In the battle for funding from our Republican-controlled Legislature, conservatives accuse the program of failing to teach students about abstinence until marriage, while liberal defenders insist that it does teach abstinence until marriage. While I applaud the desire to prevent teen pregnancies, two concerns are missing. The first is gays and lesbians. The rate of suicide for gay and lesbian teens is drastically higher than that of their heterosexual counterparts, and any sex-education program that further alienates them is a mistake. The second concern is the assumption that one should be married before having sex, regardless of age.
Many adults have healthy, loving, sexual relationships without being married.
The message should be emotional maturity before sex, not marriage before sex.