State Rep. Peggy Bennett (27A) will be holding a listening session regarding a possible upcoming comprehensive sex education bill.

The listening session will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 3, at the Brookside Education Center, room 109 at 211 W. Richway Drive in Albert Lea. Julie Quist of the Child Protection League will take part in the session.

Attendees will be presented an overview of CSE basic concepts, its background and development, the reasons for the controversy surrounding CSE, and its current legal status in Minnesota.

In a press release issued Thursday, Bennett said she expects the bill to be introduced again during the 2020 session after it was originally introduced in 2019, but was referred back to the Government Operations committee in March of 2019.

In the last session, a majority of state representatives in the Minnesota House voted to mandate the teaching of K-12 Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE) – House File 1414 – for every K-12 public/charter school.

The legislation would require schools to adhere to a certain curriculum that includes topics like:

•Human anatomy, reproduction, and sexual development;

•Consent, bodily autonomy, and healthy relationships, including relationships involving diverse sexual orientations and gender identities;

•Abstinence and other methods for preventing unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections; and

•The relationship between substance use and sexual behavior and health.

Bennett is one of those that opposes the bill, saying that schools and parents should have the autonomy to choose how their children are educated on the subject.

“There is no reason that state government should take over the sex education instruction of our children,” Bennett said. “Sex education is a very personal and sensitive subject and parents hold widely diverse views on what, how and when it should be taught. Decisions like this belong in the hands of local parents, teachers, and school boards – not in the hands of our state agencies.”

Bennett also said in the release that under the comprehensive sex education curriculum examples she has reviewed, “the program encourages sexual exploration as early as age 10, along with the understanding that consensual sexual activity and pleasure is their ‘right.’”

However, proponents counter that the bill doesn’t take away that right from schools and parents, arguing that schools have the option of opting out of the model to create their own model dependent on the Minnesota Department of Education consent.

“It’s important to say here too, that local districts and parents are still in the driver’s seat,” said Rep. Todd Lippert, the bill’s sponsor, in an article on the Minnesota House of Representatives webpage. “If local districts don’t feel that this model of comprehensive sexual health program is a good fit, they can opt out.”

But Bennett believes the bill would go too far.

“To be clear, I am not opposed to sex education, but this goes too far,” Bennett said. “This is not sex education – it is the early sexualization of our children. I strongly encourage interested residents to come out on Monday, Feb. 3, to learn more about this proposal and how it will impact our children.”