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1912 The Beginning
1912: The National Education Assiociation started to want to get teacher training for Sexuality Education in 1912. -
1940
In 1940, the U.S. Public Health Service felt very strongly about advocating sexuality education in the schools, and going so far as to labeling it an "urgent need." -
1953
In 1953, the American School Health Association started a program nationwide in family life education. -
1955
Two years later, the American Medical Association, along with the NEA, published five pamphlets that were usually mentioned as "the sex education series" for schools. -
Start of the Controversy
The beginning of controversy over sex ed in U.S. schools happened in the 1960's -
1960-1980
First organized oppositions happened from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. The attacks targeted any form of sex ed in school. Sex education was described by the Christian Crusade/conservative groups as "smut" and "raw sex." A society called the John Birch Society labelled the effort to teach kids about sexuality "a filthy Communist plot." Another leader of the the far-right Eagle Forum named Phyllis Schlafly, said that sexuality education was a result of increased in sexual activity with teens -
1983
By 1983, sexuality education was now being taught in the context of more of a comprehensive family life education programs or human growth and development courses. It didn't just teach about reproduction, but also how important self-esteem is, responsibility, and decision making. The course also did not just teach about contraception, but also topics like family finances and parenting skills. -
1980's
Around the mid 1980s, the AIDS epidemic permanently changed sexuality education. -
1986
In 1986, U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop distributed a report calling for comprehensive AIDS and sexuality education in public schools, the starts as early as the third grade. "There is now no doubt that we need sex education in schools and that it [should] include information on heterosexual and homosexual relationships," Koop stated in his report. "The need is critical and the price of neglect is high." -
1988
Over 90% of all U.S. schools offered some sex education programming. The current debates over sex education focus mainly on abstinence-only curricula verses comprehensive sex education programs. -
1989
By 1989, there were 23 states that passed orders for sexuality education Also, another 23 states strongly encouraged sex education, while 33 mandated AIDS education and 17 other states required it. -
1989
It was in June of 1989, when SIECUS published “Sex Education 2000: A Call to Action.” It outlined 13 goals that would ensure that all students were going to get comprehensive sexuality education by the year 2000. -
1996
In 1996, an abstinence-only-until-marriage programs groups’ (Adolescent Family Life Act (AFLA)) success on the national level altered the foundation for sex education in a big way. Former President Bill Clinton's administration passed an Act called The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and it changed the way low-income families got federal assistance. -
2000
In 2000, lawmakers who were conservative were saddened by what they saw as states’ thinning of the abstinence-until-marriage message created an additional $20 million federal funding stream, the Special Projects of Regional and National Significance–Community-Based Abstinence Education (SPRANS-CBAE) -
2009
In December 2009, Congress had passed an assumptions bill that got rid of the majority of funding for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. This marked a huge win against the peak of a decade-long campaign to promote honest, accurate, and comprehensive sex education in America. -
2010
In 2010, Congress made accessible $75 million in federal funds, through health care reform, for states to implement comprehensive sex education.
