Sex Ed Gets the Silent Treatment in Utah

Everyone knows that if you don’t acknowledge a problem for long enough, it will just go away. Right?

Actually, most of us realized that this strategy doesn’t work, oh, sometime back in elementary school. Utah state senators? Not so much.

When Sen. Stephen Urquhart, R-St. George, introduced a bill this week to the Senate Education Committee that would clarify just what Utah teachers are allowed to say about contraception in the classroom, lawmakers refused to even consider the measure. Instead, they sat in silence and refused to make a motion to allow Urquhart to present the updated bill. That's right: they literally gave the bill the silent treatment.

Just what about the bill was so controversial it required 6th grade-level denial tactics? Utah state law already allows schools to teach about contraception, but it forbids “advocacy or encouragement” of contraceptive use. Apparently, the ambiguous line between education and encouragement was causing some teachers to skirt the issue entirely for fear of crossing the line.

Urquhart’s bill would have cleared up confusion by stating that “the prohibitions … do not preclude a discussion related to curriculum objectives about contraception that complies with state law and state board rules.” Still can’t seem to see the problem? Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, has this explanation: “Human sexuality is a very private, personal and intimate thing and discussions of it in groups is not always positive or beneficial."

So instead of even considering a bill that aims to clarify existing law, public officials are putting teachers and students out to dry. Emma Waitzman, a Utah high schooler who had rallied hundreds of students in support of changes to sex education, said it all: “It’s hard to think that’s how our government works.”

Photo credit: Corey Ann