TN Senate votes to ban kissing and holding hands in schools

The Tennessee legislature is on a roll – to turn their state into a national laughingstock, that is. Not only have lawmakers recently decided that students shouldn’t be privy to actual scientific reality, but they also apparently think that teens shouldn’t be taught about the reality of sexuality and proper protection, either. In fact, they’d rather have teachers avoid telling kids about any kind of “gateway sexual activity” altogether – such as kissing and holding hands [original emphasis]:

Last week, the Senate passed SB 3310, a bill to update the state’s abstinence-based sex education curriculum to define holding hands and kissing as “gateway sexual activities.” Just one senator voted against the legislation; 28 voted in favor.

Since the bill specifically bans teachers from “demonstrating gateway sexual activity”, educators would be prohibited from even demonstrating what hand-holding is. Breaking these laws could result in a lawsuit, as Hunter from Daily Kos notes:

If your teacher teaches you anything about sex that isn’t specifically on the approved curriculum, like demonstrating “holding hands” for the class instead of quietly tsking about the dangers it poses, they can be sued.

You know things are bad when banning students from holding hands and kissing because of fears that such behavior might lead to rampant teenage orgies (or something) isn’t even the worst law that state legislators have passed in a single month.

Tags: Tennessee • Tennessee Senate • SB 3310 • gateway sexual activity • kissing • holding hands