Sarah Brimhall

I have sat back and followed how far this issue has gone for too long.

Many false statements and accusations have been made regarding the three articles in the Lone Peak High School newspaper and the involvement of school administrators. As the author of the articles, I feel it is my responsibility to address the inaccuracies to the public.

In understanding how sensitive the topics are to everyone, I presented the information in the most sensitive way, without sacrifice to the overall message.

These articles were not about sex. The three pieces promoted acceptance of individuals, offered information about a cervical cancer vaccine and promoted the idea of protecting young girls from contracting strains of an STD that lead to cervical cancer

Stephen Graham, founder of the Standard of Liberty Foundation, has misinterpreted state laws. The press release from the organization says Lone Peak administrators broke the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and Utah State Codes 53A-13-301 and 302 by forcing students to reveal information regarding their attitudes about sexual behavior.

However, the state laws apply to actions and requirements set by the State Board of Education and not to individual schools. The first concerns health instruction in the classroom and the second relates to instruction on the effects of alcohol, tobacco and controlled substances. FERPA is an entirely different thing. The U.S. Department of Education's Web site states this act protects the confidentiality of student records.

No writer for The Crusader was forced to write anything. Writers volunteered for the ideas they wished to cover. I wrote the pro-Gay-Straight Alliance article, knowing perfectly well the risks involved. I also wanted to write the two vaccine articles.

Changes are made by students when editing and laying out the pages of the newspaper. Stories are often cut so everything can fit on the page. This occurred in the vaccine opinion article where certain ideas were cut and the emphasis of italicized words were removed. Despite these changes, the overall message remains clear.

In his letter to the Daily Herald, Graham selectively quoted "I'm disturbed by people who say abstinence until marriage is 100 percent effective." Unfortunately, this is one case of errors in print, where "only" was to be italicized for emphasis and "only acceptable behavior" was omitted. The sentence should have read, "I'm disturbed by people who say abstinence until marriage is 100 percent effective and promote it as being the only acceptable behavior and the only way to prevent pregnancy and disease."

Quoting the first half of this sentence was unjust and those who read Graham's article received a skewed idea of what was being said.

Graham has presented some things out of context to the public. For example, he said the vaccine opinion suggested 'teenage male promiscuity' as in 'boys who may not know their partner is infected would go on to infect their next partner(s).' This was not the case.

The article was about protecting girls from a disease that could lead to cervical cancer. The news article stated that males are carriers of HPV and it does not usually affect them.

High school students have been referred to as "kids." As a "kid," I do not consider these to be adult topics. These are challenges relevant to adolescents, and we need to be informed. People suffer from ignorance. Every student who read the articles, though most "underage," are on the brink of adulthood. This is all valuable information they can use now or possibly in the near future.

No one has the right to restrict access to knowledge. Everyone has the right to be taught things that are of significance to them, no matter how or when that knowledge will be used. Knowledge and free thinking need not be censored. Censorship can be a dangerous course to follow and this call for censorship is counterproductive.

Abstinence-only education is an indoctrination merely protecting students from sensitive information. It withholds vital health knowledge one would rather not learn through consequences. It isn't right to force a set of values on all people when not everyone has the same values. It's saying these values are the most correct above all others. It is viewpoint discrimination.

The three articles can stand on their own. I urge all those who have questions or concerns to view all three articles located on the foundation's Web site to evaluate the content for themselves.

The job of the press is to report the truth, even if some readers find it shocking. I thank the Daily Herald, members of the community, as well as all other publications that have shown support for the First Amendment rights of student journalists and are concerned with the lack of proper education in high schools.

Sarah Brimhall is a recent graduate of Lone Peak High School.