Mississippi Sex-Ed Curriculum Teaches Students That Homosexuality Is Illegal

[lunasun]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/08/mississippi-sex-ed_n_5110538.html?ir=Politics
Under Mississippi’s mandated sex-education curriculum, teachers are required to instruct students that homosexual activity under the "unnatural intercourse" statute is illegal, and that a "monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the only appropriate setting for sexual intercourse."

Since 2012, Mississippi has required all school districts to offer an abstinence-centered sex-ed curriculum, although 12 percent of districts have not yet implemented any sex-ed courses, according to a recent study by the Center for Mississippi Health Policy.

The law also requires male and female students to be instructed in separate classrooms and prohibits condom demonstrations in schools.

While several states maintain anti-sodomy laws -- including Alabama, Louisiana and Utah -- a November 2013 Public Policy Polling survey found that “Mississippi probably continues to be the most conservative state in the country when it comes to same sex marriage." Only 22 percent of Mississippi voters said they support marriage equality, with 69 percent thinking it should be illegal.

On Thursday, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R) signed a contentious bill potentially legalizing anti-LGBT discrimination throughout the state under the auspices of religious freedom.

[BeyondGeography]

1. Apparently, this just creates demand for alternative sources of information

http://americablog.com/2014/03/mississippi-louisiana-georgia-top-gay-porn-watching-states.html

[Aristus]

2. Yet more proof, even as a straight man,

that if I had to choose between living in Mississippi or in a sewer, I'd have to sit down and think it over...

[blkmusclmachine]

3. Hickisippi

[struggle4progress]

4. The statute may still be on the books, but I expect it's entirely unenforceable,

at least as far as it proscribes private behavior of consenting adults

[lunasun]

5. I doubt mention of that legal side note is part of the current curriculum

[struggle4progress]

6. Well, it's not exactly late-breaking news

Lawrence v. Texas - 539 U.S. 558 (2003)

... Liberty protects the person from unwarranted government intrusions into a dwelling or other private places. In our tradition the State is not omnipresent in the home ... Liberty presumes an autonomy of self that includes freedom of thought, belief, expression, and certain intimate conduct ... The question before the Court is the validity of a Texas statute making it a crime for two persons of the same sex to engage in certain intimate sexual conduct ... We conclude the case should be resolved by determining whether the petitioners were free as adults to engage in the private conduct in the exercise of their liberty under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution ... It was not until the 1970's that any State singled out same-sex relations for criminal prosecution, and only nine States have done so ... The present case does not involve minors. It does not involve persons who might be injured or coerced or who are situated in relationships where consent might not easily be refused. It does not involve public conduct or prostitution. It does not involve whether the government must give formal recognition to any relationship that homosexual persons seek to enter. The case does involve two adults who, with full and mutual consent from each other, engaged in sexual practices common to a homosexual lifestyle ... The judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Texas Fourteenth District is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.