By Nyah Fyfe. A majority of American parents support teaching sex education in schools. Even so, relatively few states have comprehensive sex ed in their public school curricula. Misinformed fears of “grooming” and negative views about LGBTQ individuals are partly to blame for the growing opposition to science-based sex ed. Experts, on the other hand, emphasize what studies also show: Using factually accurate, neutral language to teach children about anatomy and sexuality is the most effective way to protect our youth. Well-informed students are more likely to have healthy, consensual relationships, face lower STI and pregnancy risks, and are better at identifying potential predators.
Blog Posts
Historic injustice: Federal regulation of Native American maternal health
By Keely Driscoll. The legal relationship between Tribes and the federal government rests on a long history of constitutional, treaty, and case law. A foundational principal of Federal Indian Law is the federal trust responsibility, under which the United States is expected to protect Tribal interests. As it stands, however, that trust has been repeatedly violated through the federal government’s use of eugenics and forced sterilization of women, particularly incarcerated women, immigrants, and women of color. Moving forward, greater oversight and reporting efforts are needed to ensure women are not forced to undergo irreversible procedures.
Book banning—it’s bad!
By Sophie Staires. Book banning is on the rise in the United States and, despite federal pushback, First Amendment arguments don’t seem to be helping. In this blog post, law student and Cherokee citizen Sophie Staires offers her firsthand account of Native American erasure in the American public school system—and a warning of what can result from hiding information and forcing people to forget their culture, their history, and their identity.
Our most vulnerable on the streets: The crisis of unhoused seniors
By Kyle Bycroft. Arizona has seen an unprecedented rise in its unhoused population in the last several years, and senior citizens bear some of the greatest hardships of life on the street. Unhoused seniors often face unique and long-lasting health impacts due to factors like exposure to illness, addiction, unchecked mental health problems, and extreme temperatures—high in the summer and low in the winter. Now, states are using creative means to combat the crisis by diverting federal Medicaid funds to provide housing for their most vulnerable residents. But doctors and housing experts say temporary solutions are not enough to create lasting change.
Improving unemployment insurance
By Princewill Ekwuribe. During the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 20 million Americans lost their jobs. As businesses shut down and laid off workers in the face of indefinite public health restrictions, workers scrambled to find work in the gig economy or filed for unemployment insurance. Many state unemployment programs were unable to handle the massive increase in applications, and despite the federal government’s assistance many states failed to adequately provide for workers. On top of that, fraud ran rampant, draining limited funds and keeping workers from receiving the support they needed. The federal government and states must work together to develop a new, more efficient UI system to prevent future catastrophe in the 21st century.
Law Journal for Social Justice 