in order to deliver the education our children deserve, provide for their health & safety and to ensure our youth's full potential, do ordain this petition demanding reform of Virginia's sex education so that it be medically accurate and mandated throughout our great Commonwealth.

We the people of Virginia sign this petition to call upon the Two Thousand and Eighteen Virginia General Assembly Session to pass Bill HB 159 to change the "family life education" curricula so that it be medically accurate, mandated and comprehensive in the interest of our children's health and wellbeing.

Medically accurate sexual health education provides people with the knowledge to protect and advocate for themselves should they ever choose to have sex as well as understand if and when they are ready to have sex. It also teaches them how to say no when they aren't ready or do not want to have sex. One of the most important aspects is that it helps people feel used to and comfortable with talking about sex with their partners.

When people receive medically accurate sexual health education they are empowered to make healthy decisions about sex. At the same time they are better enabled to reach their full potential in life by preventing circumstances that will inhibit them from reaching their life goals and contributing to their communities.

The problem is that thirteen states in the US require sex education to be medically accurate when it is taught in public schools. Virginia is NOT one of them. Additionally, in many Virginia localities students are taught the only option is abstinence and/or sex avoidance due to Virginia's statewide sex ed guidelines being inadequate, medically inaccurate and not mandatory.

When students are taught to stay away from sex and sex is presented to them as inherently dangerous then students are missing the opportunity to learn lessons that will help them feel comfortable talking about sex, as well as having power and control over their safety.

I truly believe the HIV diagnosis that i received at the age of 17 while I was attending Fairfax County Public Schools is a product of our medically inaccurate sexual health education. If we pass HB 159, the Virginia House of Delegates sex ed reform Bill, then we will give Virginia's children a more fair chance at life. Instead of learning a harsh lesson as teenagers receiving an HIV diagnosis at a hospital or a positive pregnancy test, they will learn their lessons in their classrooms. This education will better prepare them to grow up to be contributing members of their communities unfettered by a life changing STD diagnosis or unwanted pregnancy.

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The people of our Commonwealth demand that the Virginia General Assembly deliver this Bill to our children for the sake of their health and safety.

We demand that the General Assembly deliver a Virginia that is not just simply for lovers. But

a Virginia that is for educated lovers who know how to know how to love safely.

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