Sexually Undereducated Youth

You can ask any one of your parents if they believe that sexual education is an important competent of high school (or middle school), and I am positive that 100% of them would response with a firm, yes. It is common knowledge that young teenagers need to learn about the birds and the bees as they are growing up and going through puberty. However, this highly needed sex education is primarily centered around one single sexual orientation, being straight. Most of which is discussed within the curriculum is centered around a boy and a girl. Our society is finally starting to catch up with the LGBTQ movement but the one thing still left behind is sexual education for the youth.

From Thisisafrica

I know plenty of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, etc., people who have mentioned once before that they have not been educated on anything related to their sexual orientation. Any parent of a straight student would be infuriated if their child was not educated in this realm, so how do you think the parents of LGBTQ kids feel? It is clear to me that education in all sexual orientations is extremely necessary and at this point should be a given. However, there are still plenty of people in this country who believe otherwise, which in my opinion is very disappointing.

A majority of teenagers in the LGBTQ community have been left in the dark, The Human Rights Campaign said that, "The GLSEN 2013 National School Climate Survey found that fewer than five percent of LGBT students had health classes that included positive representations of LGBT-related topics. Among Millennials surveyed in 2015, only 12 percent said their sex education classes covered same-sex relationships." To me, these numbers are appalling! It is 2018 and there should be some sort of implementation for programs to advocate and educate students/teenagers of all sexual orientations. This lack of communication and openness also limits the adults and/or mentors that LGBTQ students can go to for advice. So the only place they can go to for information is the internet, which is not a favorable alternative. As we all know the internet is full of fake news and facts, so many of these sought out online sources are inaccurate, uninformative and some of the time not age appropriate.

From whatsOn

The Gay, Lesbian & Straight Network has defined five different societal approaches that have emerged from this topic of discussion. First, the ignoring approach, which is exactly what it sounds like. Sex education classes out right ignore the existence of gay and lesbian students creating the illusion that only heterosexual relationships exists. The second is the demonizing approach which teaches students that being non-heterosexual is wrong, "undesirable and unacceptable." The third is the stigmatizing approach. This isn't as degrading as the demonizing approach but is still no where near what is right. For example, when teaching sexual education, the only time LGBTQ "practices" are brought up is to relate them to risky behaviors like AIDS. The fourth is the Transgender-excluding approach which is slowing moving in the right direction, but again still not where it needs to be. It includes lesbian, gay and bisexual people in the curriculum but completely ignores the existence of transgender individuals. Finally, the complete and (in my opinion) correct way of education, the truly LGBT-inclusive approach. This way of education teaches all students, homosexual and heterosexual, all things sex ed. This approach doesn't single out the LGBTQ individuals, but correctly incorporates them into the curriculum so while learning, students aren't primed to see a decisive differences from themselves and others.

From Queer as a Cat (Tumblr)

Our country is actively moving in the right direction concerning LGBT-inclusive sexual education but there are still places that need immediate improvement. According to the Huffington Post, "Only 22 states plus the District of Columbia requires sex education in schools. Twelve of those states require sec education teachers to discuss sexual orientation. Three of those 12 states require teachers to impart only negative information on sexual orientation to students." This means that three of our own American states are specifically teaching all their students (those that are in sex ed classes) negative information about the LGBTQ community. Its not that they aren't teaching anything, they are teaching them that being gay, lesbian, bisexual, etc., is either wrong or unacceptable! The Huffington Post also includes that there has recently been a LGBT-inlcusive sex education program implemented in Canada in addition to the UK paving the way for the same programs. But according to Pink News, The UK is receiving a lot of backlash from faith based groups that claim homosexuality is a sin and poisons the minds children; but English ministers are still strongly advocating for diverse education while allowing parents to hold the right to remove their children from sex ed.

From the Human Rights Campaign

As I said before, our country is moving in the right direction in terms of advocacy for the LGBTQ community but even still, there are many places which NEED to be reformed despite religious opinions. On the contrary, more than the majority of parents are in favor of diverse sexual education, something that should be accounted for as well.