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GEORGIA
Georgia received approximately $9,180,222 in federal funds for
abstinence-only-until-marriage programs in Fiscal Year 2006.
Georgia Sexuality Education Law and Policy
Since 1989, schools in Georgia have been required to teach sexuality education and sexually transmitted disease (STD)/HIV-prevention education. Local school boards are largely responsible for deciding the specific subjects this education must cover and the grade level in which topics are introduced. However, discussions on certain subjects are mandated by state law, including: abstinence, community values, STDs, HIV/AIDS, conception, and the legal consequences of pregnancy. No discussion of condoms or other forms of contraception is required, but such discussions are allowed. The law explains that local boards of education should set standards and that “such standards shall include instruction relating to the handling of peer pressure, the promotion of high self-esteem, local community values, the legal consequences of parenthood, and abstinence from sexual activity as an effective method of prevention of pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and acquired immune deficiency syndrome.” Local school boards are also responsible for determining what is age-appropriate.
Georgia also recommends Quality Core Curriculum Standards and Resources, which suggests health education resources, topics, and curricula for grades K-12.Beginning in grade six, health education topics include STDs, HIV, and abstinence. In grades 7-12, health education topics also include pregnancy and STD-prevention methods.
Parents or guardians may remove their children from all or part of sexuality and/or STD/HIV education by sending written notice to the school. This is referred to as an “opt-out” policy.
See the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, 20-2-143.
Recent Legislation
SIECUS is not aware of any proposed legislation regarding sexuality education in Georgia.
Events of Note
ACLU Wins Lawsuit for White County GSA
February-December 2006; White County, GA
In an important win for the ACLU in July 2006, a federal judge ruled in favor of White County High School’s Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA), stating that the school district must allow the GSA to meet on campus.
The controversy began in January 2005 when a group of students applied for club recognition. In February of the same year, the school superintendent sent an email to all school employees stating that the administration was opposed to the action, but that the Equal Access Act required the district to allow the club to apply.2
The issue was raised at the next school board meeting, but board members skirted the topic when, just before the meeting, the students decided to change the name of the club to Peers Rising in Diversity Education (PRIDE). The district asserted that the name change required the group to submit a new application for the club.
Soon after the incident, the district sat down to negotiate with the ACLU of Georgia and agreed to “drop their attempts to stop” PRIDE from organizing.3 The superintendent backed away from this promise, however, when he announced a proposal to ban all non-curricular clubs. The next board meeting was again packed with community members, none of whom supported the proposed ban on school clubs. Many students and parents were concerned that banning all clubs would put students applying to college at a disadvantage. Nonetheless, the superintendent defended the move, saying that the goal was “to make sure we’re focused on our primary mission, which is academics.”4 In June 2005, the committee responsible for reviewing the superintendent’s proposal recommended that extracurricular clubs be eliminated.
In adherence to the new district rule, PRIDE was not allowed to meet on campus during the 2005–06 school year. However, the school still permitted other non-academic clubs, like the Shooting Club, a prayer group, and the Dance Team to convene on school grounds. As a result, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against White County School District for discrimination and for violating the Equal Access Act.
On July 14, 2006, over a year after the dispute started, the court decided that PRIDE has the right to meet on campus. After this ruling, the ACLU and the school district still had to negotiate a settlement for the rest of the lawsuit, which claims discrimination against PRIDE and its members.5
Teen Sex Talk Sparks Controversy
April 2006; Colombia County, GA
An abstinence-only-until-marriage program in Colombia County’s middle and high schools sparked a discussion among students, parents, and administrators about the efficacy of this message.
The program, provided by national abstinence-only-until-marriage speaker Keith Deltano, is based on the Bible and promotes abstinence through the use of humor, scare tactics, and false statistics. Trying to stress the failure rates of condoms, the speaker tied a middle school male down to a table, held a cinder block over his groin and said, “Is ten percent good enough? Is ten percent good enough?”6 He then emphasized, “Virginity never fails.” 7
While some parents condone these methods, believing that his approach to abstinence works, others are more wary. One school board member viewed his humor as inappropriate, and some community members have also voiced their disapproval.8 One parent, who heard the speaker lecture in North Carolina, said, “The guy is not a trained psychologist or sex therapist. He takes a few statistics, filters them through his narrow-minded perspective, and packages them all into an in-your-face, loud-mouthed monologue.”9
Student Sues Christian School After Expulsion
January 2006; Loganville, GA
A student at Covenant Christian Academy sued the school for damages, including invasion of privacy and emotional distress, after she was expelled for kissing a female student off school grounds.
The student attended a sleepover at a classmate’s house, where she allegedly kissed another female student. The school, upon hearing of the kiss, questioned the student about her actions and subsequently expelled her, based on her violation of the school’s code of behavior. The code states that “any behavior, on campus or away, which indicates that a student has disregard for the spirit of the school standards would be sufficient reason to ask for him/her to withdraw from Covenant Christian Academy.”10
The school defended its position claiming that under “ecclesiastical abstention,” courts cannot interfere with matters of the church.11 The student and her family dropped the charges in February 2006.
DeKalb County’s Abstinence-Only Program Stopped After Parents Protest
February 2005; DeKalb County, GA
Largely as a result of protests from a group of Shamrock Middle School parents, the Choosing the Best abstinence-only program was at least temporarily shelved by the DeKalb County superintendent.
At a January 2005 meeting, parents challenged the federally funded abstinence-only program and called for the teaching of more comprehensive information. One Shamrock Middle School parent said, “It should’ve been seen for what it is….I think it’s political. I think it’s religious. I don’t think it should have come into the school at all.”12
Officials from the school district admitted that the curriculum was never officially approved by the school board, although state law requires its approval. In January 2002, the program was approved only by a sex/AIDS education advisory committee after Choosing the Best, Inc. approached the school system. Choosing the Best came free-of-charge to the schools from the publisher, which some felt may have been a factor in its easy approval. According to DeKalb County’s coordinator of health and physical education, although the curriculum was supposed to go to the school board for approval, it did not because, as the coordinator explained, “There was a major change in the county. I can’t remember what happened at that point.”13
The Choosing the Best program has been highly criticized due to the curriculum’s strict abstinence-only-until-marriage focus, reliance on fear and shame-based messages, inclusion of misinformation, and biased views of marriage and sexual orientation.14 One parent at the meeting, a biologist, exclaimed, “Yes, we would all like our children to be abstinent, if not to marriage, at least darn close to it. But you can’t take this head-in-the-sand approach. You still provide them with the information to protect them.”15
Choosing the Best, Inc. is a well-connected organization headed by Bruce Cook, who was appointed by the Georgia governor to lead the Board of the Department of Human Resources, but stepped down in 2005. In 2001, Choosing the Best, Inc. received a three-year federal grant for close to $1.5 million and in 2004, the organization won another three-year grant, for $2.4 million, to serve eight Georgia districts, including DeKalb County.
In mid-February 2005, the superintendent of DeKalb County schools asked all middle schools in the district to stop teaching Choosing the Best. The superintendent said, “We are stopping this in the middle of the road until we take it to the board.”16
Bruce Cook Steps Down From Position as Chairman of the Georgia Department of Human Resources Board
March 2005; GA
Bruce Cook, founder and CEO of Choosing the Best, Inc., an abstinence-only-until-marriage curricula provider, stepped down from his position as Board Chairman of the Georgia Department of Human Resources after less than two years at the post.
Cook was appointed the new chairman of the Georgia Board of Human Resources in September 2003. The board oversees and sets policy for the Georgia Department of Human Resources (DHR). Some of the projects that the Board oversees include teen pregnancy prevention and family planning services.
Through his position, Cook worked to cut family planning and teen pregnancy prevention programs. Under his watch, the Board of Human Resources proposed cutting approximately $4.7 million from the Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005 budgets for the Adolescent Health and Youth Development Program (AYHD), which included teen pregnancy prevention. The cuts would have closed 39 Teen Centers around the state, which provide a number of important services to young people, including distributing contraception and providing information on preventing pregnancy. Under the new plan, five of these centers would have been reopened as part of a pilot program to explore new methods of pregnancy prevention, which critics speculated would have had an abstinence-only focus. This proposed cut would have also led to a loss of $1.2 million dedicated to family planning, meaning that approximately 64,000 women in Georgia would have lost access to these services.17
According to the board, the cuts were proposed because the programs lacked “measurable results.”18 However, critics argued that the success of these programs was already evident. According to the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (G-CAPP), teen pregnancy rates in counties with an AYHD program have dropped more sharply than in others since 1997, and counties with a Teen Center have made the most progress.19
Critics speculated that these proposed cuts were partly due to Cook’s strong abstinence-only philosophy. Choosing the Best, Inc. produces abstinence-only-until-marriage curricula, including Choosing the Best LIFE, Choosing the Best PATH, and Choosing the Best WAY for high school, upper middle school, and lower middle school students, respectively. Cook developed the original Choosing the Best program with his wife in 1993 for their son’s class.20
SIECUS’ review of these curricula found that they rely on fear and shame to influence young people’s behavior, suggest that premarital sexual activity is inevitably harmful, and discourage the use of condoms and other contraceptives by providing misleading information about their failure rates. These curricula are also written exclusively for heterosexual students, rely on gender stereotypes, and include biased information about abortion.
Speaking against the cuts, Greg Bautista, director of El Puente, the Gainesville G-CAPP affiliate, remarked that, “the system apparently is working. Rates are going down….Cutting this money is a step in the wrong direction.”21
In March 2005, Cook stepped down amid allegations that he used his position at the DHR to promote his own company’s programs in Georgia schools. Cook denied these allegations and defended his decision to step down, saying he believes he accomplished his mission of providing leadership during a transition in DHR.22 He plans to lead a task force to develop recommendations for improving the management and oversight of the Georgia State Community Service Boards, which provide community-based services for the mentally challenged and the developmentally disabled.23
Georgia’s Youth: Statistical Information of Note
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In 2005, 92% of high school students in Georgia reported having been taught about AIDS/HIV in school compared to 88% of high school students nationwide.24
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In 2000, Georgia’s abortion rate was 18 per 1,000 women ages 15–19 compared to a teen abortion rate of 24 per 1,000 nationwide.25
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In 2004, Georgia’s birth rate was 53 per 1,000 women ages 15–19 compared to a teen birth rate of 41 per 1,000 nationwide.26
DeKalb County, Georgia
-
In 2005, 44% of female high school students and 63% of male high school students in DeKalb County, Georgia reported ever having had sexual intercourse compared to 46% of female high school students and 48% of male high school students nationwide.
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In 2005, 6% of female high school students and 25% of male high school students in DeKalb County, Georgia reported having had sexual intercourse before age 13 compared to 4% of female high school students and 9% of male high school students nationwide.
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In 2005, 11% of female high school students and 30% of male high school students in DeKalb County, Georgia reported having had four or more lifetime sexual partners compared to 12% of female high school students and 17% of male high school students nationwide.
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In 2005, 30% of female high school students and 40% of male high school students in DeKalb County, Georgia reported being currently sexually active (defined as having had sexual intercourse in the three months prior to the survey) compared to 35% of female high school students and 33% of male high school students nationwide.
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In 2005, among those high school students who reported being currently sexually active, 64% of females and 82% of males in DeKalb County, Georgia reported having used condoms the last time they had sexual intercourse compared to 56% of females and 70% of males nationwide.
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In 2005, among those high school students who reported being currently sexually active, 10% of females and 8% of males in DeKalb County, Georgia reported having used birth control pills the last time they had sexual intercourse compared to 21% of females and 15% of males nationwide.
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In 2005, among those high school students who reported being currently sexually active, 9% of females and 19% of males in DeKalb County, Georgia reported having used alcohol or drugs the last time they had sexual intercourse compared to 19% of females and 28% of males nationwide.
-
In 2005, 90% of high school students in DeKalb County, Georgia reported having been taught about AIDS/HIV in school compared to 88% of high school students nationwide.
Title V Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Funding
Georgia was eligible for $1,467,206 in federal Title V funds in Fiscal Year 2006. The Title V grant requires states to provide three state-raised dollars or the equivalent in services for every four federal dollars received. The state match may be provided in part or in full by local groups. SIECUS was unable to obtain the exact amount of funding the state received or information on how it makes up the required match. The Children and Youth Coordinating Council oversees the Title V abstinence-only-until-marriage funding in Georgia.
Georgia allocated its funding to 21 sub-grantees. The sub-grantees use a variety of curricula, including Choosing the Best LIFE, Choosing the Best PATH, Heritage Keepers, I’m Every Woman, and WAIT (Why Am I Tempted) Training.
SIECUS reviewed Choosing the Best LIFE and found that it names numerous physical and psychological consequences of premarital sexual activity, suggests that sexually active teens will never have happy futures, and implies that only teens with low self-esteem and poor judgment become sexually active. For example, Choosing the Best LIFE states that “Relationships often lower the self-respect of both partners—one feeling used, the other feeling like the user. Emotional pain can cause a downward spiral leading to intense feelings of lack of worthlessness (sic).”27
SIECUS reviewed Choosing the Best PATH and found that it provides endless information on the negative consequences of premarital sexual activity and utilizes a variety of tactics to suggest that teens should feel guilty, embarrassed, and ashamed of sexual behavior. For example, Choosing the Best PATH asks students: “How does being sexually active as a teen affect how a person feels about himself or herself?” The suggested answer is: “Can feel sad about losing virginity, loss of self-respect, blames self for getting pregnant or contracting an STD.” It goes on to say, “Sexual activity also can lead to the trashing of a person’s reputation, resulting in the loss of friends.” 28
SIECUS reviewed Heritage Keepers and found that it contains very little information about the majority of topics suggested by SIECUS’ Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education; K-12, such as puberty, anatomy, and sexual behavior. Even topics that are frequently discussed in detail in other abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, such as condoms and STDs, receive very little mention in this curriculum. Instead it devotes most of its lessons to the importance of marriage and abstinence before marriage. In these lessons, Heritage Keepers relies on messages of fear and shame and promotes biased views of gender, marriage, and pregnancy options. For example, Heritage Keepers states, “Males and females are aroused at different levels of intimacy. Males are more sight orientated whereas females are more touch orientated. This is why girls need to be careful with what they wear, because males are looking! The girl might be thinking fashion, while the boy is thinking sex. For this reason, girls have a responsibility to wear modest clothing that doesn’t invite lustful thoughts.”29
SIECUS also reviewed WAIT Training and found that it contains little medical or biological information and almost no information about STDs, including HIV/AIDS. Instead, it contains information and statistics about marriage, many of which are outdated and not supported by scientific research. It also contains messages of fear and shame, and biased views of gender, sexual orientation, and family type. For example, WAIT Training explains, “men sexually are like microwaves and women sexually are like crockpots….A woman is stimulated more by touch and romantic words. She is far more attracted by a man’s personality while a man is stimulated by sight. A man is usually less discriminating about those to whom he is physically attracted.” 30
The mission of Metro Atlanta Youth for Christ, Inc. is “to communicate the life-changing message of Jesus Christ to every young person in the metro Atlanta area.”31 Metro Atlanta Youth for Christ conducts the “PEACE Project” to reduce risky behaviors and the rate of pregnancy among Hispanic youth. Previously, Metro Atlanta Youth for Christ used this funding for its “Teen Moms” program, which placed pregnant or parenting young women with a “caring woman” to mentor them as parents while professing the abstinence-only-until-marriage message.
River Road Church of Christ, Inc., another Title V grantee, stated in its grant description that “River Road- 4 R.E.A.L. means we are for real when it comes to respecting, educating, abstaining, and leading our youth.” Its website features a section entitled “Abortion Hurts Us All” which states that church parishioners lined the local streets, “grimly facing the oncoming traffic demonstrating together against the ills of abortion…Each held a sign which made their case blatantly clear to all who passed by: ‘Abortion Kills Children,’ ‘Abortion Hurts Women,’ ‘Pray to End Abortion.’”32
Wholistic Stress Control Institute, Inc. sponsors the HYPE-A Club, which “is designed to promote sexual abstinence as the best decision young people can make for themselves.”33
Community-Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) and Adolescent Family Life Act (AFLA) Grantees
There are eleven CBAE grantees in Georgia: The Boys and Girls Club of Bulloch County, Carrollton Housing Authority, Choosing the Best, Inc., Communities in Schools Augusta-Richmond County, Inc., East Central Georgia Consortium, Friends of Cobb County Commission on Children and Youth, Future Foundation, Metro Atlantic Youth for Christ, Inc. (receives two grants), Rockdale Medical Center, SAGE Communications Services, Inc., and Turner County Board of Education.
There are four AFLA grantees in Georgia: Emory University, Heritage Community Services (receives two grants), Morehouse School of Medicine–Health Promotion Resource Center, and Wheeler County Board of Education.
Choosing the Best, Inc. created several curricula including Choosing the Best WAY, Choosing the Best PATH, and Choosing the Best LIFE which are used nationwide by various organizations that provide abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. On its website, Choosing the Best Inc. falsely claims that:
Comprehensive programs focus on teaching contraceptive use while downplaying the benefit of abstinence primarily because they believe: 1) teen sex is inevitable; 2) promoting abstinence is wrong because it teaches “values;” 3) teen sex, as long as contraception is used, is unproblematic.
In fact, comprehensive sexuality education teaches that abstinence from sexual intercourse is the most effective method of preventing unintended pregnancy and STDs, including HIV; teaches accurate medical information about STDs, including HIV; teaches that religious values can play an important role in an individual’s decision about sexual behavior; and offers students the opportunity to explore their own values and the values of their families and communities. (See the Title V section for more information on the Choosing the Best curricula series.)
The Future Foundation reaches over 400 low-income and at-risk youth in the metro Atlanta area each year with its “Abstinence Til’ Marriage (ATM)” program and uses the WAIT (Why Am I Tempted) Training curricula. (See the Title V section for more information on WAIT Training.)
Heritage Community Services is a non-profit organization based in South Carolina. Its website contains information about STDs but no information regarding prevention methods other than abstinence. In addition, many of its messages are fear-based. The “Teen Pulse” section of the website includes “Questions and Advice.” In response to the question, “How far can I go with the opposite sex?” the website says that “a good minimum guideline is to declare everything covered by a bathing suit as off-limits. Everyone needs to know his or her boundaries before getting in a risky situation. Once someone is excited physically, it can be difficult to stop.”34 Heritage also warns, in its “Abstinence Tips,” section, that teens should “avoid dangerous situations that could make it harder to abstain. This could mean…avoiding places such as bedrooms or places with a lack of proper adult supervision.”35 Heritage Community Service also runs a media campaign which consists of several 30-minute “infomercials” with testimonials from young people who have chosen to abstain. The slogan of the media campaign is, “If you knew better, you’d do better!” (See the Title V section for more information on the Heritage Keepers curriculum.)
Friends of Cobb County Commission on Children and Youth maintains The Real Majority, a website with abstinence-only-until-marriage messages and information about virginity pledges stating, “[w]hen compared to teens who didn’t take a virginity pledge, teenagers who took a pledge are less likely to engage in sexual intercourse, less likely to engage in oral sex, less likely to engage in anal sex, and less likely to engage in sex with or act as prostitutes.”36 In truth, research has found that such pledges only help some adolescents delay sexual intercourse. When they work, pledges help this select group of adolescents delay the onset of sexual intercourse for an average of 18 months—far short of marriage. Researchers found that pledges only worked when taken by a small group of students. Pledges taken by a whole class were ineffective. More importantly, the studies also found that those young people who took a pledge were one-third less likely to use contraception when they did become sexually active than their peers who had not pledged. These teens are therefore more vulnerable to the risks of unprotected sexual activity, such as unintended pregnancy and STDs, including HIV/AIDS. Further research has confirmed that although some students who take pledges delay intercourse, ultimately they are just as likely to contract an STD as their non-pledging peers. The study also found that the STD rates were higher in communities where a significant proportion (over 20%) of the young people had taken virginity pledges.37
The Real Majority also tells teens, “By practicing the virtues involved in waiting—such as faithfulness, self-control, modesty, good judgment, courage, and genuine respect for self and others—you are developing the kind of character that will make you a good marriage partner and attract the kind of person you would like to marry!”38
Federal and State Funding for Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs in FY 2006
Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Grantee
Length of Grant
|
Amount of Grant |
Type of Grant (includes Title V, CBAE, AFLA, and other funds) |
Children and Youth Coordinating Council
http://www.cycc.state.ga.us/ index.htmlfederal |
$1,467,206* federal
|
Title V |
Augusta-Richmond County C.P.C.F., Inc. |
$25,020 |
Title V sub-grantee |
B & G Clubs of Columbus & Phenix City, Inc. |
$50,800 |
Title V sub-grantee |
Carrollton Housing Authority
DUAL GRANTEE 2006–2011
www.carrolltonhousing authority.com |
$55,655 $345,308 |
Title V sub-grantee CBAE |
Communities in Schools of Laurens County, Inc. |
$69,405 |
Title V sub-grantee |
Communities in Schools of Burke County, Inc. |
$82,897 |
Title V sub-grantee |
Dodge County Board of Education
http://www.dodge.k12.ga.us/ |
$81,238 |
Title V sub-grantee |
Girls Inc. of Columbus and Phenix-Russell |
$52,493 |
Title V sub-grantee |
Henry County Board of Commissioners
http://www.co.henry.ga.us/ |
$85,000 |
Title V sub-grantee |
Heritage Community Services, Inc.
TRIPLE GRANTEE 2003–2008 TRIPLE GRANTEE
2004–2009
www.heritageservices.org |
$75,261
$300,000
$200,000 |
Title V sub-grantee
AFLA
AFLA |
Hope House of Savannah, Inc.
http://www.hopehouse savannah.org/ |
$19,178 |
Title V sub-grantee |
Housing Authority of Savannah
http://www.savannahpha. com/ |
$18,340 |
Title V sub-grantee |
McDuffie County Board of Education
http://www.mcduffie.k12. ga.us/ |
$39,280 |
Title V sub-grantee |
Metro Atlanta Youth for Christ, Inc.
TRIPLE GRANTEE 2003–2006
TRIPLE GRANTEE 2006–2011 |
$74,840
$363,936
$577,931 |
Title V sub-grantee
CBAE
CBAE |
Newton County Board of Commissioners
http://www.co.newton.ga.us/
|
$60,009 |
Title V sub-grantee |
Next Level Community Development Center, Inc. |
$85,000 |
Title V sub-grantee |
Pulaski County Board of Education |
$18,262 |
Title V sub-grantee |
River Road Church of Christ, Inc.
http://www.riverroadchurch
ofchrist.com/ |
$79,085 |
Title V sub-grantee |
Thomaston-Upson School System
http://www.upson.k12.ga.us/
home.aspx |
$85,000 |
Title V sub-grantee |
Union Mission, Inc.
http://www.unionmission.org/index.htm |
$49,976 |
Title V sub-grantee |
Wholistic Stress Control Institute, Inc.
http://www.wholistic1.com/ hype.html
|
$50,798 |
Title V sub-grantee |
YMCA of Metropolitan Atlanta, Inc.
http://www.ymcaatlanta.org/ |
$50,798 |
Title V sub-grantee |
The Boys and Girls Club of Bulloch County
2005–2008
www.bgcbulloch.org |
$796,232 |
CBAE |
Choosing the Best, Inc.
2004–2007
www.choosingthebest.org |
$799,910 |
CBAE |
Communities in Schools Augusta-Richmond County, Inc.
2005–2008
www.cisga.org |
$405,978 |
CBAE |
East Central Georgia Consortium
2004–2007 |
$799,814 |
CBAE |
Friends of Cobb County Commission on Children and Youth
2005–2008
www.therealmajority.com |
$793,711 |
CBAE |
Future Foundation
2006–2011
www.future-foundation.com |
$428,677 |
CBAE |
Rockdale Medical Center
2003–2006
www.rockdalemedicalcenter.org |
$177,809 |
CBAE |
SAGE Communications Services, Inc.
2006–2011 |
$350,194 |
CBAE |
Turner County Board of Education
2006–2011
http://mail.turner.k12.ga.us/ index.html |
$598,996 |
CBAE |
Emory University
2004–2009
www.emory.edu |
$299,520 |
AFLA |
Morehouse School of Medicine–Health Promotion Resource Center
2002–2007
www.msm.edu |
$250,000
|
AFLA |
Wheeler County Board of Education
2002–2007 |
$225,000 |
AFLA |
* SIECUS was unable to obtain the exact amount of Title V abstinence-only-until-marriage funding Georgia received in Fiscal Year 2006.
Title V Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Coordinator
Danielle Reudt
Children & Youth Coordinating Council
10 Park Pl., Suite 410
Atlanta, GA 30303
Phone: (404) 508-6584 |
Georgia Organizations that Support Comprehensive Sexuality Education
ACLU of Georgia
P.O. Box 54406
Atlanta, GA 30303
Phone: (404) 523-5398
www.acluga.org |
Emory University School of Medicine
Regional Training Center
100 Edgewood Ave. NE, Suite 802
Atlanta, GA 30303
Phone: (404) 523-1996
www.med.emory.edu/rtc
|
Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention
100 Auburn Ave., Suite 200
Atlanta, GA 30303
Phone: (404) 524-2277
www.gcapp.org
|
Georgia Parents for Responsible Health Education
P.O. Box 15006
Atlanta, GA 30333
www.gprhe.org |
Planned Parenthood of Georgia
75 Piedmont Ave. NE, Suite 800
Atlanta, GA 30303
Phone: (404) 688-9305
www.ppga.org |
|
Georgia Organizations that Oppose Comprehensive Sexuality Education
Newspapers in Georgia
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Cynthia Tucker
Editorial Page Editor
P.O. Box 4689
Atlanta, GA 30302
Phone: (404) 526-5084
|
The Augusta Chronicle
Tom Corwin
Health & Medicine Writer
P.O. Box 1928
Augusta, GA 30903
Phone: (706) 823-3213 |
Gwinnett Daily Post
Heather Darenberg
P.O. Box 603
Lawrenceville, GA 30046
Phone: (770) 963-9205 ext. 1302 |
Gwinnett Daily Post
Melissa Wilson
Health & Medicine Editor
P.O. Box 603
Lawrenceville, GA 30046
Phone: (770) 963-9205 ext. 1307
|
The Macon Telegraph
Joe Kovac
Health & Medicine Writer
P.O. Box 4167
Macon, GA 31208
Phone: (478) 744-4397 |
Savannah Morning News
Anne Hart
Health & Medicine Reporter
P.O. Box 1088
Savannah, GA 31402
Phone: (912) 652-0374 |
References
- This refers to the fiscal year for the Federal Government which begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, Fiscal Year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
- Alan Sverdlik, “Gay School Club Splits Cleveland,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 14 February 2005, 1C.
- The Associated Press, “ACLU: School Will Allow Club for Gays, Supporters,” AccessNorthGA.com, 23 March 2005.
- Erin Williamson, “Cleveland School Bans Some Clubs,” Gainesville Times, 26 August 2005, accessed 8 January 2006, <www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/stories/20050826/localnews/8931.shtml>.
- Zack Hudson, “Settlement Likely over White County GSA,” Southern Voice, 28 December 2006, accessed 2 January 2006, <http://www.southernvoice.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=10645>.
- Donnie Fetter and J. Scott Trubey, “Teen Talk Urges Abstinence,” Colombia County Bureau, 28 April 2006, accessed 14 June 2006, <http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/042806/met_79247.shtml>.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Dean Driver, “Parents Are Friends not Masters,” Letter to the Editor, Yes! Weekly, 20 April 2006, accessed 20 November 2006, <http://www.yesweekly.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=118&
SectionID=2&SubSectionID=&S=1>.
- Lateef Mungin, “School Defends Expulsion Over Kiss,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 11 January 2006, accessed 13 January 2006 <http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/0111metkiss.html>.
- Rubina Madan, “Academy Fires Back in Lawsuit,” Winnett Daily Post, 10 January 2006, accessed 13 January 2006, <http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=1&url_
article_id=10548&url_subchannel_id=&change_well_id=2>.
- Jen Sansbury, “Board Didn’t Approve Sex Ed; Murky Process: Controversial Abstinence-Based program Got Grant, but No Evaluation,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution 3 February 2005, 1JB.
- Jen Sansbury, “ DEKALB COUNTY: Board Never OK’d Sex Ed Curriculum,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 3 February 2005, 1JH.
- For more information, see SIECUS’ reviews of Choosing the Best LIFE and Choosing the Best PATH at <http://www.communityactionkit.org/curricula_reviews.html>.
- Editorial, “OUR OPINION: Sex Miseducation; DeKalb parents Were Smart to Say It’s a Mistake to Teach Teens that Abstinence Is Their Only Course,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 4 February 2005, 18A.
- Jen Sansbury, “DeKalb Schools Halt Sex Ed Curriculum,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 10 February 2005, 2C.
- Planned Parenthood of Georgia Action Alert, “What’s At Stake! Georgia Budget Cuts,” accessed 20 November 2003 <http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/gabudget2003/explanation>; “Our Opinions: State Can’t Afford to Cut Family Planning Programs,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 23 October 2003.
- “Our Opinions: State Can’t Afford to Cut Family Planning Programs.”
- Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention, “Action Alert: Contact Governor Perdue and Youth State Legislators—Teen Centers Slated For Closure.”
- “About Us,” Choosing the Best, accessed 17 May 2006 <http://www.choosingthebest.org/about_us/index.html>.
- Ibid.
- Craig Schneider, “DHR Leader to Step Down for New Post; Cook to Help Service Boards,” Atlanta-Journal Constitution, 26 March 2005.
- Ibid.
- Danice K. Eaton, et al., “Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 2005,” Surveillance Summaries, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, vol. 55, no. SS-5 (9 June 2006): 1-108, accessed 26 January 2007, <http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/yrbs/index.htm>. Although Georgia did not participate in the complete 2005 YRBS, DeKalb County, which includes Atlanta, did. Results for Dekalb County are listed separately.
- U.S. Teenage Pregnancy Statistics: Overall Trends, Trends by Race and Ethnicity and State-by-State Information (New York: The Guttmacher Institute, February 2004), accessed 26 January 2007, <http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2006/09/12/USTPstats.pdf>.
- National Vital Statistics Reports 55.01 (Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, 2006), 10, accessed 26 January 2006, <http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr55/nvsr55_01.pdf>.
- Bruce Cook, Choosing the Best LIFE (Marietta, GA: Choosing the Best Inc., 2000). For more information, see SIECUS’ review of Choosing the Best LIFE at <http://www.communityactionkit.org/curricula_reviews.html>.
- Bruce Cook, Choosing the Best PATH (Marietta, GA: Choosing the Best Inc., 2000). For more information, see SIECUS’ review of Choosing the Best PATH at <http://www.communityactionkit.org/curricula_reviews.html>.
- Anne Badgley and Carrie Musselman, Heritage Keepers Student Manual (Charleston, SC: Heritage Community Services, 1999). For more information, see SIECUS’ review of Heritage Keepers at <http://www.communityactionkit.org/reviews/HeritageKeepers.html>.
- Joneen Krauth-Mackenzie, WAIT (Why Am I Tempted) Training, Second Edition (Greenwood Village, CO: WAIT Training, undated). For more information, see SIECUS’ review of WAIT Training at <http://www.communityactionkit.org/curricula_reviews.html>.
- Editorial, “Abstinence-Only Education for Teens an Unhealthy Idea,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, (6 August 2003), accessed 10 April 2007, <http://pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=2506>.
- “Abortion Hurts Us All,” Church of Christ at River Road, 6 February 2007, accessed 10 April 2007, <http://www.riverroadchurchofchrist.com/nuabortn.htm>.
- “HYPE-A Club,” Wholistic Stress Control Institute, accessed 10 April 2007, <http://www.wholistic1.com/hype.html>.
- “Questions and Advice,” Heritage Community Services (2005-2006), accessed 22 January 2007 <http://heritageservices.org/questionsandadvice.html>.
- “Abstinence Tips,” Heritage Community Services (2005-2006), accessed 22 January 2007 <http://heritageservices.org/abstinencetips.html>.
- “Parents Corner: Just the Facts,” The Real Majority (2007), accessed 12 January 2007 <http://www.therealmajority.com/doc/parents/just-the-facts>.
- Peter Bearman and Hannah Brückner, “Promising the Future: Virginity Pledges and the Transition to First Intercourse,” American Journal of Sociology 106.4 (2001): 859-912; Peter Bearman and Hannah Brückner, “After the Promise: The STD Consequences of Adolescent Virginity Pledges,” Journal of Adolescent Health 36.4 (2005): 271-278.
- “Make a Pledge Today,” The Real Majority (2007), accessed 10 February 2007,
<http://www.therealmajority.com/doc/teens/make-a-pledge>.
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