Dear Editor,

I taught 24 years in Boulder Valley, 10 at Ned High and 10 at Boulder High plus some middle school. My last assignment was to teach “Issues in Health” at Boulder High for 9 years. It was a great opportunity for personal growth and learning about healthy ways. The class was only a semester long so it was packed with many of the issues that face youth today… body image, exercise, self-esteem, depression and suicide, drugs of many kinds, sexuality, nutrition, and more.

It was not an easy class to teach and was always changing. In the sexuality unit, we had speakers on sexual decision-making and consent, contraception, sexually transmitted infections, and sexual orientation. Abstinence and delaying sexual activity was highly suggested and reinforced by a speaker from the Caring Pregnancy Center. We believed then and still do, in a harm reduction model. No judging. Can insight and support help someone reduce their likelihood of being harmed? How could they help a friend in distress?

For sexual orientation, we had speakers from a local gay organization, usually two or three for each class. Five classes per day. Over nine years, maybe 60 plus speakers. Their stories were so similar. They knew somehow, they were different. They wished they weren’t. Life would have been so much easier. But that was not their path. They agonized over how or when to come out, and who to tell. Would their parents disown them? They were sometimes bullied, depressed and suicidal. They were happier when they finally matched their external life with their internal person, even if it was hard. Some were lucky and found a support group that would let them be themselves. One speaker was the student body president, who was in the closet till a couple years into college, and returned to tell his story.

Tonight, I listened to Marjorie Taylor Greene on 60 Minutes saying that “Democrats are pedophiles,” suggesting that they groom young minds to accept homosexuality as an option, or to entice them to think about becoming gay. That is quite an accusation.

In our health class, I never heard anyone trying to persuade these young students to adopt their lifestyle. It was usually a hard story and a hard path to follow. My goal was to make my classroom safe for everyone. I know many teachers whom I respect had the same goals. The kids in the closet… letting them know they were not alone. Again, no judgments.

Rep. Greene was referring to the latest skirmish in the culture wars, over 400 anti LGBTQ bills introduced in state legislatures this year. These are universally Republican proposals, purporting to benefit the child, to protect their “natural youth.” These proposals take the choice of medical care from the parent and the child and substitute the one size fits all approach of a state mandate. Many bills would ban puberty blockers, hormone therapy and gender affirming care. This is against hours and hours of testimony by doctors, psychologists and parents saying that this is harmful to the psyche of the child. The AMA has come out against these potential laws.

It’s somewhat ironic that this is the party that claims to support individual liberty and parental rights in education yet blocks parents and doctors from exercising their own judgment on what is best for their child. As one parent put it, my child knew he was different at age 3, age 4, age 10. Why would the state want to intervene in these very personal decisions? The same question could apply to reproductive rights.

Could it be that Republicans have nothing to offer on the real issues that face this country such as climate change, tax policy, reform of our immigration laws, the looming debt ceiling, poverty, crime, homelessness, discrimination, gerrymandering, and yes, reproductive rights?

Bill Thibedeau

Gilpin County