Washington Blade - August 9, 2002
Lou Chibbaro Jr.

The D.C. government accepted a $763,558 federal grant on July 2 to teach teenagers that sexual activity "outside the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects" and that sexual abstinence until marriage is the best way to avoid AIDS and teen pregnancy.

The grant, which was awarded by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, prohibits the city from using any part of the grant funds to discuss condom use as a means of contraception or HIV prevention except to say that condoms have a potentially high failure rate.

Ivan Torres, the openly gay deputy director of the city's HIV/AIDS Administration, which is an arm of the D.C. Department of Health, said the new grant would not interfere with ongoing city programs that promote condom use as a means of curtailing the spread of HIV.

But gay rights and AIDS activists said they were alarmed that officials with the D.C. Department of Health applied for the abstinence-only grant, which bars churches and after-school mentoring groups that are expected to receive funds under the grant from providing details about condoms to their teenage charges. An abstinence-only program, local activists said, would send a conflicting message to the city's gay, bisexual and transgender youth, who are being targeted by other city programs that promote condom use as well as abstinence to curtail HIV transmission.

The Republican-controlled Congress set strict rules for implementing the federal government's abstinence-only grants under a 1996 welfare reform law signed by President Clinton. The Bush administration has since greatly increased funding for abstinence-only programs, and some administration officials want to make such programs the cornerstone of the government's HIV prevention effort.

The 1996 rules state that federally funded abstinence-only programs must teach that "a mutually faithful monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the only expected standard of human sexuality." The rules also state that such programs must teach that "sexual activity outside the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects."

"It should be obvious to everyone that gay people can't get married," said Arthur Padilla, executive director of the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League, a D.C. group that provides assistance to D.C. area gay youth. "So when you talk about delaying sex until marriage, you send a message that has a negative impact on the self-esteem of sexual minority youth."

Padilla said programs that bar discussion of condom use as an effective means of curtailing the transmission of HIV could also have a devastating effect on inner-city teenagers - a segment of the city's population believed to be at high risk for HIV. He said denying information that could help teenagers avoid HIV infection is unethical.

Padilla and Bob Summersgill, president of the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance, said they have no objection to promoting sexual abstinence as a means of curtailing HIV and teen pregnancy. The two said their only objection is the imposition of programs that proclaim "abstinence-only" as the sole means of achieving those objectives.

"The city should never have accepted this grant," said Summersgill. "Whoever made the decision to apply for the grant should be fired."

Ron Simons, executive director of Us Helping Us, a D.C.-based AIDS group that provides services to African-American gay men, said he doesn't object to the city's decision to apply for the abstinence-only grant. But Simons called on DOH officials to "do all they can" to make sure the city puts out an overall inclusive AIDS education message that includes condom use as well as abstinence.

"Those who are pushing this [exclusive abstinence-only program] don't know about or don't care about the issues of young people of color," Simons said. "Those of us who are concerned about youth aren't going to withhold information that can save lives."

Different messages reduce risk, Distict officials say

Torres disputed charges that the abstinence-only grant will detract from other city programs that promote condom use along with other "risk reduction" methods for combating HIV. He noted that the city funds - and will continue to fund - organizations such as the Whitman-Walker Clinic and Us Helping Us, which target men who have sex with men for information about condoms and "safer sex" campaigns.

"There is no reason for one strategy to take precedent over another," Torres said. "We will do whatever we can to reduce HIV, STDs and teen pregnancy."

Noting that most of the funds for the abstinence-only grant will be used to target children between the age of 9 and 14, Torres said, "We will try to educate them on the great idea of abstinence, which is the only certain method of preventing HIV. But if and when they decide to become sexually active, the other programs will kick in," he said. Condom use is "definitely" covered under other city programs, Torres said.

When asked about concerns by AIDS activists that the abstinence-only grant bars the city or community groups accepting its funds from discussing condoms in a positive light, Torres said those who would benefit from knowledge about condoms would learn about them in other city programs.

"It's good that we have separated these programs," Torres said. "This will avoid confusion. It's like teaching one subject in each class. You don't mix Spanish with French."

A copy of the city's application for the grant could not be obtained by press time. The Sexuality Information & Education Council of the United States, a private, non-profit group that advocates on behalf of sex education, released a summary of the D.C. grant proposal based on its own review of the application.

According to the SIECUS summary, a "large chunk" of the grant funds will be contracted out to the D.C. Black Churches Initiative, a non-profit group. The summary says the rest of the funds will be used by the city's Department of Human Services' "Courage to Wait" campaign, which is aimed at curtailing teen pregnancy.

"The program will occur in 21 District churches," the SIECUS summary says. "Specifically, it includes a peer-led education program, a mentor program, a train-the-trainers program, and a high school drama troupe. They will be targeting Boys and Girls clubs as well as the Latino community."

William Smith, SIECUS's director of public policy, questioned Torres' claim that the city will apply the grant funds mostly to youth between the ages of 9 and 14. Smith said federal rules governing the grant funds require that they be used to provide abstinence-only education to youths up to the age of 18 and that grant recipients cannot limit their programs to youths under 18.

Smith, who wrote a commentary for the Washington Post urging the city to cancel the grant and return the money to HHS, said the District would be sending a "disjointed message" to its young people if it goes through with the grant program.

"Less than one quarter of D.C. households consist of married heterosexuals," Smith wrote in his July 28 commentary. "Less than 20 percent have children. Yet the federal government apparently thinks that the remaining majority of people in the District ought to be celibate, and the city apparently has agreed in its grab at the carrot of federal funding."

News reporter Lou Chibbaro Jr. can be reached at lchibbaro@washblade.com.

FOR MORE INFO: D.C. Department of Health. HIV/AIDS Administration. 717 14th St., NW, 10th Floor. Washington, DC 20002. 202-727-2500. dchealth.dc.gov

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