Grundy Reporter

A Republican lawmaker from Morris raised objections to a Senate proposal that reshapes sex education teaching to students saying that it requires private schools to provide such instruction against their faith. 

The legislation in question, Senate Bill 818, mandates that schools provide thorough personal health and sexual education while also calling for decriminalizing HIV transmission and other related topics. The content would be age-appropriate for students, according to a report from the Illinois News Room. 

The legislation still has a way to go. It was approved in a partisan vote in the Senate Executive Committee. 

"This bill completely changes how sex education is taught to K-12 students in Illinois. It also forces private schools to teach concepts that are contrary to their faith and would be unconstitutional forced speech," Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris) said in a May 6 Facebook post. "This proposal had over 1,500 opposition witness slips filed against it, including the Illinois State Board of Education, Illinois Association of School Board, Illinois Principals Association and the Illinois Coalition of Nonpublic Schools. If you oppose these controversial standards, reach out to your legislator and tell them to vote NO on Senate Bill 818."

Supporters of the bill said that children are the most vulnerable to experience sexual abuse between the ages of 7 and 13, making education crucial to that demographic. Educating them on appropriate and inappropriate conduct gives students a tool to report adults, the Illinois News Room reported. 

The bill and its two amendments include education targeted for students identifying as LGBTQ+, students with children, and children with disabilities. The proposal also ensures that the education would be "medically accurate" and "culturally appropriate" to affirm the bill's inclusion of gender identity, expression, sexual orientation and behavior, as it removes "abstinence-only education," Illinois News Room said. 

Representatives from the Illinois Association of School Board, and the Catholic Conference of Illinois, testified against the bill to no anvil. 

Private and charter schools under the Illinois Critical Health Problems and Comprehensive Health Education Act are already required to include in their sexual education curriculum about prevention, transmission and treatment of sexually transmitted infections (STI's), the Illinois News Room reported.