Eradicating “Sexclusivity”
While awkwardness wafts through the room as pubescent middle schoolers glare at their gym teacher performing a condom demonstration on a piece of fruit, the lessons of sexual education have transformative impacts. But the effects of the current sexual education system are only cultivated for a select type of student. For years, “sex ed” has been centered around cisgender, heterosexual students with some schools placing emphasis on “abstinence only” measures. When LGBT students are left out of the equation, they are only set up for a cycle of confusion, questions of validation, and a future of disparities, all because a system has not properly done its job in educating them. The methods are out there, it is just a matter of putting them in place.
According to the Center for Disease Control Prevention, only 35% of health programs in American high schools provide services specifically for students who are members of the LGBT community. The majority of sex ed measures are exclusive of their experiences, and therefore are not only ineffective but basically nonexistent. Additionally, research from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America determined that those who did experience inclusive sex ed reported that while LGBT resources were briefly mentioned, the vast majority of programs did not provide adequate information and were still mainly focused on pregnancy prevention. Information on HIV prevention and stigma, how to come out to your doctor, and what the concept of virginity means if you are not heterosexual (hint: just another social construct) exists, so why are the vast majority of American high schools teaching exclusive, improper sexual education?
Only 22 states in America legally require public schools to teach comprehensive sex ed, and currently six states in the US including Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas, promote “no promo homo” laws, meaning that they expressly forbid educators from discussing the LGBT lifestyle in a positive way. Several forbid teachers from mentioning it at all. Alabama State Code § 16-40A-2(c)(8) explains, “Classes must emphasize, in a factual manner and from a public health perspective, that homosexuality is not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public and that homosexual conduct is a criminal offense under the laws of the state.” Laws like this not only foster a sense of unsafely and unwelcomeness, but they are entirely inaccurate.
Alabama’s dissertation that the LGBT lifestyle is a concern of public safety is not only destructive and completely false, but also adds to the growing stigma around HIV. Since the AIDs crisis of the late 1980s confusion and chaos swarming this disease has enforce stereotypes that are simply untrue. While HIV can cause the severe immunodeficiency known widely as AIDS, if properly treated, individuals who are HIV positive can still live comfortable lives, often just as long as someone without it. This stigma comes from ignorance. Although there is currently no effective cure for HIV, there are ways to prevent it, including Pre-exposure prophylaxis, commonly known as PrEP. Individuals who are may be at risk for contracting HIV, but are currently HIV-negative can take PrEP once a day, similar to a birth control pill, and their risk for HIV can potentially be decreased by 92% or more as stated by Project Inform. This innovation is a huge step in the right direction but it can only be affective if fully implemented. Birth control is commonly discussed in sex ed classes nationwide, so enacting conversations related to PrEP would be a simple solution, similar to the mainstream that could potentially save a student’s life.
Inclusive education would not only have positive health impacts on LGBT students, but could help foster a greater sense of understanding and community within schools. It is important to teach students that there is, in fact, a difference between sex and gender and that other identities exist besides their own and are completely valid and current methods rarely express any of this.
All students deserve to learn the basic methods of protection in a manner that emphasizes safety, validity, and compassion in a classroom setting. Effective policies change culture, and the uncomfortable is simply the unfamiliar; the more we talk about health issues affecting the LGBT community and teach all students how to live their safest, fullest life, the closer we get to finding effective methods to fight health disparities and establishing compassionate communities.
