In fifth grade, Stella Gage’s class watched a video about puberty. In ninth grade, a few sessions of her health class were dedicated to the risks of sexual behaviors.
That was the extent of her sex education in school. At no point was there any content that felt especially relevant to her identity as a queer teenager. To fill the gaps, she turned mostly to social media.
“My parents were mostly absent, my peers were not mature enough, and I didn’t have anyone else to turn to,” said Gage, who is now a sophomore at Wichita State University in Kansas.
Many LGBTQ+ students say they have not felt represented in sex education classes. To learn about their identities and how to build healthy, safe relationships, they often have had to look elsewhere.
As lawmakers in some states limit what can be taught about sex and gender, it will be that much more difficult for those students to come by inclusive material in classrooms.
New laws targeting LGBTQ+ people have been proliferating in GOP-led states. Some elected officials, including candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, have been pushing to remove LGBTQ+ content from classrooms.
My sex education class, and yes I really wish I was lying here:
They separated us by gender. A guy in his early 20s maybe late teens came in, hadn’t seen him before. He gave a talk about how if we watched porn we would only be attracted to “a plastic bag” and not love our future wives while one of the super Catholic teachers we had nodded in agreement. Looking back I am pretty confident he was some college student in some religious school.
Not so fun fact, I have a sister who became a mom at age 19.
It’s not uncommon that super conservative areas have the highest rate of teen pregnancies.
Some might say that it’s a very strong correlation.