Washington Blade - December 10, 2004
Dyana Bagby

The report, released Dec. 1 by U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, a Democrat from California who is a strong proponent of comprehensive sex education, reviewed curriculum of 13 of the most popular abstinence education programs funded with taxpayer dollars.

Eleven of the 13 curricula - used by more than two-thirds of public schools, health departments, hospitals and religious groups in the U.S. receiving federal grants for the abstinence-only materials - contain "false, misleading or distorted information about reproductive health," the report states.

In one key example, the Waxman report accuses the FACTS abstinence-only curriculum, distributed by Northwest Family Services in East Texas, of stating that half of gay male teens are HIV positive.

The claim appears to be a misreading of data from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention's May 2002 report, "Young People at Risk: HIV/AIDS Among America's Youth." The report used surveillance data analyzed from 25 states with integrated HIV and AIDS reporting systems for the period between January 1996 and June 1999.

"Among young men aged 13- to 24-years, 49 percent of all AIDS cases reported in 2000 were among men who have sex with men," the report said.

In short, the CDC found that 49 percent of the male teens with HIV in the study had had sex with men - not that 49 percent of all gay male teens are HIV-positive.

Leslee Unruh, president of the Abstinence Clearinghouse, said Waxman's claim that FACTS "suggests" 50 percent of gay male teens are HIV-positive was taken "out of context."

The number "would have been an absurd statement if it was published as such," Unruh said.

The Abstinence Clearinghouse is a non-profit national educational organization that distributes abstinence materials and represents such programs at the national, state and local level.

"The chart in the [FACTS] curriculum is from the CDC," Unruh said in an e-mail statement. The chart reports "the total 13- to 19-year old teens infected with HIV from July 1, 1999, through June 30, 2000 - 5,262 teens" broken down by gender and risk factor," she said.

"Of the teen boys infected with HIV between 1999 and 2000, 50 percent contracted HIV through homosexual contact. This is a self-report number," Unruh said.

U.S. Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), the Senate's only physician, stated publicly after Waxman's report that the abstinence education materials should be reviewed.

Condoms questioned

Waxman's report did not focus specifically on gay youth, but it did point out scientifically inaccurate findings about condoms that are being taught as scientific fact by abstinence curricula - putting both gay and straight young people at risk if they decide condoms aren't worth using.

According to the Why kNOw Abstinence Education program, condoms fail to prevent HIV in heterosexual sex 31 percent of the time. That statement directly contradicts CDC data.

"They're distorting the facts, and a lot of it is just to scare," Waxman said. "This is totally inappropriate, especially when in some cases we're dealing with life and death."

The Bush administration is a strong supporter of abstinence-only education, which in many cases teaches abstinence until marriage.

In fiscal year 2001, under the last budget passed under the Clinton administration, abstinence-only education programs received approximately $80 million in federal funding, according to Waxman's report. Since then, federal abstinence-only funding has ballooned to $167 million in funding for 2005. President Bush had wanted $270 million for abstinence-only programs for 2005.

"I don't think talking about abstinence is wrong, ... but abstinence-only is not very effective and our youth ought to know more about how to protect themselves," Waxman said.

But Alma Golden, a deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Health & Human Services Department, issued a statement saying Waxman's report "misses the boat" and accused the lawmaker of issuing it for "purely political reasons."

"Abstaining from sex is the most effective means of preventing the sexual transmission of HIV, STDs and preventing pregnancy and the emotional, social and educational consequences of teen sexual activity," Golden said.

Gays left out

With gay marriage now legal only in Massachusetts, and the White House backing an amendment to the U.S. Constitution defining marriage as between a man and a woman, federal emphasis on abstinence-until-married education takes on a more sinister edge, according to gay rights activists.

When gay students are taught they remain abstinent until married, but at the same time see gay marriage banned across the nation, a sense of fatalism can take over, said Sean Cahill, policy director at the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force.

"Kids think they may as well not use a condom. These programs are a real waste of our tax dollars and, in my view, criminally negligent," he said.

Ryan Lee contributed to this report.

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