Southworth, an Evangelical Republican, called the new law a “sick and shameful piece of legislation” that will encourage illegal sex among minors. “It is akin to teaching children about alcohol use, then instructing them on how to make mixed alcoholic drinks,” he wrote in a letter to five local school districts.” Southworth’s argument is that because it is illegal to engage in sexual intercourse with someone under the age of 18, teaching students how to use contraception is promoting criminal activity.

 

Parents have the right to exclude their children from sex education courses, and schools have the option of not teaching the classes, under the new law, which also bans abstinence-only education.

 

Democratic Representative Kelda Helen Roys, who helped draft the legislation, said Southworth is a “zealot” using scare tactics to prevent the law’s implementation.

 

Southworth first came to public attention in 1996, when, while a law student at the University of Wisconsin, he became the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit that objected to student fees being used to fund private organizations, including those that supported environmentalists, homosexuals and socialists. In 2000, the case made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which, in Board of Regents Univ. Wisc. V. Southworth, ruled unanimously in favor of the university and against Southworth.

 

In 2004, after serving in Iraq as a member of the Wisconsin National Guard 32nd Military Police Company, Southworth, although unmarried, adopted an Iraqi orphan with cerebral palsy and brought him back to the United States.

-David Wallechinsky, Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Prosecutor Warns Teachers about New Sex Education Curriculum (by Mary Spicuzza, Wisconsin State Journal)

Wisconsin Teachers, Students Mystified by Sex Education Warning (by Todd Richmond, Associated Press)

DA Letter to School Districts (pdf)