It's easy for adults to simply brush-off young people, but, in persistence, the young voice is not only heard, but it radiates and permeates the minds of decision makers.

Danny, 17, works with Advocates for Youth and the AIDS Task Force of Greater Cleveland as a member of the Ohio Advocates.

Much like any other motivation, I was lured into the world of sexual health activism because of frustration: with my school, my community, and the abstinence-only-until-marriage program that came into my classroom. Operation Keepsake arrived into my health class in my freshman year of high school on a moral crusade, bringing with them an agenda filled with heterosexual innuendos, gender stereotypes, and censorship.

In a school district where there is only one semester for health education, and only one week for sexual health, Operation Keepsake was allowed to spend countless minutes describing a “keepsake” or the benefits of marriage, all-the-while leaving out relevant information regarding our health. As a gay student, I felt ostracized, and as a teenager, I felt deprived. Apparently, Operation Keepsake much prefers intervention rather than prevention.

So, I wrote letters. First, there were only a few, to my building administrators and guidance counselors. Very little happened, in fact. But, as fate would have it, Advocates For Youth was putting together this project, which I just so happened to apply for, and so I've done far more: 24 letters and information packets, 15+ phone calls, and over 10 emails (probably more like 100) to administrators, board members, and health teachers.

It's easy for adults to simply brush-off young people, but, in persistence, the young voice is not only heard, but it radiates and permeates the minds of decision makers. After nearly two years of work in Parma, the campaign for comprehensive sexual health education is not over, and perhaps the most grueling of work has begun. However, the Parma City School District is finally taking accountability and responsibility into it's hands, and I can say confidently that a small group of young people is often a force to be reckoned with.

As I move forward in Parma, I maintain the mantra of prevention. Operation Keepsake's curriculum “sounds” good, but it fails to provide the whole picture, and what it lacks or misconstrues, comprehensive sex education provides. I'm about nothing more than simply providing young people with accurate information in an honest atmosphere so that we, as the next generation of leaders, can take our health/sexual health into our own hands; so that we, as responsible young people, can reduce in our futures unplanned pregnancies and STIs, and, in doing so, increase our access to a better future. Why there is controversy regarding this often puzzles me, but I hope—I know—that my group's activism is making a mark in Parma.

A group of 6 young people transformed an unresponsive administration into one willing to create a sexual health education committee to evaluate their curriculum, and we impressed on the city council and the Parma Sun Post the need for this evaluation, and whether they vocally support comprehensive sex education or not, they are supporting young people. Being a sexual health activists is not easy, but I can assure you that it is perhaps the most rewarding experience of my life thus far.