MARSHALL (KMHL) – A speaker is coming to Marshall to discuss a controversial proposal before legislatures that would require all schools to teach comprehensive sex education to students.
Julie Quist, with the Child Protection League, will be speaking in Marshall tonight. Quist is trying to spread the message about the proposal because she has serious concerns about it. Quist says comprehensive sex education goes too far.
“We’re not saying there should not be sex education in the schools,” said Quist. “Number one, it should be locally controlled, but number two, it should not specifically sexualize our children.”
Quist notes that the Minnesota School Boards Association is opposed to it, and she says it’s a direct shot at local control.
“One of the things the bill says is that it must be sensitive to community standards, that’s just language that’s thrown in there, it means nothing,” said Quist. “What community standards? Whose community standards? One size fits all? Who did they discuss this with in the local communities? They didn’t do anything like that. In fact, before this was passed [in the Minnesota house last year] people had no idea.”
Quist is also concerned because schools don’t want to teach it either. She says the curriculum as it’s designed right now would allow non-licensed teachers in to school districts to teach it, and she says they are proposing to teach it to students as early as elementary school.
Quist is speaking tonight at the Living Word Lutheran Church at 7 p.m.
