Although our country has come a long way in teaching sexual education to adolescents, many states still teach ineffective abstinence-only-until-marriage programs to students.

Many of our members live in these states, but are working within their communities to implement more comprehensive sexual education programs that educate students while supporting the sexual health of adolescents. But federal funding plays a huge role in what sexual education programs can be provided.

With young gay and bisexual men and young transgender people at greatly heightened risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, and young lesbian and bisexual women at greater risk of unintended pregnancy, getting young people all the information they need to make healthy choices is absolutely critical for our community.

A new resource has just been released that could help Federation members working on improving sexual education in their states by learning how federal funding has been used nationwide.

SIECUS State Profiles: A Portrait of Sexuality Education and Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs in the States provides educators, advocates, and policymakers an annual snapshot of how federal funding is impacting sexual health education across the country. And for the first time, the publication also includes a State Profile At A Glance for each state, providing a shortened summary of adolescent sexual health education state policies, data, and federal funding.

See how your state measures up here.

The FY 2012 edition of the State Profiles reflects SIECUS’ focus on tracking funding for teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, and other sexually transmitted disease (STD) prevention programs as well as detailing new funding streams, grantees, and funded programs. While not LGBT-specific, the publication includes great data about each state that can help your advocacy efforts.

SIECUS found that, overall, many states and communities benefited from the federal funding streams designed to support evidence-informed prevention programs. These funding streams received a total of $188.5 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2012, supporting numerous programs across the country:

• The Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative (TPPI) funded 94 grantees in 35 states and the District of Columbia.
• The Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) funded state/territory health departments in 45 states, the District of Columbia, the Federated States of Micronesia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

Unfortunately, abstinence-only-until-marriage (AOUM) programs were also funded, with $50 million allocated to the Title V AOUM program and the reemergence of discretionary funding, $5 million, for the Competitive Abstinence Education (CAE) grant program.

SIECUS believes that the information included in this latest edition of the State Profiles can help leaders like you learn from each other, understand best practices, recognize successful models, and ultimately strengthen both policies and programs in their states and communities with an eye toward expanding comprehensive sexuality education to all students.

View your state’s profile here.