Sep 15, 2006  |  By: JOSHUA LYNSEN  | COMMENTS     

Efforts intended to resolve a contentious sex-education debate in Maryland have instead created new problems.

The revised Montgomery County Public School curriculum — unveiled last month after months of revision work — has elicited new complaints from evaluators. Among the criticisms are concerns that gay students receive no specific information from a video on condom usage.

“It’s important to say something for those students so they have the information so they can stay safe,” said Jim Kennedy, co-founder of Teach the Facts, a coalition of Maryland parents and supporters of a gay-inclusive sex education curriculum.

Conservative groups, meanwhile, counter that the district should make no effort to “normalize anal sex.”

Dr. Ruth Jacobs of Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum said the curriculum should include a 2005 U.S. Surgeon General’s statement that “anal intercourse is simply too dangerous to practice.”

“The lesson normalizes oral and anal sex by presenting them without discussing their risks,” she said. “We should not normalize anal sex. Anal sex is risky behavior.”

Representatives from Teach the Facts, Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum, and other groups will meet later this month with district officials to discuss these and other curriculum changes.

The new curriculum is the district’s second attempt to rewrite the sex education program. The first rewrite triggered a courtroom showdown when conservative groups objected to the new content.

To settle the lawsuit, school officials agreed to restart the curriculum revamp process. Evaluation of the proposed replacement curriculum is ongoing.

Video reactions mixed

Debate has initially focused on the video, “A Condom Use Demonstration: Understanding How to Use a Prophylactic.” Created by the district to give students instruction on condom inspection, usage and disposal, the video has received mixed reactions.

Regina Griggs, executive director of the anti-gay Parents & Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX), praised the district’s decision to begin and end the video with a warning that abstinence is “the only way” to stay safe.

“They stress what most parents want stressed for kids: abstinence,” she said. “It comes across that the only true protection is abstinence, and there are failure rates even with condoms.”

Kennedy, however, said the five-minute video is too brief. He noted it fails to tell students to discard a condom that’s been used wrongly, or what they should do if a condom breaks.

“I don’t think it meets the educational need,” he said. “It’s just going to need some work.”

Kennedy said a supplemental handout for students includes some guidance, but the information would be better conveyed in the video.

“You’re in class, you’re talking about penises,” he said. “What can you say? Kids will pay attention to that.”

District spokesman Brian Edwards said the video wasn’t intended to be comprehensive. It’s just one part of a 45-minute class about condom usage.

“The video is designed to present clearly and succinctly how to use a condom,” he said. “That’s its sole purpose.”

Jacobs said the video best serves students by reiterating a limited number of rudimentary concepts.

“This gives them basic information in a way they can focus on it,” she said. “The things they need to stay alive with are there, and there’s not a lot of distraction.”

Kennedy said students would be better served, though, by a video that is comprehensive and memorable.

“The information that they get isn’t necessarily something they’re going to use tonight,” he said. “But maybe 3, 4, 5, maybe 10 years down the road, they’ll want to know the right way to use one of these things.”

Gay topics on tap

Review of the video is just the first step in an extensive curriculum evaluation that could last into November.

The 15-member citizens’ advisory committee will next discuss the proposed “lessons on sexual orientation” for eighth and 10th grade students. The curriculum is expected to offer progressive views on gay issues.

The lessons will be discussed at the committee’s Sept. 27, Oct. 11 and Oct. 25 meetings. More meetings, if necessary, are scheduled for Nov. 1 and Nov. 8.

All meetings of the Citizens Advisory Committee on Family Life & Human Development are open to the public. The evening meetings occur at the Carver Educational Services Center, the district’s headquarters, at 850 Hungerford Drive in Rockville.

But before evaluators can review the new lessons, they must determine whether the video is sufficient. Jacobs and Griggs said they would vote to support the video as it was shown to evaluators Aug. 30.

“STDs and pregnancy are very serious things, and should be portrayed in a factual manner,” Griggs said. “And I think the video does that.”

Kennedy, however, said the existing video is flawed, and should be revised.

“I would vote not to accept it in its present form,” he said, “but I would vote for it as a starting point.”