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EDUCATION

Tennessee's "No Holding Hands" Bill Under Fire

Law targets "gateway sexual activity" in sex ed class

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by Mary Noble

Senior Editor t +

Image: ParentDish

The Volunteer State recently passed a law banning sex ed that's "too explicit," allowing parents to sue educators for "promoting or condoning 'gateway sexual activity'" among students.

Legal blog FindLaw speculates that the bill actually could be interpreted to mean teachers should discourage hugging and hand-holding.
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Does Tennessee's abstinence bill go too far, or is all the criticism much ado about nothing?

42 Comments (view in Forum)

  • hankf68
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    It's more of "big brother's" attempt (working well unfortunately) to separate us and broaden their goals of turning families and neighbors against one another! What the hell does hand holding hurt anyone? My home state has really gone stupid!
  • dustyoutlaw
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    There you have it. Want to bet how well this law is going to be followed? Want to tell us where they are going to get the money to patrol the state watching out for people holding hands or hugging? Care to guess who this law is against? Now guess who will take them to court and win? All this at taxpayer of Tennessee expense. IDIOTS
  • dustyoutlaw
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    Oh come on man. There was no law until the gays got out there making themselves known in public holding hands and stuff. I am 65. I don't like it. I really don't. But just because I don't like it doesn't mean I have a right to stop it in a free society. This is yet another Bible Belt end run around the whole "gay conspiracy" that the right wing Christian Fundamentalists want us to believe that is destroying the moral fabric of America. I don't know if it is or not. Seems like a pretty immoral country even without the gays holding hands. Funny that Tennessee which is famous for moonshiners, hillbillies, hicks, country music people drowning their sorrows in alcohol, a state that allows poisonous snake handling in religious cults, is all of a sudden worried about people holding hands and hugging. Give it a rest man, you have to know what this is all about. And they'll lose. They always lose in the courts. State courts/federal courts, they always lose. With Taxpayer money footing the bill.
  • ir0nw0lfe
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    Well, I was wondering if that's what you were getting at. If this is aimed at stopping public displays of affection by gays, its going to be a miserable failure. There's no way the state prevails in a case for trying to stop people from holding hands. They'll lose big. But wouldn't the law only apply to juveniles at school or did I misread it? How would this stop gay adults from PDAs?
  • Isaac-Asimov
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    There seems to be a bit a misrepresentation of what the bill actually says, in favor of what opponent's are saying it could be implied to say. While I don't agree with the bill itself, I'd like to ask that people actively discuss what the bill is actually about. It isn't a bill that actively bans people from holding hands, it's just implied that it could be extended that far. I really don't think anyone is dumb enough to try and extend it that far, though.
  • ir0nw0lfe
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    Does anyone really think a law banning hugging and hand holding cam be enforced? Seems to me if their parents aren't teaching these kids the difference between a relationship that involves hugging and hand holding and a relationship that involves going all the way, then we know why Tenn. Has such a high pregnancy rate? This law is a knee jerk reaction based on moral outrage at a teacher using a sex you in a classroom to teach safe oral sex. I can understand patents thinking that such instruction by a teacher becomes condoning said activity. The answer probably lies somewhere in the middle. Some type of sex education is needed in Tenn. Whether that's going to occur in the classrooms or in the home is the question parents need to answer. BTW LogicNeeded, I understand your sentiment but if you read the last line of the story , abstinence based education seems to be working in Tenn.
  • Bobolinsky
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    "... although it has dropped dramatically since 1998 after the first abstinence-focused sex ed program was introduced."

    From the ABC article linked in the story-
    "Experts say it won't. They say it leaves teenagers inadequately educated about sexuality and prevention of pregnancy and disease."

    Which experts?

    From the Law and Daily Life article cited in the story-
    "Critics fear the Tennessee abstinence bill will prohibit sex-ed teachers from discussing topics like contraception and sexually transmitted diseases."

    Which critics?

    My uninformed guess is the experts and critics are Planned Parenthood or some other group(s) that doesn't like to be named.
  • dances-weebles
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    well, christian pastors are one group, educators are another group of experts, as are doctors and sociologists... they are all experts, and all are experts, and critics of such moronic thinking
  • SophieB
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    Isn't it interesting that the dramatic drop in pregnancy rates AFTER abstinence-focused sex ed programs were introduced was mentioned almost as an afterthought?
  • Bobolinsky
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    well, christian pastors are one group, educators are another group of experts, as are doctors and sociologists... they are all experts, and all are experts, and critics of such moronic thinking

    You know their names? The names of the groups? Please provide that information so I can check their credibility. Or are you expecting me to believe that all pastors, educators, and doctors think alike? I know that all sociologists think alike so I'll give you that one but doctors?....pastors?......educ ators?....they all think alike?

    Ok if you say so. Then inform me Dances... Is there a report that the PEDS (pastors, educators, doctors, and sociologists) published. Where is the article where PEDS states and supports its opinion on laws like this? Is there a video clip of a news conference? Was there a press release with PEDS on the top of it? Do they have a website? If they do, they must go by a different name because I can't find it. I even changed the order of the letters... DEPS...SPED...DESP... etc. Nothing works.

    I can't find it anywhere. Please help.
  • Bobolinsky
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    When I was in the eighth grade I got caught by Mr. Stack sucking face with my girlfriend in the stairwell. He stopped us. We went our separate ways. We didn't need disciplined and he didn't need a law to tell us to stop.

    Isn't THAT the way we would all like it?
  • Bobolinsky
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    Holy Dangling Modifier...

    This is better

    Back in 8th grade, my girlfriend and I were in the stairwell sucking face when Mr. Stack discovered us....

    That's better :)
  • Elise
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    What is inappropriate? The point is that this bill doesn't define what is and what is not gateway behavior? BTW, people hug at workplaces all the time. Big deal.
  • Bobolinsky
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    I know what you're getting at Marine... but I didn't ask my parents if it was ok that night I touched my first boobie ;)

    I with you Marine, but this seems a little bit too "Footloose". This whole thing has me thinking that Kevin Bacon is going to show up and start dancing.
  • Stratton
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    I don't understand why sex education has to be a state issue. Why not let local communities decide what is appropriate in their own schools? There are always liberal communities in conservative states and vice versa.
  • Goebel
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    People are criticizing it justly. An anti-hand-holding law is just... It seems like an idea that's equivalent to the innovation made by all the great and industrious men and women who decided that cooking pop-tarts in the bath-tub was a great way to save time.
  • Brittney
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    That has got to be the dumbest law on another note if you just teach & push about abstinence then how are kids supposed to know about proper contraceptives & stds
  • Young_Liberal
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    My school frowns upon hugging in hallways, and it seems extremely prudish. We are teenagers. We have raging hormones, and PDA is something we are bound to commit. But is it really as horrible as they make it seem? I don't think so. I could hug my best friend the exact same way as my boyfriend, and they wouldn't say a work. The homosexuals at my school hug and kiss all over campus, and sometimes it becomes very vulgar. But I don't think that because they're gay it's wrong. I think that because their gay, they aren't reprimanded. And THAT is what is wrong.
  • ReneeCatherine
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    WOW. just...WOW. How dumb. I have never herd of anything so stupid in my life. So what, you get arrested for HOLDING HANDS. thats outrageous, and you wonder why we're all so BROKE. Tax dollars paying for people to get locked up from hugging and holding hands. How about holding hands with your mom to cross the street, or giving your brother a hug at school. I honestly can not believe I just read that. What is it honestly going to do?? People are going to be curious about sex and people are going to have it regardless. It's HUMAN NATURE. Hello, how do you think we got here? Your not going to stop hormones with a law. And to think, we vote for these morons, I bet your local convenient store clerk could do a better job. You need to educate kids about things that could potentially happen to them before they are stuck in a situation they know nothing about and thats a broad statement.