Yes! Utah is on a fast track to becoming the first sex-free state in the country. I know, I know, a lot of people already thought it was. But the status was never official. Thanks to
Utah’s legislators (dominated by Republicans. Surprise!), the dream could become reality.
The Senate and House passed a
bill that dismantles sex education in the state. It’s an incredible,
groundbreaking bill that, among other things, absolutely forbids any discussion
of homosexuality, premarital sex, or contraception, even if kids ask about it.
Teachers are not allowed to talk about such horrible, horrible, things. It
also allows schools to choose an abstinence only sex education program, or to
just say, "Fuck sex education," and not teach it at all, leaving it up to
parents.
"I recognize that some
parents do not take the opportunity to teach in their own homes, but we as a
society should not be teaching or advocating homosexuality or sex outside
marriage or different forms of contraceptives for premarital sex," Sen.
John Valentine (R-Orem) told the Salt Lake Tribune. Damn straight (pun totally
intended).
For some reason, a lot of people
are upset and are urging Gov. Gary Herbert to veto the bill. Will he or won’t
he? Only his hairdresser knows for sure. For now, he’s saying his signature or
veto depends on whether it’s "good policy for the state of Utah."
Uh, listen Herbert. The choice
is obvious. The bill makes perfect 100% no shit Sherlock sense. Sign it!
Everyone knows sex is a menace
to society (especially the gay kind). It’s something that should not be
happening under any circumstances besides a man married to a woman making a
baby (not trying to make a baby, folks, but life-begins-at-conception
making only. Anything else is cheating. No freebies!). And yet, somehow, as the
wise members of the early 90s group LaTour once lamented, "People are still
having sex." And that was over 20 years ago! Why won’t sex just crawl back into
its hole (or any other inappropriate metaphor)?
The answer is deceptively
simple: people be talkin’. That’s right. The Sex Problem in America is due to
the Talkin’ About Sex Problem in America (Salt-N-Pepa, I’m looking at you). The
key to solving any and all problems is to stop talking about them. If you don’t
talk about it, it doesn’t exist. Wa la! It’s genius, really.
Not everybody sees the wisdom,
however.
"What this bill is, is a mandate
against reality," Sen. Pat Jones (D-Salt Lake County) told her fellow
lawmakers. Clearly she has never had an unintended pregnancy that she just
pretended wasn’t happening so it would just go away.
Other naysayers include the Utah
Education Association. "Frankly, we see ... this as a need to protect
children who may not have the opportunity to get the needed information on
critical issues that are life saving in some cases," the UEA’s Kory
Holdaway told the Salt Lake Tribune.
Ugh, that old "protecting
children" argument. You know what we need to protect children from? Their evil
sex-parts.
Other forces also seem to be
conspiring against Utah’s wise lawmakers, too: "If the goal is to prevent teen
sex, however, Utah lawmakers may be working against their own ends. Research
released yesterday by the reproductive health research organization The
Guttmacher Institute found that receiving sex education actually delays teen
sex." The source for this info? LiveScience.com. Boo!
The Utah legislature is already
working on an abstinence-only science education bill.