Palmquist
Executive Director
Legislature Passes Improvements to Sex Education Law
Equality North Carolina applauds yesterday's passage of Senate Bill 602, which includes important improvements to the state's Abstinence Until Marriage law. The bill corrects several of the medical and legal inaccuracies in the existing sex education law.
Equality North Carolina and its allies advocated for passage of the bill, which:
* eliminates some bias against gay and lesbian students,
* corrects medically inaccurate language regarding HIV transmission,
* ensures that more accurate statistics on condom failure rates are used, and
* requires that students are taught that drugs and alcohol lower inhibitions and increase the likelihood of risky behavior.
The existing law required teachers to state the "legal status of homosexual acts." Although there has never been a North Carolina law against homosexual acts specifically, and the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all sodomy laws in 2003, in many schools students are falsely instructed that homosexuality or homosexual acts are illegal. The bill passed yesterday eliminates that provision in the law.
"The passage of these changes is a small, but important step forward," said Ian Palmquist, Executive Director of Equality NC. "However, North Carolina students are still exposed to anti-gay, medically inaccurate information under state law, and are denied access to all the information they need to protect themselves from disease if they choose to have sex."
Equality NC worked with a coalition of groups on this issue, and recognizes NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina and Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina for their leadership on this bill.
ENC and its coalition partners remain committed to working for comprehensive, medically accurate, non-discriminatory sexuality education in North Carolina public schools.
