Wisconsin DA Threatens to Pursue Charges Against Educators Teaching Comprehensive Sex Ed Print
Thursday, 08 April 2010 08:01

by Nikki Serapio, Manager, New Media Strategies

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UPDATE:  Governor Jim Doyle rejected the notion that teachers could be prosecuted for teaching sex education in Wisconsin.  "It's really an unusual argument to make, 'Follow the law and I'll prosecute you,'" Doyle said.

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In a move meant to terrorize Wisconsin school teachers and scare administrators away from comprehensive sex ed programs, District Attorney Scott Southworth has threatened to press charges against sex ed instructors in Juneau County, Wisconsin. In a March 24 letter, Southworth issued a brazen ultimatum to the County's teachers, demanding that they end any plans to teach comprehensive sex education during the Fall 2010 school year and beyond. If the teachers refuse, Southworth has signaled that he will pursue criminal charges against them for contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

At question is The Healthy Youth Act, a measure signed into law this February by Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle. The Act mandates that public school students receive comprehensive sex ed that is medically accurate and age appropriate, and leans on science-based methods that have been proven to work at reducing sexually transmitted infections and unintended teen pregnancies.

District Attorney Southworth's threat constitutes a direct ideological attack on The Healthy Youth Act. More importantly, it's a shameless attack on the rights of youth -- namely, their right to complete, accurate, and honest information about their sexual health.

Southworth's apparent legal challenge defies logic. In his letter to teachers, he writes:
"Forcing our schools to instruct children on how to utilize contraceptives encourages our children to engage in sexual behavior, whether as a victim or an offender," he wrote. "It is akin to teaching children about alcohol use, then instructing them on how to make mixed alcoholic drinks."

And here's the absolute best line:

"[The Healthy Youth Act] promotes the sexualization -- and sexual assault -- of our children."
Unfortunately for Southworth, decades of research have shown that teaching young people about sex does not cause increased rates of sexual activity...to say nothing of the fact that Southworth has apparently invented an entirely non-existent definition of contributing to the delinquency of a minor in order to frighten the very people he was elected to serve.

And did you catch Southworth's causation argument above? If you teach public school students about contraception and making responsible choices, you are somehow promoting sexual assault.

In a way, this gutting and politicizing of science and law aren't surprising. These ideologues use the same old tricks: they prominently point to something designed to scare the public, and pretend that it's synonymous with something that most people actually (and rationally) support. Marriage equality would be just like trying to marry your dog! Abortion is the same as genocide!

And apparently sex education will brainwash Wisconsin youth into sudden and uncontrollable promiscuity...Just because Scott Southworth says it will! This terrifying prospect of adolescent knowledge and responsibility must be stopped at all costs -- even if it means throwing teachers in jail.

Here's hoping that the District Attorney hears from Wisconsinites who believe in objective and science-based education -- across all subject matters. And here's hoping that he hears from youth themselves -- the very people that he wants to objectify as passive, helpless, and easily corruptible vessels.