Sen. Lewis and Mass. Senate pass ‘Healthy Youth Act’

Special to The Advocate

On February 29, 2024, Senator Jason Lewis joined his colleagues in the Massachusetts Senate to pass S.2694, An Act relative to healthy youth – also called the Healthy Youth Act – which would ensure that Massachusetts public schools electing to teach sexual health education curriculum use age-appropriate, inclusive, medically accurate and research-based information on sex, relationships and consent. On March 4 the House referred the bill to its committee on Ways and Means.

The Healthy Youth Act would enhance parental rights and codify into law the voluntary health curriculum framework approved by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) last year. It calls for sex and relationship education to be inclusive and appropriate for students regardless of gender, race, disability status, sexual orientation and gender identity.

“Providing comprehensive, age-appropriate, and medically accurate sex and relationship education to our youth is the best way to prepare them to make safe and healthy choices,” said Senator Lewis, who is Senate Chair of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Education. “I’m pleased that the Senate is continuing to advance this legislation that ensures that Massachusetts public schools use research-informed curricula that prioritize inclusivity and the health and well-being of all students.”

Ensuring that Massachusetts public schools use a research-informed curriculum that provides medically accurate, age-appropriate and comprehensive sexual health information would protect young people from inaccurate or misleading information. It will also help young people to develop healthy relationships, both with friends and romantic partners, emphasizing that relationships should always be free of coercion, intimidation, abuse and violence.

The Healthy Youth Act would ensure that sex ed curricula are inclusive of all sexual orientations and gender identities. This is especially important given the right-wing attacks on the LGBTQ+ community here in Massachusetts and around the country. Lastly, the Healthy Youth Act would require DESE to collect data on sex and relationship education taught in public schools, and also ensure that going forward the health curriculum framework is updated no less frequently than every 10 years.