Transitions: The Rights. Respect. Responsibility.^® Campaign
Volume 14, No. 1, October 2001

This Transitions is also available in [PDF] format.

Advocates for Youth envisions a society where sexuality is treated as a normal, healthy, positive aspect of each person's life. In such a society, teenagers' sexual development will be recognized as natural and valuable. Young people will be considered partners in solving problems that affect them and adults will share—rather than censor—knowledge and information about sexuality.

In such a society, parents will play an essential role in helping young people to make healthy, responsible choices. Communication and partnership within the family will be the norm. Communities will fulfill their responsibilities, providing young people with a secure stake in the future and the information and services they need to protect their health and save their lives.

Advocates firmly believes that such a society will not face the three million new sexually transmitted infections among teens, the 6,000 new cases of HIV infection among those ages 13 to 24, or the more than 800,000 teenage pregnancies each year that currently occur in the United States. Adults will respect and support youth's right to act responsibly.

Rights. Respect. Responsibility.^® These are the tenets that will animate such a society. The 3Rs are the foundation of Advocates for Youth's new campaign that will begin to change the way society views adolescents and their sexual health.

Over the next decade, Advocates for Youth is committed to promoting the values of Rights, Respect, and Responsibility. Specifically, we will

• Build support for the 3Rs among at least 14,000 youth-serving professionals and policy makers in at least six states, 10 national organizations, and four international agencies.
• Instigate progressive shifts in sexual health policy and practice at the federal level and in at least eight states, 10 national organizations, and four developing countries.
• Create a My Voice Counts! Advocates network of more than 2,000 young people in the United States and more than 500 youth in developing countries, encouraging them to become leaders for improved reproductive and sexual health policies and services in their communities, states, and nations.
• Promote public understanding of and support for the goals and values of the 3Rs by reaching out to at least 25 million Americans annually via the entertainment and news media.

Advocates for Youth will also develop campaign materials to help you, our partners, spread the 3Rs approach in your schools, practices, agencies, communities, and families.

Won't you join us? This fall, we officially launch the Rights. Respect. Responsibility.^®campaign. Together, we can work to promote honest, open communication about sexuality, safeguard young people's access to confidential health services, and encourage young people to emulate the youth that contributed to this edition of Transitions—advocates for change within their communities.

For additional information on the 3Rs campaign, or to become an organizational partner in this important initiative, contact Advocates for Youth at 202.419.3420, or visit the 3R's section.

Next Chapter: Rights: Accidental Activist
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Transitions (ISSN 1097-1254) © 2001, is a quarterly publication of Advocates for Youth—Helping young people make safe and responsible decisions about sex. For permission to reprint, contact Transitions' editor at 202.419.3420.

Editor: Sue Alford