Letter to the Editor: Our children need high-quality sex education - Vote to Approve R - 90

To the Editor:

Referendum 90 will be on the November ballot to Approve or Reject ESSB 5395 (Comprehensive Sexual Health Education), passed by the legislature and signed by the Governor in March 2020. 

The League of Women Voters of WA recommends a vote to Approve ESSB 5395.

The bill ensures that all students statewide receive age-appropriate information that is medically and scientifically accurate, and parents have the right to opt their student out of the class. 

ESSB 5395 states that K-3 instruction must be in social-emotional learning. This could include stranger danger, good touch/bad touch, and using your words instead of your hands.

No child should be left in the dark without the tools and information they need to be safe and healthy. Comprehensive sexual health education is effective at driving down rates of sexual abuse, unintended pregnancies, and sexually transmitted infections in young people. Making sure every student across our state has access to high quality sexual health education is an equity issue.

Too many of our students don't receive high-quality, accurate sex education, putting them at risk. Let's stand together and vote to Approve R-90 this election for all our students.

Kate Lunceford, President,
League of Women Voters of Snohomish County