Programs that encourage and support youths in their decision to abstain from sex (22 percent more high school youth in the city are abstaining from sex than 14 years ago) have been evicted from D.C. public schools by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee. Programs that promote two-parent families and sexual abstinence are seen as a threat by those who promote the normalization of same-sex relationships. I was told by Richard Nyankori and Chad Ferguson in Miss Rhee's office that my opposition to now approved health standards that specify teaching about gender identity and sexual orientation beginning in sixth grade meant that our program would not be welcome in D.C. Public Schools. This was after ULTRA Teen Choice was told in November to cease operations in D.C. Public Schools.

The Board of Education recently proposed draconian new Home School Regulations that would have given D.C. officials the right to enter the homes of parents who where home-schooling and observe the instruction of their children. If "the OSSE determines... that a student is not receiving regular instruction that meets the standards of this chapter and as established by the OSSE," then the parent could be required to send their child to public school. It is entirely plausible that if they were deemed not to be following the D.C. standards (such as not teaching about gender identity and sexual orientation) their children would have to be sent back to public schools. Fortunately, these provisions were removed after the almost unanimous opposition of scores of home-schooling parents who attended a hearing in March. We must ask why these regulations were proposed in the first place. Could it have something to do with the fact that those who home-school often have strong moral and religious convictions and would be more likely to oppose the normalization of same-sex relationships?

No effective HIV/AIDS prevention strategy can be devised as long as D.C. politicians and school officials continue to push pro-gay policies instead of policies that look at what is best for all D.C. children and families.

Urban Life Training & Reality Assessment (ULTRA)

Washington