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The Michigan Messenger going forward

By Staff Report | 11.16.11

I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]

Colorado-based abstinence program provided false and misleading information to Michigan students

HIV-AIDS-small
By Todd A. Heywood | 11.16.11

An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.

Class action lawsuit filed against MERS over unpaid taxes

foreclosure
By Todd A. Heywood | 11.15.11

Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.

Schuette fights important mercury regulations

epa_logo
By Eartha Jane Melzer | 11.14.11

Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.

Gay leaders concerned about abstinence-only education grants

By Todd A. Heywood | 01.13.09 | 12:06 pm
Abstinence-only education cartoon by Mikhaela B. Reid (www.mikhaela.net

Abstinence-only education cartoon by Mikhaela B. Reid (www.mikhaela.net

LANSING — Nine grants from the state of Michigan totaling $1.4 million for abstinence-only education are drawing fire from health advocates and gay rights leaders because they say the grants exclude messages for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.
 
Specifically, the granting rules mandate that abstinence be defined as no sex before marriage, and they define a mutually monogamous relationship in the context of marriage as the “expected standard of human sexuality.”

The grants to nine community organizations were announced at the beginning of January by the Michigan Department of Community Health.

“I think it is pretty clear from the research that it (abstinence-only education) endangers all youth. It fails them all. They do not mention anything about LGBT,” said Bernadette Brown, director of policy for the Detroit-based Triangle Foundation, which lobbies the state for LGBT-inclusive legislation and monitors hate crimes against the LGBT community.

The state counters that the grants are not its only efforts to address unwanted teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. James McCurtis, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Community Health, said the state spends an additional $700,000, half the amount devoted to abstinence education, on other programs.

The abstinence-only funding comes from the federal government. Michigan is one of 25 states that continue to apply for and accept that money, while 25 other states have declined to pursue that money, citing research showing that abstinence-only education does not work.

Recent studies have found that abstinence-only programs do not delay the onset of sexual activity by teen-agers and that youth who take chastity pledges and take part in abstinence-only education are less likely to take measures to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancies or sexually transmitted infections.

McCurtis said Michigan continues to pursue these funds “because these community groups are following the federal guidelines, and they are doing a good job running the program.”

He added that the program is not discriminatory against LGBT youth because its student-participants are too young to marry.

“The program is for 11 to 18 year olds,” he said in an e-mail. “I said this before. This age group cannot get married. The program talks about abstinence.”

Under state law, youth aged 16 to 18 can get married with parental consent, and youth under 16 can get married if they have parental and probate court consent. Any Michigan resident can get married at 18, so long as he or she is marrying a person of the opposite gender who is 18 or older or has met the consent conditions above.

Brown of the Triangle Foundation pointed to a 2007 Canadian study that found that lesbian and bisexual teen-agers were seven times more likely to have an unwanted pregnancy or to get a sexually transmitted infection than their straight counterparts.

“This is huge, and it is of great concern,” said Brown.

Lori Lammerand, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Mid and South Michigan, said the messages of abstinence-only education are not going to resonate with LGBT youth.

“If I happen to be some one who identifies as LGBT, I m not going to listen to the message,” she said. “Marriage is the only benchmark (for the abstinence-only programs).”

Comments

  • beaware

    “Virginity…to be purchased by your husband…” what century are these people from?!! and we think that Iran is a backwards thinking country ruled by religious zealots?!! this grant money would have been better served in other more reality-based programs!

    • 2starchy

      beaware, I think you're missing something…the cartoon listed above is not by an abstinence-only website…it is a satire by someone who wants to make people who disagree with her look like idiots. So, lighten up…no religious zealots here. As for “reality-based programs”, I'm continually amazed at the extremism on both sides of the fence. Here's an interesting read for those who might consider themselves open-minded: http://www.makeasoundchoice.com/wp-content/uploads/200....

      • beaware

        thanks for the insight, and it is appreciated. sometimes the only way
        the wheel gets greased is to squeak loudly, in a rusticated turn of
        words. my point, I believe was made to those who needed to hear it. I
        hope. I have an adopted Son who is Gay, and have seen first hand some
        of the BS he has to deal with on a daily, so I tend to be a little hot
        under the collar. Many Thanks to You for a calm and quiet reasoning,
        Cheers! k.—-oh, will look at the link sent also-thanks!

        • 2starchy

          i get a little hot under the collar myself…thus the 2starchy moniker. Thanks for YOUR calm, quiet reply…mine maybe wasn't so much, and I'm sorry. Many beloved gays (some relatives, too) in my life as well, but i also have teenaged daughters for whom i hope abstinence is an overriding thought. Parenting in this day and age is so challenging (because, as we all know, it was a breeze for our parents, ha!) , and we all just want what is best for those we love.

          Irregardless of our points of vew, I guess it's always easier when the powers that be are singing out of the same hymnal (so to speak) as mom and dad :), and I feel it's hard to find many voices of reason out there. ( Reason, of course, being ideas that are just like mine, tee hee) Some conservatives are thus because we weren't very conservative in our youth and have paid dearly for poor choices made in a different mindset, or have seen the emotional and physical effects on friends and loved ones of a too-free lifestyle, but the far right is just as scary to me as the far left. Too many agendas out there at either end of the spectrum, and few that really align with what I'm trying to teach my kids.

          Sorry for rambling, time for sleep! Have a good one, beaware, and thanks for writing!

  • wakeupnow

    Great article and some of us straight people feel the same way. If we want our kids to be healthy, safe and not have STD's, HIV and unplanned pregancy, we NEED comprehensive education in our homes AND our schools. Waiting to have sex until you are ready is a great decision, but also a decision that needs to be made from an informed place. Teaching abstinence only does not arm kids with the information and tools they need to have if and when they do have sex. The highest failing sexual prevention intervention are abstinence only programs.

  • cheneygun

    I'm more interested in knowing why this writer obsess' on this issue?

    • Rayne1

      It's a surprise that a conservative like you is not outraged at the expenditure of more money on wasteful, ineffective social programs.

      As for the author, reproductive health and LGBT issues are his assigned beat — not an obsession. At Michigan Messenger we don't pretend that these issues don't exist as traditional media outlets do; we report on them.

      • cheneygun

        Why not write something on welfare queens…that's a HUGE waste.

        • Rayne1

          Wow, the myth of the welfare queen continues…unless, of course, you're talking about AIG and Citigroup and the other recipients of the $350 billion in federal dollars.

          When we have a story on such waste that isn't being covered by other media effectively, we'll do it. In the meantime, here's one on $1.4 million of waste and on a public official who shows an apparent ignorance inappropriate to his office.

  • beaware

    thanks for the insight, and it is appreciated. sometimes the only way
    the wheel gets greased is to squeak loudly, in a rusticated turn of
    words. my point, I believe was made to those who needed to hear it. I
    hope. I have an adopted Son who is Gay, and have seen first hand some
    of the BS he has to deal with on a daily, so I tend to be a little hot
    under the collar. Many Thanks to You for a calm and quiet reasoning,
    Cheers! k.—-oh, will look at the link sent also-thanks!

  • 2starchy

    i get a little hot under the collar myself…thus the 2starchy moniker. Thanks for YOUR calm, quiet reply…mine maybe wasn't so much, and I'm sorry. Many beloved gays (some relatives, too) in my life as well, but i also have teenaged daughters for whom i hope abstinence is an overriding thought. Parenting in this day and age is so challenging (because, as we all know, it was a breeze for our parents, ha!) , and we all just want what is best for those we love.

    Irregardless of our points of vew, I guess it's always easier when the powers that be are singing out of the same hymnal (so to speak) as mom and dad :), and I feel it's hard to find many voices of reason out there. ( Reason, of course, being ideas that are just like mine, tee hee) Some conservatives are thus because we weren't very conservative in our youth and have paid dearly for poor choices made in a different mindset, or have seen the emotional and physical effects on friends and loved ones of a too-free lifestyle, but the far right is just as scary to me as the far left. Too many agendas out there at either end of the spectrum, and few that really align with what I'm trying to teach my kids.

    Sorry for rambling, time for sleep! Have a good one, beaware, and thanks for writing!

  • beaware

    thanks for the insight, and it is appreciated. sometimes the only way
    the wheel gets greased is to squeak loudly, in a rusticated turn of
    words. my point, I believe was made to those who needed to hear it. I
    hope. I have an adopted Son who is Gay, and have seen first hand some
    of the BS he has to deal with on a daily, so I tend to be a little hot
    under the collar. Many Thanks to You for a calm and quiet reasoning,
    Cheers! k.—-oh, will look at the link sent also-thanks!

  • 2starchy

    i get a little hot under the collar myself…thus the 2starchy moniker. Thanks for YOUR calm, quiet reply…mine maybe wasn't so much, and I'm sorry. Many beloved gays (some relatives, too) in my life as well, but i also have teenaged daughters for whom i hope abstinence is an overriding thought. Parenting in this day and age is so challenging (because, as we all know, it was a breeze for our parents, ha!) , and we all just want what is best for those we love.

    Irregardless of our points of vew, I guess it's always easier when the powers that be are singing out of the same hymnal (so to speak) as mom and dad :), and I feel it's hard to find many voices of reason out there. ( Reason, of course, being ideas that are just like mine, tee hee) Some conservatives are thus because we weren't very conservative in our youth and have paid dearly for poor choices made in a different mindset, or have seen the emotional and physical effects on friends and loved ones of a too-free lifestyle, but the far right is just as scary to me as the far left. Too many agendas out there at either end of the spectrum, and few that really align with what I'm trying to teach my kids.

    Sorry for rambling, time for sleep! Have a good one, beaware, and thanks for writing!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3744WJMMHZCTSSJJ32D727YPIU Randall

    How can I get involved in helping to change sex education to tell the truth . Teenagers do not respond to scare tactics and parents should have a choice whether or not they want to risk the abstinece olny program, or the real deal program, the latter being the one that could potentionally save their lives and give them the info and tools to make better decisions. Teenagers have been having sex since the beginning of time and will untill the end of time. It's homones and thats not going to change. Young people 13 -24 make up 20% of new hiv infections each year in this country. Abstinence only is not working. How Can I get involved?

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