Guerrilla Sex Ed

For those seeking out better sex ed...

New York

  • New York state law does not mandate the teaching of sexuality education, though schools are required to provide HIV/AIDS instruction. These classes are not required to be comprehensive.
  • All sex ed curricula must stress abstinence.
  • Sex ed curricula are not required to include instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity, though New York’s Guidance Document for Achieving the New York State Standards in Health Education includes instruction on sexual orientation and limited instruction on gender identity.
  • Sex ed curricula are not required to include instruction on consent.
  • Parents or guardians may exempt their children from HIV/AIDS instruction as long as the school is given assurance that “the pupil will receive such instruction at home.” This is referred to as an “opt-out” policy.
  • New York state provides A Guidance Document for Achieving the New York State Standards in Health Education, which is intended as a guide for developing health curricula. Topic areas mentioned include sexual risk, family life, and sexual health, as well as the prevention of HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and pregnancy. The state also provides a curriculum framework, the Learning Standards for Health, Physical Education, and Family and Consumer Sciences at Three Levels. The framework does not specifically mention sex education, though certain topics within sex education are included, such as “understanding of the changes that accompany puberty.”

Bills to Watch

  • AB 4576 was introduced in 2023. It would require the board of education and the trustees of every school district to establish policies and procedures regarding the treatment of transgender or gender non-conforming students.
  • AB 4375 was introduced in 2023. It would require school districts and charter schools to include instruction on the political, economic, and social contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual people in an appropriate place in the curriculum of middle and high school students.
  • AB 4370 was introduced in 2023. It would require that medically accurate instruction on HIV and AIDS be taught in all elementary and secondary schools.
  • SB 4502 was introduced in 2023. It would establish an educational program related to the prevention of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia bias, and discrimination based on religion, race, sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.
  • SB 4518 was introduced in 2023. It would require courses of study in private schools in the prevention of child sexual exploitation and child sexual abuse for pupils in grades K-8.
  • SB 4420 and AB 1157 were introduced in 2023. They would require the creation of a school teen dating violence prevention program, including an age appropriate curriculum on healthy relationships, teen dating violence, and community resources.
  • AB 3736 was introduced in 2023. It would mandate that comprehensive, medically accurate, and age appropriate sex education be taught in all public schools, grades 1-12, and would require the commissioner of education to create and establish a curriculum to accomplish this goal within one year of the effective date of this legislation.
  • SB 4092 was introduced in 2023. It would establish education programs for students in grades K-12 to prevent, deter, and address incidents of teen dating violence. These programs would include age-appropriate information about healthy relationships and teen dating violence.
  • SB 2428 was introduced in 2023. It would require the creation of an LGBT awareness curriculum as part of the social studies curriculum, which would provide information, skills, and understanding of the historical treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and gender non-conforming individuals.

Some Sex Ed Advocates Within the State

For more detailed information on how various districts in the state have been implementing these standards — and for recent legislation — you can read SIECUS’s New York profile.