STDS in The City

from the June 10, 2008 eNews issue

According to a recent study by the city Health Department, New York City has a 26% infection rate for herpes simplex virus 2. In other words, one out over every four adults in NYC has herpes. What is alarming is not that sex in the city has spiked the number of herpes cases in the Big Apple, but that the national average is not much better. The rest of the nation has a 19% average infection rate – nearly one out of every five adults nationwide has the virus. That’s a real problem.

As troops of people from schools to churches to the CDC work to deal with the spread of STDs, the most reasonable up-front answer is… monogamy.

The sexual revolution of the 1960s told us that we can have all the free love we want. We have since learned that we also get all the unpleasant things, from viruses to broken hearts to broken homes, that get passed along in the process. There is definitely an epidemic of pain out there, and our kids are the ones who are paying.

Chastity, however, is not outdated. Here are some of the things going on around the country to help young people deal with the dangers, new and old, in our free-love world.

Selena Gomez

Kudos to teen actress / singer Selena Gomez from the Disney Channel. The 15-year-old rising star has vowed to remain abstinent until marriage. Her father got her a promise ring at her request. She told the TV news show Extra, “I'm going to keep my promise to myself, to my family and to God.”

She is not alone. Thousands of teenagers across the country have pledged to stay abstinent until marriage. While many do not keep their vows, others do stick to their word and wait it out. Statistically, the rate of high school students having sex has dropped. According to the CDC, in 1991 54.1 percent of students in 9th-12th grade reported having had intercourse. By 2007, the percentage had dropped to 47.8 percent, which means that more than half of teens are waiting until they get out of high school to have sex.

Jan Dantzler

Jan Dantzler, a minister at New Kingdom Christian Church in Danville, VA, decided to put together a workshop to give young adults wise direction regarding love and sexuality. Starting with biblical principles, the workshop on June 21st will focus on abstinence and making good decisions. Dantzler has partnered with Provena Medical Center to give attendees an array of facts. With booths of information, counselors, and social workers available for questioning, Dantzler’s idea is to help the adults get good information so that they can pass it on to their kids. It’s also about giving young people direction. Even if they’ve made mistakes in the past, there’s always room for a fresh start. “It’s not what you’ve done; it’s what you do after that,” Dantzler tells people.

Arlen Specter

Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) has directed $853,000 to programs in Pennsylvania to promote abstinence among students. Specter, known for being pro-abortion, has also been pushing to fund abstinence education in recent years – an apparent contradiction to both conservatives and liberals. He says he promotes abstinence as a way to reduce premarital sex and to slow the spread of disease. Some are questioning that Specter – an important member of the Senate Appropriations Committee – is sending all the abstinence education earmarks only to his home state of Pennsylvania, and not around the rest of the country.

The Rest of Us

Whether parents, or members of the community or members of Congress, or young people themselves, everybody should be involved in helping solve the problem of promiscuity and its difficult and dangerous consequences. Teens and young adults do not want to ruin their lives. They need information and wisdom to help make the best decisions, and keep out of the statistics.