At Capitol, youth rally brings sex ed message to adults

Minnesota high schoolers lobbied legislators Tuesday at the Minnesota Capitol in support of a comprehensive sex education bill working its way through the Legislature. Organized by the Coalition for Responsible Sex Ed, a coalition of 51 health and community organizations, a youth rally under the Capitol rotunda allowed teens to express their views on what type of sex education they want in their schools. 

“I know what it is to be taught without responsible sex ed,” said Phoebe Chastain, a sophomore at Minneapolis’ Southwest High School. Phoebe recalled her experience with sex ed in middle school. “Four different classrooms filed into our school’s auditorium to watch a 20-minute video describing abstinence as the only ethical option,” she said. “Many of my peers found it difficult to take seriously.”

Continued: Click “Read more”Part of the problem with students taking it seriously was that the teachers didn’t seem to take it seriously. “At my school, teachers seemed to have an unwritten rule: What happens in the school auditorium stays in the school auditorium.” Because the topic was taboo, Phoebe and her fellow students didn’t feel as if they could turn to their teachers if they had other questions not covered by a 20-minute video and the following question-and-answer period.

One teacher’s response to a student question was to use two condoms at once, a practice that could increase condom failure, and an answer that caused Chastain to question the teacher’s knowledge.

“Sexuality is one of those topics that everyone needs to have accurate information on,” she said. “It is foolish and dangerous to expect teens to confidentially be able to rely on simply one question-and-answer session with a teacher to provide them with all the sex ed they will need during their school years.”

“As teens we are the ones who are affected the most, and it is up to us to speak for ourselves and our future.”

On the flip side, Beth Larson, a senior at Mounds Park Academy in St. Paul, has had comprehensive sex education throughout her educational career, an education she credits for a sexually healthy student population.

“When I first heard that about one in four teenage girls in the U.S. had a [sexually transmitted infection], I was stunned,” Beth said. “The fact that this statistic does not hold true for my fellow students at Mounds Park seems to be a testament to the effectiveness of the comprehensive sex education we have had access to since the seventh grade.”

She continued, “During my 12 years at Mounds Park Academy, there has yet to be a teenage pregnancy.”

She said that comprehensive sex education gives teens the tools to make the right decisions: “If we as teens are not given access to comprehensive sex education we, will never be able to adequately learn how to protect ourselves.”

Rep. Neva Walker, DFL-Minneapolis, is the chief author of the bill in the House. She spoke to the students gathered under the Capitol rotunda about why she is offering the bill — to help them make it to adulthood.

“Things are going on with our young people whether we want to acknowledge it or not,” and they need the correct information to make informed decisions, said Walker. “It might be a young person in our lives that is choosing to abstain, and as a teen parent I want all of you to abstain,” she said. “But if you choose not to, I want you to have adequate information. If you choose to or choose not to, I want you to know how to handle the emotions inside you.”

A big part of comprehensive sex education is about understanding the emotions and feeling that come with sex, said Walker. “How do we make sure you have the skills to get past the feelings you have right now?”

Another factor in pushing for comprehensive sex education is that not all teens have parents that they can turn to with questions. “It’s just something we don’t want to talk about. Just because we may have a good relationship with our young people — not all young people have that good relationship with a loving adult,” she said. “Not all young people are comfortable going home to their parents, even our young people that have a solid relationship. They might not be comfortable telling their mom that ‘Look, I was pressured last night to have sex.’”

“Adequate information prevents STIs, teen pregnancy and abusive relationships,” Walker told the students. “Giving you the resources you need to get to adulthood and be good taxpayers is all I want.”