Stacey Campfield has succeeded in forcing the University of Tennessee to pull funding for a planned sex education week. The state senator known for his homophobia, ignorance surrounding sex and gender issues, and annual attempts to pass an ever-expanding “Don’t Say Gay” bill, was not pleased with the university’s plans to use tax dollars and student fees to educate students, and went so far as to claim college students aren’t adults.
Campfield is also known for claiming, shockingly, that it’s “virtually impossible” to contract HIV via heterosexual sex.
READ: New ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill Forces Teachers To Tell Gay Kids They Need A Psychiatrist
Although scheduled to begin April 7, “Chancellor Jimmy Cheek announced the school would remove state tax money from the Sex Week budget — two-thirds of the total, or $11,145, according to the Daily Beacon,” the Huffington Post reported:
University of Tennessee President Joe DiPietro told the Daily Beacon “Some activities planned as part of Sex Week are not an appropriate use of state tax dollars.”
In an interview with The Huffington Post, Campfield said he still wasn’t pleased that $6,500 in student fees were funding Sex Week.
“It’s the same as tuition dollars, because the students cannot opt out,” Campfield said.
Campfield pushed back against the argument that the students attending these events are adults. “There’s no age requirement to go to college,” Campfield said.
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The goal is to “advocate for a comprehensive understanding of sex and sexuality and cultivate dialogue on these topics,” and will include a workshop on preventing sexual assaults, tips to practice safe sex and free HIV testing.
That last part clearly must have gotten Senator Campfield’s goat.
Of course conservatives like Todd Starnes focused on the less conventional aspects of the sex education week.
“University of Tennessee uses Student Fees to pay for Lesbian Bondage Expert,” Starnes wrote.
The Fox News pundit certainly had no problem when it was the RNC paying for lesbian bondage events — and the  “lesbian bondage expert’s” role in the sex education week was to read poetry — but no one ever accused conservatives of being fair and promoting education. At least, not today’s conservatives.
Fortunately, it looks like despite attempts by Senator “Don’t Say Gay” to become Senator “Don’t Say Sex,” the students at the University of Tennessee has the upper hand. The event will continue, thanks to fundraising efforts and private donations.
Some of the events include:
First Friday, “Loud and Queer”
How to Talk to Your Parents About Sex
How to Talk to Your Doctor about Sex
and one that surely was created especially for the good state senator:
Sex Positivity in our Sex-Negative Culture
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Image via Sex Week website
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Related:
Tennessee GOP’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill Opposed By Majority Of Tennessee Voters
GOP Lawmaker Who Calls Gays Not ‘Mentally Healthy’ Introduces New ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill
‘Don’t Say Gay’ Senator Explains HIV Prevalence In Africa: They’re Really Into Sodomy