Howie Lind sent this letter to all members of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and the Fairfax County School Board. It appeared as a Letter to the Editor in the Northern Virginia Journal on February 6, 2003.Money for Sex Survey is Just Tip of the Iceberg
Dear Fairfax Supervisors:
Have you no decency? Asking our high schoolers - my kids, too - sex questions in an official government document legitimizes these adult sexual acts as behavior that our kids may be expected to engage in.
Someone told me to "wake up and smell the coffee" about the dangers of teenage pregnancy (and preteen pregnancy in some cases). I don't doubt that this occurs, but the answer is not to subject thousands of students to these very inappropriate questions for the misdeeds of a relative few.
Do you think you will be able to eliminate pregnancies for these underage girls by asking these questions? I strongly doubt it. The undesired effect may be that the opposite will result.
In the current fiscal environment, do you think the public would approve of the Fairfax County School Board spending $65,000 of our hard-earned tax dollars surveying students about whether they have engaged in these sexual acts? I doubt that, too.
The $65,000 for this survey would be the tip of the iceberg, since more studies and money would be required to implement any recommendations.
Take a step back and ask yourselves: Do you really want to have these questions asked of your own children, or of other family members (young and old)?
The sexualization of our high school students certainly does not need to be continued by this government-sanctioned sex survey.
HOWIE LIND
Candidate, 32nd State Senate District
McLean____________________________________________
Authorized and Paid for by Howie Lind for State Senate Howie Lind for State Senate. Replies or other comments should be directed to howie@howielind.com