DENVER — A bill about how sex education should be taught in schools has a lot of parents upset. Opponents gathered outside the state capitol Saturday to discuss their concerns, and rally against the controversial bill.
“The state does not have the right to legislate the morality that will be taught about sexuality to our children,” said Brad Bergford.
“Colorado’s students deserve access to age-appropriate, accurate and comprehensive information regarding sex education to keep themselves and their classmates healthy and safe,” said Rep. Lontine, D-Denver. “I don’t think it’s our place to look at sex ed through a lens of religious ideology.”
The bill sets guidelines for how comprehensive sex education should be in Colorado. It includes teaching the meaning of consent, what LGBTQ models can look like, and different pregnancy outcomes including parenting, adoption and abortion. You can read the bill here. (https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2019A/bills/2019a_1032_01.pdf)
The bill allows parents to excuse their kids from these sex ed lessons, and schools would be required to send out written notification and outlines to parents about the subject matter.
Saturday afternoon critics cited issues with local control, saying the bill could be unconstitutional, and they’d be willing to challenge this in the courts.
The bill is heading over to the Senate Appropriations Committee, and if it passes will move on to the Senate floor. Since there have been amendments made to the bill, the House would have to confirm or reject those measures before it would go to the Governor’s desk.