General
SB 71 Fact Sheet (California): An excerpt –
- SB 71 requires that instruction and materials shall teach respect for committed relationships as well as marriage. It removes all reference to “abstinence until marriage” to reflect that, if today’s laws remain the same, not all students will have the right to marry their chosen life partner.
- Sex education instruction and materials may not teach or promote religious doctrine or reflect or promote bias against any person on the basis of any category protected by the state’s school nondiscrimination policy, Education Code Section 220, which includes actual or perceived gender and sexual orientation.
- Previous law required classes to discuss abstinence from sexual intercourse, a heterosexual focus that excluded LGBT youth. SB 71 changed the language to make it more inclusive. Now, in grades 7-12, sexual health education must teach the value of abstinence from sexual intercourse in preventing pregnancy and the value of abstinence from sexual activity in preventing sexually transmitted diseases.
- SB 71 also requires that all instruction and material be appropriate for use with students of all races, genders, sexual orientations, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and students with disabilities.
LGBT-Inclusive Sex Education Means Healthier Youth and Safer Schools (from the Center for American Progress)
Real Education for Healthy Youth Act — A to-be-voted-on law that “would authorize grants for comprehensive sex-education programs that are inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, or LGBT, youth. Specifically, it would require comprehensive sex education to cover sensitive and respectful discussions of gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation, among other topics” (Center of American Progress).