A look at how US sex education in public schools has evolved over the last 60 years and its impact on LGBTQ students

Sex-ed policy is decided by states, not the federal government, and has historically supported abstinence-only and anti-LGBTQ programming.

“When you’re teaching sex ed, you’re not just teaching sex ed,” Jaden Ziv, a 21-year-old queer college student and sex-ed advocate, said. “You’re teaching consent, bodily autonomy, and how to be aware of yourself.” Photo: Crystal Cox/Insider

By Rachel Sanoff

US sex-education policy is predominantly decided by state governments and has historically supported abstinence-only programs, which can create a hostile environment for LGBTQ students and threaten the health and wellbeing of young people.

The American Medical Association advocated for standardized sex-education curricula in the 1950s, but in 2021, we’ve still yet to see this kind of policy implemented.

Christine Soyong Harley. Photo: SIECUS

“We dont have any federal mandate or provisions around comprehensive sex education, and our only federally funded programs are mostly geared toward teen-pregnancy prevention — which is a really narrow lens of what sex education should be,” Christine Soyong Harley, president and CEO of SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change, a national organization focused on advocacy and policy work, told Insider.