New momentum is growing for abstinence-only education with bills advancing in Utah and Tennessee, in addition to Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) federal Abstinence Education Reallocation Act. The guise for such bills has always been a reduction in teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, even though studies show that teens who take virginity pledges have just as much sex as those who don’t, but are actually less likely to use protection. Instead, the true motive seems to be a “see no sex, hear no sex, do no sex” approach designed to somehow erase the existence of contraception, homosexuality, and sex in general from the world in which hormone-flodded teenagers exist.

This is most evident from the American Family Association’s latest attempt to justify abstinence-only education. A study in the American Journal of Health Studies found that students who took a particular abstinence-only class were apparently more likely to perform well standardized math exams. AFA’s go-to abstinence expert, Valerie Huber of the National Abstinence Education Association, explains the significance of these findings:

HUBER: The researchers were suggesting that it was probably because there are a number of character qualities that are necessary to remain abstinent that also have … usefulness in other areas of their lives. We’ve been seeing for a long time that abstinence education isn’t just about saying ‘no’ to sex; it’s saying ‘yes’ to a lot of things in the future, and it positively impacts a person’s life — not just in that very singular area of sexual activity.

There are numerous flaws with Huber’s conclusions:

First, the study did not actually evaluate the actual effectiveness of the abstinence-only class, so any assumed benefit from the class (such as lower teen pregnancy rates, etc.) remains undocumented.

Second, the study focused only on one specific type of peer-educator based abstinence-only education, which means the results cannot be generalized to other curricula, which are usually taught by adults.

Further, the only conclusion the researchers drew from the study was that students may have benefited from having peer educators. There is nothing to indicate that students developed “character qualities” from the teaching of the class. If anything, the research suggests it was the mentorship students received from their peer educators that made a difference, not the lessons learned.

Finally, the study only compared students who took this one particular abstinence-only class with students who had no sex education class of any kind. None of the results offer insight into what impact comprehensive sex ed or sexual literacy approaches might have. In fact, the researchers conclude the article by admitting that “studies that compare the influence of abstinence-only and comprehensive sex education programs on academic performance would be very informative for interpreting the findings presented herein.”

Of course, the most compelling point surely remains that sex ed courses should be evaluated for the impact they have on students’ understanding of sexual health, not for how they impact math and English test scores.

Martin Ssempa demonstrates a gratuitous sex act at an anti-gay press conference.

People for the American Way’s Josh Glasstetter has found what seems to be a connection between Invisible Children, the organization responsible for Kony 2012, and Martin Ssempa, a virulently anti-gay pastor in Uganda who advocates for the “Kill the Gays” bill. The link stems from a student group at Grove City College, an evangelical school, that worked with Invisible Children, and through it, Martin Ssempa:

STUDENT 1: A guy named Martin Ssempa came our way, who is a Ugandan-born world leader in the AIDS activism and abstinence education. He came to Grove City College and spoke to us and gave us the plan to send this shipment of “love” over to Uganda.

STUDENT 2: Martin Ssempa is an amazing man. He just shared a lot about his vision for healing in Africa, particularly in his country.

Watch it:

The connection, if true, is not surprising. Alternet reported earlier this week that Invisible Children receives large sums of money from anti-gay groups linked to Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, The Fellowship Foundation (“The Family”), and Lou Engle’s The Call. While Kony 2012, an exposé on Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony that has been viewed nearly 80 million times on YouTube, is not explicitly anti-gay, it seems clear that Invisible Children is committed to a similar worldview as these other groups.

No doubt, Ssempa’s complete opposition to the separation of church and state aligns with the Christian Dominionist mentality that links the other organizations. He opposes the use of condoms to fight the spread of HIV, promoting instead abstinence-only education, but he is best known for his anti-gay evangelism. Ssempa shows gratuitous gay porn in his presentations, claiming homosexuality is an “abomination” and that all gay men engage in fisting and “anal licking.” Watch him discuss his opposition to homosexuality:

In an interview with Rachel Maddow last night, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) claimed to have no knowledge of David Bahati, the Uganda legislator sponsoring the “Kill The Gays” bill. In the book he was shilling, Inhofe had taken a swipe at Maddow for criticizing his affiliation with The Family, a powerful secret society of evangelical Christian political organizers, of which Bahati is also a core member. When Maddow tried to set the record straight about her comments, Inhofe claimed he had never heard of Bahati nor had any interaction with him:

MADDOW: The “Kill the Gays” bill sponsor has brought the bill back now, and he’s telling reporters, as of last month, that the whole idea for the “Kill The Gays” bill came from, as the New York Times put it, “a conversation with members of The Fellowship” — a.k.a. The Family — “in 2008—”

INHOFE: No, that’s just wrong.

MADDOW: This is what he says! This is how he explains where the bill came from.

INHOFE: Who is he?

MADDOW: He is David Bahati. He says he was told by Americans that it was too late in America to propose such legislation. That’s David Bahati speaking to The New York Times.

INHOFE: And can you tell me who he is? I’ve never heard of him.

MADDOW: David Bahati was described as The Family and The Fellowship’s “key man” in Uganda. Did you ever talk to any Uganda legislators?

INHOFE: How would I know if—? How could I—? I don’t have any idea who you’re talking about, and I certainly don’t have any idea on these accusations of executing gays.

Watch it:

Given how tightly-knit The Family likely is — as best the organization is understood from the investigative reporting of journalist Jeff Sharlet — it is near-impossible that Bahati could have had any interactions with the group without Inhofe being well aware of who he was and why he was present. From the interview, it seems Inhofe is unclear why he even critiqued Maddow in his own book, making his claims of ignorance about the “Kill The Gays” bill, especially considering all the time he claims to have spent in Uganda, all that more suspicious.

Candi Cushman (left) debating GLSEN's Eliza Byard (right) on CNN (September, 2010)

Candi Cushman is Focus on the Family’s so-called “expert” on education and bullying, which made her a prime candidate for GLAAD’s new Commentator Accountability Project (CAP). She regularly promotes ex-gay therapy in schools, opposes anti-bullying initiatives, and claims that the LGBT movement is trying to indoctrinate students by “sexualizing” schools. But she’s not happy about CAP, which she mistakenly calls a “blacklist,” because she think it promotes hate against Christians:

“Hate” is wrong. So let’s talk about “hate,” “extreme rhetoric” and “animus.”  I submit for your review just a few of the comments we’ve received from those who disagree with our stance on marriage and sexuality. Normally, we wouldn’t subject our audience to this sort of language, and please consider this a warning, but I think it’s necessary to expose the irony here.

• “You *expletive* tyrannical theocRAT heterosupremacist gay bashers. Take your gay-bashing, kill-the-Jews Bible, stick it down your Jesus koolaid drinking throat and choke on it.”
• “YOUR *expletive* BIBLE IS ALL …HEARSAY”
• “the bulk of bullying comes from what kids learn in Church about hating others…”
• “You are murderers… You are evil, murderous sons and daughters of *expletive*”
• “Expect retribution on a biblical scale”

It’s worth noting that the first three comments listed were posted to the Day of Dialogue® Facebook page—which, keep in mind, has an audience comprised mostly of students, ages 13-17. What exactly was the purpose of those comments? To intimidate teens from sharing about Jesus with their friends? It’s also interesting to note that the only comments that ever mentioned “hate” on that student-oriented page appear to have come from adult, gay activists.

She is trying to compare a few inappropriate reactionary Facebook comments to a spokesperson spreading harmful misinformation on national television. And of course, she doesn’t bother to mention why the Day of Dialogue encourages teens to “share Jesus with their friends.” Its whole premise is to respond to the Day of Silence, the GLSEN-organized protest against anti-gay bullying, by motivating children to be vocal in their Biblical condemnations of homosexuality as “sickly and weak” and something gay students “struggle” with. Though Cushman claims to oppose bullying, all of her actions and rhetoric serve to reinforce a dangerous climate for gay students.

GLAAD’s project is not an “intolerant” call for “censorship,” but an attempt to hold harmful rhetoric like Cushman’s accountable. In schools, bullies can sometimes get away with their actions by claiming their victims started the fight, but in the age of accountability, the real bullies’ actions are well documented.

A judge in Russia has this week upheld the Ministry of Justice’s ban on organizing a Pride House for LGBT athletes at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. In her decision, Svetlana Mordovina reiterated several of the claims that have motivated recent legislation to ban the distribution of gay “propaganda,” including that homosexuality threatens children and families and undermines national security:

MORDOVINA: The aims of the organization contradict the basics of public morality and the policy of the state in the area of family motherhood and childhood protection. The activities of the [Pride House] movement leads to propaganda of non-traditional sexual orientation which can undermine the security of the Russian society and the state, provoke social-religious hatred, which is the feature of the extremist character of the activity. Moreover it can undermine the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation due to the decrease of Russia’s population.

Such aims as creating an understanding of the necessity to fight against homophobia and the creation of positive attitudes towards LGBT sportsmen contradicts with the basics of public morality because they are directed towards the increase of the number of citizens of sexual minorities which breaches the understanding of good and evil, good and bad, vice and virtue.

Mordovina seems to believe the canard that supporting the LGBT community will somehow prevent or discourage heterosexual couples from having children. It’s not even true that a less homophobic society will make more people gay — though more may come out instead of entering sham marriages. Nevertheless, her decision is a blow to LGBT athletes from around the world who will travel to an already unfriendly place to find they have no hub where they can gather and support each other.

The 2010 Olympics in Vancouver featured the first-ever Olympics Pride House, and this year’s Summer Games in London will also have such a facility as well as a festival running alongside the games. Watch a clip from Stephen Colbert’s visit to the Vancouver Pride House:

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