Swift Boats Aimed at Obama on Sex Ed

Ahoy, I see a Swift Boat on the horizon for Senator Barack Obama, but it is one he and every American, regardless of party or faith, who is interested in comprehensive sexuality education, should welcome. The truth will sink it once and for all.

When David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) appears on Meet the Press and other mainstream shows, his reporting is, well, mainstream. He is the very model of a thoughtful pundit, in tune with one small conservative slice of Christians in America. He, nor CBN, speak for all Christians, let alone all people of faith. But on his blog, his often breathless regurgitation of social conservative talking points, or, as in this case, just mere speculation about a new poll, undermines his credibility. My guess is the rumored poll is just as incredible, because of its topic: sex ed.

Without disclosing his source, the polling firm, any data from the poll, who contracted for the poll, or how the questions in the poll were framed, Brody is "reporting" that Obama, who supports evidence-based, age-appropriate comprehensive sexuality education, has a potential problem with conservative Christian voters. Brody goes on to discuss problems -- as he sees them -- with "age appropriate sex ed" and provides select examples from Obama's record.

Recently the National Abstinence Education Association announced its "Parents for Truth" campaign, a one million-dollar effort to shore up support for more abstinence-only funding at the expense of taxpayers, despite its failures, well-documented in this non-partisan report last year, and ample proof of abstinence-only misinformation.

This is a battleground Obama should welcome. Unlike Brody at CBN, here at RH Reality Check, we believe in using polls that measure real public opinion, not polls that are designed solely to test negative messages. In fact, we've debunked the abstinence-only polls of the National Abstinence Education Association, and written about their questionable (many ab-only leaders have been indicted) relationships, and their hiring of the firm that did the Swift Boat campaign against John Kerry in 2004.

If Brody really wanted something to "report" on, he might take time to look within the glass house that is the abstinence-only movement, and their recent questionable grants of taxpayer dollars, as opposed to throwing stones at Obama.

Actual public opinion polling suggests Americans believe, overwhelmingly, in comprehensive sexuality education. The term "age-appropriate" is where the Swift Boaters will likely focus their energy, trying to make it sound like educators will be teaching kindergardners how to use condoms. But parents want their young children armed with facts, able to fend off unwelcome advances from adult predators, whether they come in the form of relatives, teachers, priests or clergy. Parents want young kids to know what to do if someone touches them inappropriately, and not to be so ashamed of their bodies that they are afraid to tell mommy or daddy if someone did something bad to them.

One study of elementary school-age sexuality education, performed at two Catholic schools in Canada, examined curricula designed for grades K-2, grades 3 and 4, and grades 5 and 6, each with specific age-appropriate content. I grant you that Canada is a bit more open than we are, but the fact this study was conducted in Catholic schools was most fascinating. It's time people in the U.S. ask: if the rest of the world can figure this out -- why can't we? Why when it comes to sex do we allow narrow political agendas to blind us to reality? Which candidates, at all levels of government, will bring our policies more inline with reality?

According to the study, the "emphasis is on defining child sexual abuse in a way that is meaningful to children and how to say 'no' to activities or instances of physical touching that are inappropriate and make children feel uncomfortable. The program also addresses what constitutes appropriate physical touching so that the children will not become confused or anxious."