Lowell rep plays key role in push for sex-ed bill
A bill that’s been passed twice by the Senate but stalled in the House can count on at least one newly elected state representative to help propel this legislation across the finish line.
First-term House member Vanna Howard of Lowell, colleague James O’Day of West Boylston, and Sen. Sal DiDomenico of Everett — all Democrats — have refiled the Healthy Youth Act, which would provide medically accurate, age appropriate sexual health education regardless of gender, race, disability status, or sexual orientation.
Supporters say statewide standards for comprehensive sexual education are critical to protecting students from violence and sexually transmitted infections.
“I can’t stress this enough — we need to empower youth with the education and resources to help them build healthy relationships,” Howard, who represents the 17 th Middlesex District, said during a briefing hosted by the Healthy Youth Act Coalition.
“They need to learn what a healthy relationship is and is not, so they can avoid sexually transmitted disease, infections, and instances of violence and mistreatment.”
According to Megara Bell, director of Partners in Sex Education, Massachusetts is among a handful of states that doesn’t require sexual health education to be medically accurate, age appropriate, or inclusive.
The bill’s language would require school districts to cover a wide range of topics in sexual health classes, including sexual development, benefits of abstinence or delaying sexual activity, prevention of sexually transmitted infections, forming healthy relationships, skills to recognize and prevent dating violence, and age-appropriate information about gender identity and sexual orientation.
The curriculum would be age-appropriate and medically accurate, which the legislation defines as supported by peer-reviewed research conducted in compliance with accepted scientific methods and topics suitable for children based on developing cognitive, emotional, and behavioral capacity typical for an age group.
Previous versions of this legislation allowed parents and guardians to review instruction materials beforehand and remove their children from the program if they wish.
Lawmakers have filed the Healthy Youth Act for the past 10 years; it received the Senate’s approval in 2017 and 2020.
O’Day, House chair of the Steering, Policy, and Scheduling Committee, said it “pains” him each time he hears someone talk about that 10-year span. Leading up to that most recent vote in 2020, building a consensus around this concept apparently pitted progressives against more parochial elements on Beacon Hill.
But even so, 97 House members signed on to the version of the bill filed by Reps. Paul Brodeur, D-Melrose, and O’Day, including House Ways and Means
Chair Aaron Michlewitz and Education Committee Co- Chair Alice Peisch.
In all, that House bill has a total of 109 co-sponsors from both branches. That’s a considerable base of support on which to build.
O’Day, a social worker for 25 years before he joined the Legislature, appreciated more than most the need for sexual literacy instruction.
He previously told those attending a legislative hearing on the subject back in 2019 that he’d been in dozens of homes over the years where he spoke to pregnant teenagers who didn’t know how they arrived at that condition. That might come as a shock to adults who believed digital-savvy adolescents seemingly had all the answers, but when it comes to sexual matters, that wasn’t necessarily the case.
Many teens still engage in sexually risky behavior that puts them at risk for HIV infection, other sexually transmitted diseases, and unintended pregnancy, as the before-mentioned example illustrates.
O’Day’s hoping that the enthusiasm and expertise that Howard — a former board member of the Lowell Community Health Center — brings to this effort will play a decisive role in finally getting this bill through both branches of the Legislature.
That would allow for a factual, no-nonsense presentation of responsible sexual behavior, conducted in a school setting, which will enable preteens and teens to make intelligent, healthy choices.