The sexual education system in the United States is failing LGBTQ+ youth. U.S. sexual education policies have long been influenced by moral panic surrounding sex and have been shaped by sexist and heteronormative narratives. Prejudice guiding education policy leads to sexual education that denies LGBTQ+ youth the education they deserve and contributes to severe disparities in sexual health. LGBTQ+ youth face disproportionate negative sexual health consequences, such as higher rates of contracting STIs, becoming pregnant, and experiencing coerced sexual contact[i]. Although sexual health is essential to the physical and mental health of youth, only 30 states and the District of Columbia require sexual education, and 17 states provide abstinence-only education, which is often LGBTQ+ exclusive and reliant on gender stereotype [ii].
Abstinence-only sex education doesn’t work. Abstinence-only education does not affect adolescent birth rates, while teaching comprehensive sexual education lowers the risk of teen pregnancy significantly [iii]. Solely using an abstinence approach does not make teenagers less likely to have sex, nor is it effective at delaying initiation [iv]. Furthermore, comprehensive sexual education can be a valuable tool in preventing sexual violence, while abstinence-only education often perpetuates the dangerous gender stereotypes that increase sexual violence [v].
In addition to gender stereotypes, non-comprehensive and abstinence-only sexual education promotes heteronormative worldviews and, in some states, subscribes to outright censorship and homophobia. Four states restrict how schools can discuss LGBTQ+ issues in specific curricula (i.e., sex education), five states allow LGBTQ+ issues to be discussed but require parental notification and allow parents to opt their child out, and eight states censor discussion of LGBTQ+ issues throughout school curricula [vi]. Unfortunately, LGBTQ+ exclusion in sexual education is not limited to states with legal restrictions. Even in states that allow LGBTQ+ inclusive sexual education, only 18% to 76% of secondary schools actually provide it [vii].
The deficit in LGBTQ+ inclusive education is extremely dangerous to LGBTQ+ youth, due to the disproportionate negative sexual and mental health consequences that LGBTQ+ youth face. LGBTQ+ youth are at a higher risk for negative mental health than their heterosexual cisgender counterparts, with youth who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual more than four times as likely to have attempted suicide [viii]. The LGBTQ+ mental health crisis needs to be addressed urgently, but the majority of sex education in the United States is in direct opposition to this goal. Heteronormative sex education harms LGBTQ+ youths’ mental and physical health through exclusion and, in a growing number of states, active promotion of stigma [ix]. LGBTQ+ inclusive sex education, however, reduces homophobic bullying and depressive symptoms [x]. Furthermore, research on LGB-inclusive HIV education found that LGB students who receive inclusive education reported fewer sexual partners, less recent sex, and less substance use before sex compared to LGB students in schools without inclusive education [xi]. Additionally, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, LGBTQ+ inclusive sex education can increase youths’ abilities to use condoms and talk with their partner about safer sex [xii]. Comprehensive and LGBTQ+ inclusive sex education is necessary to the physical and emotional health of youth. Yet, sexual education in the United States is currently failing to meet their needs and is disproportionately and dangerously failing to protect LGBTQ+ youth.
Throughout the country, there are countless groups fighting to change the sex education system in our country and protect the health and safety of youth. In May of 2023, Representatives Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Alma Adams (D-NC) and Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) reintroduced the Real Education and Access for Healthy Youth Act in the House and the Senate. The act would fund sex education training for teachers, provide grants for comprehensive sex education, and eliminate funding for sexual risk avoidance programs (a rebranding of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs) [xiii]. It would also require that funded programs be LGBTQ+ inclusive and medically accurate and prohibit federal funding from programs that withhold information about HIV, have been proven ineffective, and promote gender stereotypes [xiv].
If passed, this legislation would be a significant advancement for inclusive and comprehensive sexual education. Along with the Representatives and Senators who are working to pass legislation like REAHYA, the fight for comprehensive sexual education needs grassroots support from people at a local level reaching out to school boards, teachers, and administrators. There are many resources available online for advocates, such as SIECUS’ Five Steps to Advance Sex Ed Nowand GLSEN’s resources for educators [xv]. Additionally, LGBTQ+ advocacy is one of the National Organization for Women’s six core issues, and NOW’s LGBTQIA+ Take Action Check List provides some helpful resources for people interested in LGBTQ+ advocacy [xvi]. It is essential that we come together as a community and fight for the health and safety of LGBTQ+ youth who are not receiving the education they deserve.
By Eliana Sirota, Membership Intern
[ii] https://siecus.org/siecus-state-profiles/
[iv] https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/news/abstinence-only-education-failure
[vi] https://www.lgbtmap.org/img/maps/citations-curricular-laws.pdf
[viii] https://www.thetrevorproject.org/resources/article/facts-about-lgbtq-youth-suicide/
[x] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6478545/
[xiii] https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/issues/sex-education/abstinence-only-programs
[xiv] https://www.hrc.org/resources/real-education-for-healthy-youth-act
[xv] https://siecus.org/five-steps-to-advance-sex-ed-now/, https://www.glsen.org/sexed, https://www.glsen.org/activity/inclusive-curriculum-guide