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Action Alert: Urge CDC and USDA to Provide Safe-Sex Info to Youth

On March 9, 2002, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) removed a National Prevention Information Network (NIPN) website link to the Coalition for Positive Sexuality (CPS) website called positive.org, apparently caving in to pressure from the right-wing Physicians Consortium and the Focus on the Family's James Dobson.

Positive.org explains to youth how to protect themselves from disease by engaging in safe sex practices, such as wearing a condom to prevent HIV transmission. The site also offers information about birth control, abortion, and sexual orientation.

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) public affairs specialist Maria Bynum declared that the USDA would also remove links to positive.org and possibly other websites from the cyfernet.org website.

This alert expires on April 30, 2002 (unless extended).

Take Action

You can take action:

Contacts and Sample Letter

Sample letter to the CDC (please customize with your own thoughts on this issue):

Dear CDC Representative,

I am writing to urge CDC National Prevention Information Network to restore the website link to positive.org, the website of the Coalition for Positive Sexuality (CPS), and to any other website links that were removed apparently due to pressure from right-wing fundamentalist anti-condom groups.

The CPS website provides much-needed information regarding safe sex techniques including the use of condoms to prevent transmission of AIDS and other STDs.

HIV transmission continues unabated among many segments of today's youth.

Despite the best intentions of abstinence-only educators and politicians who themselves admit the prevalence of teenage sexual activity, there are hundreds of thousands of sexually active youth for whom safe sex information is critical for survival.

The fundamentalists also object to support resources for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth on the positive.org site. This is mean-spirited and discriminatory toward youth who already face considerable obstacles in their lives.

Linking to a web resource does not imply endorsement of the linked website. To clear up any potential concern, a simple notice stating that linking does not imply endorsement can be included on the website. This permits viewers to decide for themselves what resources to use.

Refusing information about a much-needed prevention mechanism must be contrary to the mission of an organization whose very name focuses on "Prevention Information."

Please don't abandon these young people, and make sure they can access not only information about abstinence, but also this life-saving information about sexually transmitted disease prevention.

Sincerely,

Your Name
Your Address
Your Email Address

You have the following choice of delivery methods:

  • Send the CDC letter to CDC by filling in, and copying and pasting to the "Contact CDC" web form selecting category "HIV/AIDS" at: http://www.cdc.gov/netinfo.htm
  • Send the US Department of Health and Human Services the CDC letter by email to: hhs.mail@hhs.gov
  • Send the CDC NPIN the CDC letter by email to: info@cdcnpin.org and to webmaster@cdcnpin.org
  • Call the CDC Public Inquiries line at +1 404 639-3534 and the CDC NPIN line at +1 800 458-5231 Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (ET)
  • Call US Department of Health and Human Services press office representative Bill Pierce at +1 202 690-6343

Note: Please send a copy of your letter and a list of where you sent it to alerts@onlinepolicy.org. Snail mail to government offices has been delayed so much since 9-11 that OPG does not include this as an option.

Sample letter to the USDA (please customize with your own thoughts on this issue):

Dear USDA Representative,

I am writing to urge the USDA to restore the website link to positive.org, the website of the Coalition for Positive Sexuality (CPS), and tp any other website links that were removed apparently due to pressure from right-wing fundamentalist anti-condom groups.

The CPS website provides much-needed information regarding safe sex techniques including the use of condoms to prevent transmission of AIDS and other STDs.

HIV transmission continues unabated among many segments of today's youth.

Despite the best intentions of abstinence-only educators and politicians who themselves admit the prevalence of teenage sexual activity, there are hundreds of thousands of sexually active youth for whom safe sex information is critical for survival.

The fundamentalists also object to support resources for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth on the positive.org site. This is mean-spirited and discriminatory toward youth who already face considerable obstacles in their lives.

Linking to a web resource does not imply endorsement of the linked website. To clear up any potential concern, a simple notice stating that linking does not imply endorsement can be included on the website. This permits viewers to decide for themselves what resources to use.

Please don't abandon these young people, and make sure they can access not only information about abstinence, but also this life-saving information about sexually transmitted disease prevention.

Sincerely,

Your Name
Your Address
Your Email Address

You have the following choice of delivery methods:

  • Send the USDA letter by email to USDA Communications Office representative Maria Bynum: Maria.Bynum@usda.gov
  • Send the USDA letter by email to USDA Families, 4H, and Nutrition Programs National Program Leader Sharon Wright: swright@intranet.reeusda.gov
  • Send the USDA letter by email to USDA Representative Terry Meisenbach: tmeisenbach@intranet.reeusda.gov
  • Send the USDA letter by email to CyferNet: cyf@reeusda.gov
  • Call USDA Communications Office representative Maria Bynum at +1 202 720-5192
  • Call Cyfernet at +1 612 626-1111

Note: Please send a copy of your letter and a list of where you sent it to alerts@onlinepolicy.org. Snail mail to government offices has been delayed so much since 9-11 that OPG does not include this as an option.

Background

Here is what Bill Pierce of the press office of the Department of Health and Human Services has to say:

"In this case, things can get brought to our attention and we have to take a look at them... in this case, some of the issue was about age-appropriateness of the material and of the government linking to that site. We said nothing regarding its appropriateness in general. Clearly, we like to have broad representation of different groups providing information... [But] should the government be proactively linking to this website?"

Here is what the USDA public affairs specialist Maria Bynum has to say (as quoted in the Washington Times:

"We are in the process of taking down the link [to CPS]. And we will work with the [Cyfernet] program office and the university partners to review the [other] sites and determine what the next steps are."

Here is what the Coalition for Positive Sexuality has to say:

"We seek to provide comprehensive and approachable educational materials that give teens information they need to stay healthy and respect themselves and others. We use frank language because that's the way people talk about sex. We have worked with teens and incorporated their input when developing our materials. Our site is pro-sex, pro-gay/lesbian/bi/straight, and pro-choice. The site doesn't 'promote' sex, it tells teens to think carefully about sexuality, whether they choose to engage in sexual activity or not."

Coalition for Positive Sexuality media release on this issue:
http://www.onlinepolicy.org/action/cpsrelease.shtml

About the Coalition for Positive Sexuality:

CPS's mission is to give teens the information they need to practice safe sex. The organization was founded in Chicago in 1992 by members of ACT UP, Queer Nation, the pro-choice Emergency Clinic Defense Coalition, and the feminist theatre troupe No More Nice Girls. The group has evolved into an independent, national organization. In addition to maintaining the www.positive.org site, CPS publishes a safe-sex-education booklet, Just Say Yes, a Spanish language translation, ˇDi Que Sí!, and the Girl Germs poster series. The Coalition for Positive Sexuality's materials were created by high school students, community activists, health educators, and health care workers. Its members donate their time, and CPS receives no federal funding. The CPS website is at:
http://www.positive.org

About the Physicians Consortium:

Headquartered in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, this "national" group allegedly representing 2,000 physicians, has called for the resignation of the director of CDC because the "failure of public health efforts to prevent the STD epidemic in America is related to the CDC's 'safe-sex' promotion and its attempts to withhold from the American people the truth of condom ineffectiveness,"
http://www.family.org/cforum/feature/a0016988.html
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/Daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=5980

About Focus on the Family:

A nonprofit organization that seeks to "preserve traditional values and the institution of the family" by spreading "the Gospel of Jesus Christ" and the notion that "marriage was intended by God to be a permanent, lifelong relationship between a man and a woman" while producing the internationally syndicated radio programs of James Dobson, the organization's founder, heard daily on more than 3,000 radio facilities in 12 languages in more than 95 other countries, with a website at
http://www.family.org/

About the Online Policy Group:

One Internet with Equal Access to All: The Online Policy Group (OPG) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to online policy research, outreach, and action on issues such as access, privacy, digital defamation, and the digital divide. Additionally, it focuses on Internet participants' civil liberties and human rights, like access, privacy, safety, and serving schools, libraries, disabled, elderly, youth, women, and sexual, gender, and ethnic minorities. With connections to industry, academia, the media, and other nonprofit organizations, OPG seeks to fulfill its vision through a combination of research and development, community services, and advocacy. A volunteer-run organization funded almost entirely by individual donations, the OPG is headquartered in San Francisco and was founded by Will Doherty on July 21, 2000, growing to include QueerNet and the California Community Colocation Project in 2001. The OPG website is at:
http://www.onlinepolicy.org

Media Coverage

*   CDC Sex Site Has Some Eyes Sore
The staid folks at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been caught in a political flap after they linked to a-- gasp! -- site that advocates a "positive attitude towards sexuality", Wired (March 9, 2002)

*   CDC Links to 'Pro-Sex' Teen Site
A federal website features a link to the Internet pages of "pro-sex" activists who provide teen-agers with explicit advice about homosexuality, sodomy, and masturbation (oh my!), Washington Times (March 9, 2002)

*   Who Is Policing the Sex Police?
Just last week, as a Chicago AIDS conference at which performances and programs were censored got underway, the CDC's website was censored, with links to some youth education websites dropped, Windy City Times (March 13, 2002)

Related Publications and Organizations

Coalition for Positive Sexuality:
http://www.positive.org

Working Assets alert based on this alert: http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/action.cfm?itemid=13013

CDC National Prevention Information Network links page (see no longer active link to Coalition for Positive Sexuality under Youth):
http://www.cdcnpin.org/rellinks_4.htm

Google cache of CDC National Prevention Information Network page, search for "CDC Pathogens Youth" and, when you find result for www.cdcnpin.org/rellinks_4.htm, click on link to "Cached," then see formerly active link to Coalition for Positive Sexuality under Youth:
http://www.google.com

The USDA cyfernet.org website used to have a link to CPS as the third item under the "General Information" category:
http://twosocks.ces.ncsu.edu/cyfdb/browse_3.php?cat_id=141&category_name=Sexuality&search=Youth&search_type=browse

The WayBack machine January 2, 2002, archive of USDA cyfernet.org page still has the link to CPS as the third item under the "General Information" category:
http://web.archive.org/web/20020102204805/http://twosocks.ces.ncsu.edu/cyfdb/
browse_3.php?cat_id=141&category_name=Sexuality&search=Youth&search_type=browse

Publisher of Action Alert

Will Doherty, Online Policy Group, alerts@onlinepolicy.org

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