On June 20, a packed room of Unitarian Universalist ministers and seminarians learned about ways to promote safer sexuality education from the UUA's experts. The Rev. Cynthia Breen, Director of Religious Education and Judith Frediani, Director of Curriculum Planning in the Religious Education department, led the workshop which was designed to answer some of the most pressing questions religious leaders encounter about sex ed.
Breen (left) and Frediani addressed the challenges of offering sexuality education in UU congregations. They presented the scope of programs available through the new lifespan curriculum, Our Whole Lives, which is now available through the UUA Bookstore. Offering help to address the pastoral and prophetic implications of ministry for those who provide leadership on isssues of sexuality and faith, Breen said, "Some of us have not come to terms with sexuality ourselves, which makes it difficult to advocate for it for our children. When we get an understanding of the issues [that surround sexuality education], we can become better advocates."
Describing the Our Whole Lives program and the companion series, Sexuality and Our Faith, Breen and Frediani reviewed the major components of each level — for K/1, grades 4/6, grades 7/9, grades 10-12, and adult. Some of the participants talked about parental concerns regarding sexuality education. Frediani said, "parents coming to our congregations are different than twenty or thirty years ago…they are more conventional, different than the previous generations. They are, as a group, not so comfortable with sexuality education. So you really have to deal with parental anxiety…These are issues that arise from cultural oppression of sexuality. We have to help parents see the potential for raising sexually healthy kids."
Debra Haffner, former President of the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) and a UU seminarian, said, "children need the skills to protect themselves…parents need to ask themselves if they would like their children to hear information on human sexuality correctly , for the first time, or whether they want them to get it on the playground from other children." Breen, responding, said, "we are advocating for respect and reciprocity," for accurate information conveyed to people of all ages.
Breen and Frediani described the important role that parents play in supporting the Our Whole Lives program for their children, and reviewed the principal components of each of the stages of Our Whole Lives education. They also discussed the media's response to the program thus far, and the rigorous training that Our Whole Lives educators go through before they teach the program in UU congregations.
UU Ministry Day workshops and programming continue in Nashville through Thursday afternoon, June 22. General Assembly begins Thursday evening, June 22, at 7:00 pm with a Banner Parade and Opening Plenary.
