Sex education: Unproven law should be repealed

Re: “Referendum to repeal sex ed bill gets needed signatures,” (TNT, 6/23).

The bill as written should not stand as law. The TNT Editorial Board supported it in an April editorial, “New sex ed law good for our students.” How do you know it will be good for students?

Do you have valid research proving this state OSPI-mandated content will decrease sexual violence, teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease, which apparently are legislators’ goals?

In an OSPI website search, I found one relevant 2018 study: “Comprehensive Sexuality Education as a Primary Prevention Strategy for Sexual Violence Perpetration,” from Columbia University. However, it isn’t really a study; it is a literature review paired with tenets of normative feminist theory, inequitable gender power, reproductive injustice and sexual violence theory.

The authors conclude there is no evidence of benefit, with more study needed.

I and thousands of other Washingtonians repeatedly went to Olympia to express concerns about this bill and the educational content it mandates. The responses we received from leading Democrats were arrogant assertions that opponents were “misinformed,” which the TNT parroted in its editorial.

We are not misinformed. On the contrary, I think that they and you are.

This story was originally published July 3, 2020 at 6:27 PM with the headline "Sex education: Unproven law should be repealed."