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Tuesday, 24 January 2012 19:00 |
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Statements from Debra Hauser and youth activists Tanisha and Jessika
Washington, DC – After months of constant activity by grassroots activists across the country asking President Obama to hold the line in the face of pressure from social conservatives, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that it would not expand religious exemptions to no-copay birth control requirements of the Affordable Care Act.
"Today Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius stood with young women and did not bow to political pressure,” said Debra Hauser, Executive Director of Advocates for Youth. “This is a victory for science, common sense, and young people in America. Millions of young women at Catholic and religious affiliated colleges will no longer face barriers to accessing birth control through their student health plans. This decision is also a huge step forward for young people who receive insurance coverage through their parents’ health care plans at religious affiliated hospitals and other businesses.”
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by Emily Bridges, Director, Public Information Services
Two reports with ramifications for youth's reproductive and sexual health and rights came out this week.
GLSEN's Playgrounds and Prejudice: Elementary School Climate in the United States found that almost half of students hear "gay" used in a negative way or hear the word "retard" used as an insult - these are the most commonly heard negative remarks in elementary schools. Over a third have heard sexist or gender-stereotyping remarks. And, while most students feel safe at school, gender-nonconforming students are much likelier to feel unsafe in school. Students who were bullied were also unhappier in school and less likely to report getting good grades.
We already know that in high school, anti-gay bias is rampant: 85% of LGBT students report hearing it. And we know that LGB youth in high school are much more likely to feel unsafe. It's clear that bullying can begin at a very early age for LGBT youth. (The late Lawrence King, murdered by a classmate at 14, reported being called homophobic names and bullied in third grade.) That's one of many reasons why the new National Sexuality Education Standards are so important.
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Monday, 16 January 2012 19:00 |
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by Julia Reticker-Flynn, Manager, Youth Activist Network
From January 20 to 27, Advocates for Youth is joining the first-ever Trust Women Week, an online mass mobilization for women's lives and rights. This unique collaborative campaign is working with MoveOn.org and more than 50 organizations across the nation, including coordinating partner, the Trust Women/Silver Ribbon Campaign, to let legislators know that reproductive health, reproductive justice, and reproductive rights are at the top of our agenda and should be at the top of theirs, too. In this collaborative national action, messages from "virtual marchers," as the online participants are known, will be packaged and delivered directly to members of Congress, governors, and state legislators to underscore that Americans trust women to make their own decisions about their bodies and their lives.
Your Voice Counts! CLICK HERE to join the TRUST WOMEN WEEK Virtual March for Women's Lives and Rights.
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Advocates for Youth is proud to be a part of the team which developed the National Sexuality Education Standards.
Today, four leading health organizations released the first-ever national standards for sexuality education in schools. Published in the Journal of School Health, the ground-breaking National Sexuality Education Standards: Core Content and Skills, K-12 provide clear, consistent, and straightforward guidance on the essential minimum, core content for sexuality education that is developmentally and age-appropriate for students in grades Kindergarten through grade 12.
The standards are the result of a cooperative effort by the American Association for Health Education, the American School Health Association, the National Education Association Health Information Network, and the Society of State Leaders of Health and Physical Education, in coordination with the Future of Sex Education (FoSE) Initiative. Nearly 40 stakeholders including content experts, medical and public health professionals, teachers, sexuality educators, and young people developed the standards in a two-year process.
“These National Sexuality Education Standards provide teachers, schools, school districts, and state education agencies with a new national standard—the minimum they need to teach to set students on a path to sexual health and responsible adulthood,” said Jerry Newberry, Executive Director of the National Education Association Health Information Network (NEA HIN). “They set forth minimum, essential sexuality education core content and skills responsive to the needs of students and in service to their overall academic achievement.”
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