- checking login information
Loading...Tennessee Senate Approves Bill To Warn Students That Hand-Holding Is A ‘Gateway Sexual Activity’
Written by Scott Keyes
Like any state legislature dealing with 8 percent unemployment and thousands of its residents facing disenfranchisement, the Tennessee Senate is targeting the menace of underage hand-holding.
Last week, the Senate passed SB 3310, a bill to update the state’s abstinence-based sex education curriculum to define holding hands and kissing as “gateway sexual activities.” Just one senator voted against the legislation; 28 voted in favor.
Since the bill specifically bans teachers from “demonstrating gateway sexual activity”, educators would be prohibited from even demonstrating what hand-holding is. Breaking these laws could result in a lawsuit, as Hunter from Daily Kos notes:
If your teacher teaches you anything about sex that isn’t specifically on the approved curriculum, like demonstrating “holding hands” for the class instead of quietly tsking about the dangers it poses, they can be sued.
Still, this anti-hand-holding push may only be the second-worst bill passed in Tennessee this month. Nearly a century after the Volunteer State played host to the Scopes Monkey Trial, the legislature has now enacted a new law allowing educators to teach creationism alongside evolution.
This post was originally published by ThinkProgress.
Related Stories:
Creationism Back On The Curriculum In Tennessee Public Schools
Teen Birthrates Drop Thanks to Smart Sex Ed
Everything I Needed to Know About Sex I Learned From Dan Savage
Read more: abstinence-only education, public education, sex-education, tennessee
Photo from cindy47452 via flickr
have you shared this story yet?
some of the best people we know are doing it
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.
Recent Comments from Causes
Interesting article Marianne, it rather reminded me of the 2012 Republican Primary debates where every…
why does Amazon sell foie gras when Jeff Bezos doesn't support it?????
I have students whose parents are in jail or have been. It's nice to see Sesame Street discuss this.…
meet our writers
309 comments
+ add your ownHolding hands? Really? I remember happily holding hands and swinging arms with my friends when I was a little girl. I will admit, sometimes it led to hugging. Pity help us with this idiotic thinking.
This kind of thinking is so absurd there aren't words to describe it. It is beyond my comprehension how these elected officials ever get into office. We seem to have a flurry of Todd Akins running our country!
Next they'll abolish education, which is the gateway to critical thinking, and which would indubitably lead children to resist the authority of the Church and the Republicans. Parents who insist on educating their children will be arrested for seducing children into secular humanism
How can you still live in a country where the Senate is made up of complete idiots? I'm at a complete loss for words.
this is so sad, I don't even know what to say.
Gee, wonder how many sexual harassment cases will be brought by children against the parents who insist they hold their hands while walking? These people are complete idiots.
Okay, I really think there is something in your water after all! Why else would the vote be 28 to 1? Can we please enact legislation barring pregnancies by any 2 people any closer than 15th cousins! Imbreeding is obviously affecting common sense and what handholding really is... not a gateway to sexual activity. If 2 people cannot keep it together while holding hands they need to take some lessons in self-control.
28 to 1!? Seriously!? Did their mothers smoke copious amounts of weed during pregnancy or something? This just goes beyond words.
This is rediculous .
Hand holding is a gateway to sexual activity, for sure! I've had sex with every single person I have ever held hands with! Sure, I have! Just where is Tennessee and what century are they in?
login to add your comment
use your care2 login
add your comment