Thursday, January 9, 2003
Spokane
Abstinence matters
Kristen Kromer - Staff writer
Entertainer Lakita Garth brought her enthusiastic abstinence rally to Spokane teens Wednesday, backed by a cadre of break dancers, rappers, TV clips and Miss America herself.
"This is not some old-school presentation. We're not gonna lecture you, ah-aight?" she told the crowd of about 2,000 ninth- and 10th-graders from the Spokane, Endicott, Selkirk, Ritzville and Spokane Valley school districts. Northwest Christian School and a few local middle schools sent students, too.
Many came with their health classes; some came with their school abstinence groups. Most needed parental permission to attend.
Sponsored by Teen-Aid Inc., which paid for the program with a grant for abstinence education from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, "Discover Your Future" featured frank talk about sex. Using video, skits and a pumping soundtrack of popular songs, Garth spoke about the potential consequences of sex before marriage.
A separate Wednesday evening presentation by Garth and her troupe, called "Discover Your Destiny," included a Christian perspective, though the afternoon program was religion-free.
"The reality is, abstinence is the best way," Garth told the students. "Condoms don't protect hearts, emotions and reputations. When you're just giving out condoms, you're not addressing those issues."
The first step in decision-making, Garth said, is to know your options and their consequences. Referencing the movie "The Matrix," she said you can choose the red pill or the blue pill -- to start or continue having sex, or stop or wait to have sex. Both choices have consequences.
The red-pill route can lead to pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, Garth said, reeling off a barrage of statistics about how many people get STDs each day, how many of them are high-school age, and that one in four of those in the audience will have an STD by the time they graduate from high school.
She answered the common refrain of the anti-abstinence camp that "you won't know what to do on your wedding night" with a shrug.
"If we get it wrong the first time, we'll do it again. If we get it wrong the second time, we'll do it again, and we'll just keep doing it 'til we get it right," she said. "Waiting 'til you say `I do' means `I do you and you do me and we don't do anyone else.' "
Miss America 2003 Erika Harold talked about her personal commitment to abstinence as a way to reach her goals.
"If I was sexually active or involved with drugs or alcohol, I wouldn't have been focused on the things I wanted to achieve," she said. "I wouldn't be here today."
After the show, a small group of students from the Odyssey Youth Center -- a support group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender teens and young adults -- handed out literature promoting comprehensive sex education programs, as opposed to abstinence-only programs that are not inclusive of sexual minorities and often hostile to them, an Odyssey adviser said.
"People need to have information about safe sex and abstinence, not just one," said North Central High School senior Danielle Carver, a member of the center.
Student reactions to the program spanned the spectrum. For some in the audience, the abstinence message took a back seat to the entertainment.
For East Valley High School freshman Lyndsey Brammer, the program made her start thinking differently about losing her virginity.
"I was always taught to save it, but I thought everyone was doing it," she said. "This reassured me it's worth it to save it."
Christina Pearson, an NC freshman, thought Garth's message was a little too late.
"Why can't they do a speech like that in elementary school?" she wondered. "Most people I know have already had sex."
For others, the message was right on target.
"It really moved me. I had heard about some stuff from my mom, but this really made me realize why not to have sex," said East Valley freshman Cassandra Overman. "All that stuff about diseases -- no one told us that."
• Kristen Kromer can be reached at (509) 459-5593, or by e-mail at kristenk@spokesman.com.