Recently, the Trump administration began an audit of one of the largest programs offered by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) — the CA Personal Responsibility Education Program (CA PREP). This program serves youth ages 10 through 19 and targets vulnerable populations, including individuals with special needs, young mothers and many other groups.
CA PREP focuses on educating youth about preventing pregnancy, avoiding sexually transmitted infections (STIs), healthy relationship skills, healthy life skills and information on adolescent development.
Under President Trump’s order, the CA PREP program is now being reviewed for the “medical accuracy” of all its educational materials. This move targets an openly inclusive educational curriculum and is the latest in a string of obvious attacks on the education of LGBTQ+ concepts, which will only harm the students this program serves.
The biggest red flag in this program review is the statement made by Andrew Gradison, the acting secretary of the Administration for Children & Families (ACF). Gradison stated that the review intended to ensure the curriculum is “age-appropriate and medically accurate.” The emphasis on medical accuracy as well as appropriateness highlights the ACF’s thinly veiled intentions to limit sex education curricula that are relevant to LGBTQ+ people.
The current presidential administration’s censorship of information regarding the trans community in particular has already been made abundantly clear, so it’s easy to recognize this as Trump’s latest attack. Early in his second term, Trump even went as far as to issue an executive order that the government would only officially recognize two genders — female and male.
This binary system removes an abundant and reliable source of LGBTQ+ related educational resources for students, which can lead to isolation within their respective communities. Statistics show that LGBTQ+ youth who attend schools with inclusive sex education programs have lower levels of depression and suicidality. Moreover, inclusive sex education programs help prevent dating and intimate partner violence for all students.
Despite the clear benefits, only 8.2 percent of LGBTQ+ youth have access to inclusive sex education in United States (U.S.) schools. With the CA PREP curriculum being placed under review, it’s more than likely that these numbers will decrease, as the current actions of the Trump administration will only make these programs unavailable.
The CA PREP program was not designed to “recognize only two genders;” it was designed to prepare students for the real world, where identities are complex. In accordance with its course offerings in financial literacy, education and career success, CA PREP focuses on giving students information that accurately reflects the real world by introducing subjects like pregnancy, STIs and healthy relationships.
Learning about all types of identities and relationships ensures that students will be prepared for decisions they will actually face in the real world and have all the information they need to make the best decisions for themselves. These decisions may include romantic or sexual relationships, their own sexual and gender identity and other important choices they will face in adulthood. Students can only make these decisions once they are accurately informed on the subject, which this program provides.
CA PREP gained negative government attention after a Daily Mail article brought to light how “some role-plays have been included [in the program] which present same-gender couples and discuss the use of sexual aids.” The statement allegedly confirms California educators have been teaching 10-year-old students about sex toys and sexual role-playing within classrooms.
This only brings to light the importance of the increase in media literacy that has been shown to follow inclusive sexual education. Politicians took this quote from the Daily Mail and ran with it, ignoring the inaccuracy of this interpretation. CA PREP is designed to provide age-appropriate sexual health information to students as young as 10, but there is no mention of sexual role-playing in the document provided. The program is focused on teaching students to make well-informed and responsible decisions about sex and relationships. If students didn’t have access to this information, they would be left in the dark.
The CA PREP program was designed with students in mind, putting together an evidence-based curriculum which has been shown to increase sexual and reproductive health knowledge, improve awareness, reduce worries about seeking out reproductive health services and increase knowledge on methods of sexual health protection. Overall, it’s been beneficial to all students who participated in the program.
Any attempts to censor the accuracy of the program and cater to what the Trump administration wants students to know or believe will only be a detriment to students in the program.
