Good Times With Gov

Have y’all heard of 4parents.gov, the pro-abstinence website created by the federal government? If you haven’t, I have only two words to describe it: Fucking appalling.
According to the Associated Press, a number of advocacy groups are demanding that Bush take down the site, and with damn good reason. Their argument is that the “advice” that’s provided by the site for parents who want to talk to their kids about sex is inaccurate, outdated and biased. Particularly, they feel there’s a need for promotion of contraceptives, which the site actually trashes — they provide a chart that displays how condoms are unreliable, prone to breaking, and ineffective. Fabulous.
Monica Rodriguez, an official at the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, said Thursday, “There’s this misconception that giving young people negative information about contraception will encourage them not to have sexual intercourse, when all it will do is encourage them not to have contraception, so the strategy backfires.”
The council, along with more than 100 organizations, sent a letter regarding the site to Michael Leavitt, the secretary of the Health and Human Services Department.
There is also concern about sections that discuss homosexuality which, to me, is the most horrifying part of the site. One section says: “If you believe your adolescent may be gay, or is experiencing difficulties with gender identity or sexual orientation issues, consider seeing a family therapist who shares your values to clarify and work through these issues.”
As simple as it may seem to the average jane ma or joe pops that reads this, the homophobic implications in here are so outrageous it makes me want to fucking spit. It was good to know that Joe Solmonese, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, addressed the language used in a separate letter to Leavitt. He assures Leavitt that describing sexual orientation as an “alternative lifestyle” is erroneous and misleading language that can alienate kids at a time when they’re exceptionally vulnerable.
Let’s hope Leavitt gets a hint and does something about this crock of shit, yet something tells me not to hold my breath.