ABSTRACT
By 1968, the new conservative movement, which had previously been considered dormant, was building a much more forceful public rhetoric on singular issues—sex education being one of the most prominent. The conservative opposition to comprehensive sex education not only outnumbered but also out-financed its supporters. Throughout the 1990s, Sexuality Education and Information Council of the United States (SIECUS) remained the only national organization dedicated to promoting comprehensive sex education. While SIECUS retained its national status and elected professionals in large cities, the organizations opposed to comprehensive sex education chose to take their movements into local elections and school districts. Again utilizing fear tactics and countering a grand moment of social change for women and homosexuals, the New Right deemed feminism, gay rights, and organizations like SIECUS and Planned Parenthood as the source of society’s moral decline. With the passage of Adolescent Family Life Act, federal financial support of sex education programs began with a limited pool of funding.
