The virtues of sexual education | Federal Way letters, May 28

Published 8:20 pm Thursday, May 28, 2009

In regards to Amy Johnson’s article “Faith and reproductive justice: Sexuality education is no joke” (May 27), one of her points struck a chord.

Johnson cites research that shows children who are not identified as “at risk” are in fact often receiving little to no sexual education at all because of their parents’ personal qualms with how they want such information to be taught.

However, this should not be happening. Why, you ask? In 2007, the Healthy Youth Act officially required all Washington public school districts providing sexual education to use a curriculum that is comprehensive and medically accurate. This means that all youth should be provided with information about contraception, abstinence, STD/STI transmission and sexuality. Yet, a slew of schools are still not in accordance with the law.

How can we let this continue? A message of thanks goes out to Johnson for working to raise awareness on this issue and for creating a safer future for our children and adults alike.

Serena Evans, Auburn