I have seen too many young men and women face unwanted pregnancies, finding themselves in incredibly challenging situations which could have been avoided. I want to be a part of the movement that helps prevent these instances so that these youths can go on to live the lives they want lead.

Don is a member of the campus organizing team.

My work with the youth sexual health and rights movement began when I enrolled at Boston College. Prior to then I had worked as an activist while in high-school with our schools chapter of Amnesty International and on my own with the campaign against California’s Proposition 8 and I intended to become even more involved when I entered college. From a young age I knew that I wanted to try and help others and amend the lingering injustices and inequities in the United States. I never knew what field specifically I would work in as I cared about a myriad of issues but decided it best to go the need was greatest and my passion the strongest. At Boston College, a school where the youth sexual health and rights movement is in its nascent stages and the administration is openly hostile to birth control and sexual rights, I quickly felt drawn to Boston College Students for Sexual Health or BCSSH.

BCSSH represents a group of students who work around the schools anti-safe sex polices with the intention of providing the information and materials students need in order to make informed and safe decisions. We act not only as an activist group, advocating for change, but also provide the services the school does not. I joined this group because I feel that being able to make safe sexual decisions is right. The reality of that matter is that college students will explore their sexualities and to deny them the ability to do this safely is not archaic but dangerous.

I know this from personal experience. Many members of my family and persons in my community were burdened by unplanned pregnancies and STi’s at a young age. These incidents are made all the more tragic when it’s considered how easily they could have been avoided. I advocate for the youth sexual health and rights movement because I want to ensure that future generations of young people can explore who they are and who they wish to be safely and fully informed. I have seen too many young men and women face unwanted pregnancies, finding themselves in incredibly challenging situations which could have been avoided. I want to be a part of the movement that helps prevent these instances so that these youths can go on to live the lives they want lead.