The Education of Shelby Knox

Last Wednesday, Congressman Henry Waxman’s staff contacted me about the possibility of testifying in front of the House Oversight Committee about the efficacy of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, which are currently funded by the federal government to the tune of about 176 million dollars a year. And, even though these programs have been around for about 25 years –with almost 1.5 billion dollars spent in the last ten years alone– Congress is just getting around to checking if they work. (They don’t – we’ve known that for the past ten years, as well. Just ask that one of the one in four American teen girls that we’ve just learned has a sexually transmitted infection.)

They got back to me definitively on Thursday that I would be the “youth speaker” on the panel – an incredibly exciting honor, but it left me with only three days to write my written testimony (the long, cited version that will be entered into the congressional record and of which a copy is given to all of the reporters, staffers, and Members present) and a little less than a week to prepare my five minute oral testimony. Thanks to Jen at SIECUS, Marcela and Deb at Advocates for Youth, and Heather at the Guttmacher Institute for all of your help in pulling it all together – the generosity and kindness of the sexual health community never ceases to amaze me!

I’ve been to a couple of congressional hearings that were not all that fascinating (no joke, several Members fell asleep during one particularly painful one I attended during my short stint as a student activist/lobbyist in DC last year) but this one looks like it could include some fireworks. Anything that starts with Pastor (Sen.) Sam Brownback’s anti-choice antics can’t be a total snoozer. After his opener, and a counter from a Congresswoman who is also an RN, there is an “expert and youth” panel and an “administrative panel”. The list of who is on both panels is here.

The really fun part is that each Member gets five minutes to ask any member of the panel questions after we finish our testimony. The anti-reality lobby (AKA the Heritage Foundation and the National Abstinence Education Committee) riled up their followers with a press conference and briefing today, so I expect there will be a few minority party Members of the committee on hand to with which to verbally spar.

Of course, the first question for me will be some variation on the ever popular “Have you had sex yet?” – I am taking suggestions in the comments on how to nicely answer and make the asker feel like a lecherous creep! (I’m sorry, but you really think it’s okay to ask a young woman about her sex life on the Congressional record?)

So, I am now on a train to DC for the hearing, which is tomorrow morning at 10am. I don’t know yet if it will be featured on CSPAN, so switch over in the morning to see if you see me! I will put up a blog about the experience on the Huffington Post as well as the ACLU’s Take Issue, Take Charge blog, hopefully by Thursday morning.

Wish me good luck!