The Sex? Book here is still causing some controversy. It's been distributed to most schools in the province now. A recent article in a provincial paper spoke to the fact that now that it's been distributed, there has been little opposition to it. And really, there hasn't. The media hyped it up so much, everyone was expected a mix of Hustler's pictorials, and the "Dear Penthouse" forum. I suspect the students were very disappointed.

Yesterday, I got a fax of a letter to the editor of this paper. I'd like to share with you parts of the letter.

"Planned Parenthood, with the province's money(in fact, the book was created by the Department of Health Promotion and Education. PP had one representative on the board), is using this manual to teach our children that anal intercourse is just anouther sexual choice (ed: It is.), that condoms are safe (ed: they are.. at the very least they are safeR than nothing ) and that being transgendered is natural (ed: What's YOUR definition of "natural"?). Why, as a Catholic (ed: Surprise!), must I endure the state's indoctrination of my children in homosexual and feminist propaganga? You won't notice any reference to or acknowledgement of Catholic teaching on chastity in the manual. (ed: Actually, you do. Pages 21-29 of the manual talk about sexual readiness, abstinence, and activities that have nothing to do with intercourse).

"(...The author) is right about one thing: the manual is "funky". It's a masterpiece of clever marketing. What's it selling? Planned Parenthood, for one. Along with a dozen or so methods of contraception, a multibillion dollar industry. (ed: Oh, come ON. Has she unconvered a secret alliance between PP and the drug industry? Honey, if that were true, I wouldn't have to leave this job because I can't afford to buy groceries anymore...)

She then goes on to talk about condom statistics that appear in the book:

"Condoms, for example, are 89 (she misquoted, it's actually 86) percent effective, even if they aren't used. There are no words to describe how utterly absurd this is. A condom is 89 percent effective even if it isn't used?" (ed: *sigh* No, actually, that statistic is a 'realistic' effectiveness rate, meaning that most people do not always use a condom perfectly, or all the time)

Oh, this is my favorite part:

"...but such examples show the real agenda behind the manual - to dupe children into buying these ineffective contraptions and when they fail, sell them an abortion - another multibillion-dollar industry. Seeing a pattern here?" (ed: Yes, I do. You're a paranoid nutbar. First of all, if you think condoms, hormonal birth control, and Depo are ineffective against unwanted pregnancy and STI prevention, I challenge you to walk into any high school and deny access to these things, and THEN see what happens. Moreover, how do you sell abortions when they are FREE? I take great offence to being compared to a sinister encyclopedia salesman.)

And the hits just keep coming...

"... You will notice that the word "disease" isn't even used. Instead, the more benign term, "infection" is used. Wouldn't want our children to understand syphillis as being a nasty disease, would we? It's just an infection." (ed: actually, the reason STD changed to STI is that the word 'infection' encompasses a broader range of...well, infections. Infections can LEAD to diseases, but not all infections will. I don't know about you, but 'infection' actually sounds grosser to me than 'disease'.)

"A public health nurse, disgruntled with our School Board's wise decision not to distribute the manual (ed: They the were the only school in the province to do so. Also, I've had several phone calls from PARENTS from this school board who have ASKED for the book from me) decided to take it upon herself to distribute it. She simply stepped outside the school and handed out armfuls of it to children on the playground. No brown paper packages (ed: why?), no parental consent forms. These sex activists are more like sex addicts. They will stop at nothing to teach your children their world view (ed: I'm going to throw that PH Nurse a frickin' PARADE, man. I don't know who she is, but she totally rocks my world, like, hardcore. Also, I would wear either badge - activist or addict - with pride. In fact, I may make a t-shirt.).

Written by:
XXXX XXXX
A Catholic 'Civil Rights' organization