The MA Senate recently passed the radical Sex Ed Mandate, euphemistically called the Healthy Youth Act (HYA). It is not certain whether the House will also bring it up for a vote. Many of you have been contacting your elected officials to voice your concerns over this dangerous bill and have received back confusing information about what this legislation will do.  

Here are some clarifications to help you navigate through the misleading claims being promoted by MA lawmakers:

They claim: The HYA ensures that any sex education curriculum taught in public schools is age-appropriate, medically accurate, and comprehensive. If school districts don’t want to offer curriculum that aligns with the HYA, they don’t have to.

We say: While it is true that districts don’t have to teach the graphic sex ed framework required by the HYA, that does not mean they have discretion to teach sex ed in a manner of their choosing. Under the HYA, if they don’t follow the state’s framework, they aren’t allowed to teach any sex ed AT ALL.

They claim: The HYA protects and enhances the rights of parents to make informed decisions concerning their children’s sexual health education. It would make sure that parents are notified of upcoming sexual health education in the classroom and gives them the opportunity to review the curriculum beforehand.  If upon review, parents feel as though these topics are not suited for their children, they maintain the right to opt their child out of the course entirely. 

We say: The current law already requires that parents be notified of their right to opt out of sex ed every year, as well as gives any member of the community a right to review the curriculum (not just parents or guardians, as the HYA states). The HYA would also limit the scope of material that parents are able to opt their child out of. The current law allows parents to opt out of any portion of a curriculum “which primarily involves human sexual education or human sexuality issues.” The HYA only allows an opt out for curriculum that “primarily involves sexual education.” This means that there will be no recourse for parents to request that their students also be opted out of LGBT content.

Ultimately, the HYA enforces an all-or-nothing dichotomy which could push some districts to stop teaching sex ed entirely. If you’re an average Massachusetts voter who believes that kids should get some form of sex ed in school, but that parents should maintain their current right to opt out and that the curriculum should be as transparent as possible, you should want this bill to fail. 

This harmful bill will force schools that choose to teach sex ed to include topics that meet the controversial standards found in DESE’s newly updated Comprehensive Health and Physical Education Framework. 

• Learn more about the type of graphic content students as young as 4 years old will be exposed to here.
• Read our legislative brief on the HYA.
• If you haven’t done so already contact your representative and ask them to oppose the HYA.