Santa Maria Sun / School Scene

Community Action Partnership offers LGBTQ+ inclusive sex ed

By KASEY BUBNASH

When St. Joseph High School student "M." has a question about developing a healthy, same-sex relationship or about having safe sex, he Googles it. He hasn't learned about LGBTQ+ specific issues at his school and he would never risk asking.

"I'd rather just not get that attention," M. said with a nervous laugh. "I know someone would make a comment and I'd rather not go through the horror of that situation. I'd rather just hold off on those questions and figure them out for myself later."

For those reasons, M. asked to be identified by his first initial only. He said he hasn't come out to most of his peers at school, and he certainly hasn't come out to his family.

M. said he doesn't feel represented by or included in the curricula taught at St. Joseph High School, including in sex ed.

"It's funny because they don't even mention same-sex couples," M. said. "We just don't talk about it at all really."

While California public schools are mandated by state law to provide students with comprehensive sex education, including medically backed and LGBTQ+ inclusive information, private schools like St. Joseph High adhere to different curricula laws. And even at local public schools, gay, bisexual, and non-binary students tend to feel left out of the conversation.

St. Joseph High School freshmen attend "Sex Respect Mini Courses" in January, according to a parent handout provided to the Sun by Principal Joanne Poloni. Throughout that week students learn about healthy and harmful relationships, fetal care and development, dating and decision making, and sexually transmitted infections.

Chastity and abstinence are key themes of the week, according to the handout, which also states that as a Catholic high school, "teachings of the Roman Catholic Church regarding sexuality and relationships are taught in the Sex Respect program."

Students learn about gender respect, the reproductive system, and Christian vocations in their sophomore and senior years.

Brooke Klever, a health educator with Community Action Partnership San Luis Obispo, said the nonprofit organization provides comprehensive, inclusive sex ed classes to about 25 schools on the Central Coast, including some within the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District.

Klever said Community Action Partnership health educators focus on promoting safe sex rather than abstinence, and use inclusive terminology and teaching methods. Splitting male and female students up, she said, can be problematic for non-binary and questioning students.

"We don't just talk about boys and girls," Klever said.

The 13-lesson program includes information on all sexual orientations and gender identities, contraception, healthy relationships, and methods of protection against sexually transmitted infections (STI), Klever said.

The program, which is funded by the U.S. Office of Adolescent Health, is one of many teen pregnancy prevention research projects around the nation that will lose funding on June 30; the program was supposed to be funded through 2020.

Community Action Partnership won grant funding in 2015 through the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, which provides money for research projects aimed at decreasing teen pregnancy and STI rates, Klever said. But in July 2017, the Trump administration cut nearly $200 million in federal teen pregnancy prevention grants.

Without outside funding, Klever said she and several other Community Action Partnership employees will lose their jobs at the end of June, and the program will be discontinued.

"The cuts haven't passed yet," Klever said, "but there is very little hope."

But local teens aged 14 to 19 years old will still have a chance to participate in a study on two comprehensive sex ed programs aimed at LGBTQ+ youth that will be conducted by The Center for Health and Prevention in San Luis Obispo on May 19, according to Clinic Director Kayla Wilburn.

Attendees will fill out a survey on arrival, Wilburn said, and will subsequently be split into groups based on their answers. The groups will participate in one of two recently written and untested inclusive sex ed curricula: the High Key Program and IN-clued. Both programs are designed specifically for LGBTQ+ youth.

Participants will then have an opportunity to provide feedback, and that feedback will be analyzed by researchers. If either or both of the curricula are found to be successful, they could be offered at schools around the nation.

Although Wilburn said California has come a long way in providing inclusive sex education, current curricula still often miss topics specific to LGBTQ+ youth.

"In talking with youth, there are holes in the curricula that need to be filled for them to feel like they are truly being included in the discussion," Wilburn said. "And that's what this could offer."

Contact Staff Writer Kasey Bubnash at kbubnash@santamariasun.com.