Shock! UTAH Gov Vetoes Anti-Sex Education Bill

Well, this is a surprise. The Mormon Republican governor of Utah Gary Hebert refused to go along with his homophobic, theocratic and Republican-dominated legislature to ban sex education or any mention of homosexuality in Utah schools.

Instead Gov. Hebert vetoed HB 363, as reported by Reuters:

In vetoing the measure, dubbed HB 363, Herbert said that as a parent and grandparent he considered proper sex education in public schools an important component to the moral education youngsters receive at home.

"If HB 363 were to become law, parents would no longer have the option the overwhelming majority is currently choosing for their children. I am unwilling to conclude that the state knows better than Utah's parents as to what is best for their children," he said.

"In order for parents to take on more responsibility, they need more information, more involvement, and more choice—not less. I cannot sign a bill that deprives parents of their choice," he added.

Supporters of the bill argued that sex education was best left up to parents.

When even the Republican Governor of Utah won't go along with your know-nothing policy agenda, don't you think perhaps you may have gone too far?

Apparently not. Here is what the Salt Lake Tribune attributed to HB 363 proponents (read it and puke!):

"It never entered our minds that the governor who told us he was conservative would veto such an appropriate piece of legislation," she said. "By vetoing this bill, he just sent the message that Utah’s stamp of approval [is] on teaching children how to have sex, teaching contraception and saying this is the safest way to have sex." 

Sen. Margaret Dayton, co-sponsor of the bill, said she was disappointed the governor hadn’t contacted her to discuss his concerns and said teaching children about contraception is comparable to telling kids not to do drugs, then showing them how to "mainline" heroin.

Yes, a state senator did just compare teaching about contraception to promoting drug addiction. I really have no words in response. How can one engage in meaningful dialogue or debate with a raving lunatic? I bet she thinks mentioning homosexuality makes kids gay. But then again, she probably didn't have any sex education and wants to make sure that Utah produces more, ignorant, homophobic adults who share her views!

All I can say to the kids of Utah, "It Gets Better" (when you leave Utah)!

GRAPHIC: Yes, Sex Discrimination Still Exists

The Economix blog at the New York Times examined college majors and their impact on the persistent wage gap between men and women (women get paid on average 81 cents for every dollar a man makes). Interestingly, the only major where women were paid (1%!) more than men for the same exact degree was Information Technology. In Mathematics, males were paid 3% more than women ($53,200 versus $51,900) in their median starting salaries.

In their article this interesting image (shown above) depicts how the gender gap in wages persisted even through various levels of education. Notice how the light blue (male) bar graphs are always aslightly longer than the pink  (female) bars for every single category. Note also that as one gets more education one's median salary also goes way up.

Of course, if you ask people "Does discrimination against women still exist?" I think most Americans would say "No."

It's precisely because graphs like the above still exist that I am proud to call myself a feminist (which basically means: women and men should be treated equally and fairly; the wild proposition that gender and sex are not valid means for discriminating or differentiating humans).