Henrico School Alliance & Others Speak Out

The following e-mails have been circulating expressing concern about a speaker who will be speaking at Douglas Freeman High School in Richmond, Virginia, on Tuesday, November 17. One e-mail is from the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network and another from the Gay-Straight Alliance, two organizations that work to improve the lives of youth and improve relations between all. Their message is acceptance, but the speaker who is coming to Douglas Freeman High School does not speak of acceptance. The third is from Planned Parenthood, who is concerned about the misinformation that this woman spreads. The speaker has some good things to say, and her message may be appropriate for some venues, but not for the diversity of a taxpayer-funded public school event.

Hello Friends and Activists,

GLSEN Richmond received a letter from one of our GSA sponsors regarding assemblies being done in their county by an abstinence only, anti-choice, anti-gay speaker named Pam Stenzel. Ms. Stenzel is a Liberty University graduate who has parlayed her psychology degree and specific religious views into a public speaking, DVD selling, book selling industry.  GLSEN Richmond is very concerned about the use of assemblies to promote this type of agenda and have written the principal, school administration and school board in Henrico County to voice our opinions.  Please take a moment to read the letter below from our GSA sponsor, the letter attached from GLSEN Richmond, and to read a bit more about Pam Stenzel.  We would appreciate the dissemination of information to your members, family and friends, and also for your action to write the principal, school administration and school board to let them know that you and/or your group do not support this type of assembly.

Thank you so much for your efforts.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Maggie Sacra

Board Member, Treasurer & GSA Liaison

GLSEN Richmond

 

Dear fellow activists,

I am writing on behalf of a contingent of teachers at Douglas Freeman High School in Richmond Virginia.  We are opposed to a school mandated abstinence-only assembly with anti-choice  and anti-gay speaker Pam Stenzel that is to be held during the school day on Tuesday, November 17, 2009. We wanted to make GLSEN Richmond aware that Pam Stenzel will be speaking at several area schools and religious organizations on November 17th as well as to ask GLSEN to contact Principal Anne Poates at Freeman High School to register opposition to Pam Stenzel. It is clear from Pam Stenzel Website and video's of her "Public School" presentation on Youtube, that Ms. Stenzel will most likely stray from an abstinence only lecture into anti-choice rhetoric and misinformation about abortion and sex. As related to GLSEN, her speech is heterosexually derived, meaning she only talks about heterosexual sex and relationships, disregarding the gay and bisexual students in our student body and their issues. There is no discussion of safe sex in her presentation. In fact, there is a lot of misinformation about contraception. Stenzel asserts that “Condoms won’t protect you from pregnancy or STDs. She is supported by many anti-gay organizations as noted on her website www.pamstenzel.com. Additionally, she likes to invite girls to contact crisis pregnancy clinics via her website if they feel they need help. She has been recorded saying that in her "nine years as a crisis pregnancy counselor. I have seen countless women suffering from anorexia, bulimia, and depression because they had an abortion." She has equated abortion to the death penalty. Furthermore, she places the burden of sex primarily on girls. Ms. Stenzel has a degree from Liberty University in Psychology, claims Focus on the Family as a supporter on her website, and notes on her website her media appearances on the 700 Club, Dr. Laura, CBN, and Fox News. While unfortunately abstinence only sex education is the policy of Henrico County Public Schools Ms. Stenzel clearly has an anti-choice background and agenda that she will most likely use in her presentation to 1,600 students and over 200 faculty, staff, and parents on November 17th. We would like to stop this presentation from happening. Is there any way that your organization could assist us in this matter?

Contact Information for Freeman High School is:

8701 Three Chopt Road

Richmond, VA 23229

804-673-3700

 

Sincerely,

Ryan Burgess

GSA Sponsor

Freeman High School

 

Other Contacts:

GLSEN web site

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Dear supporters,

Tomorrow night, anti-choice activist and 'health educator' Pam Stenzel will be giving a presentation at Douglas Freeman High School. While speakers are regularly invited to give presentations at schools and churches, Planned Parenthood is particularly concerned because Pam presents medically-inaccurate information as fact to teens who deserve real answers to the questions they may have. For example, she says that birth control is ineffective and dangerous, recommends Crisis Pregnancy Centers as legitimate health facilities, and uses these presentations to push a radical anti-choice agenda.

Watch an excerpt from her presentation 'Sex Still Has a Price Tag' here.

Pam Stenzel is on record stating the following- both live in presentations and on her website:

1. Abortion causes anorexia, bulimia, depression, and suicide.

2. Girls facing unintended pregnancies should go visit Crisis Pregnancy Centers, which we know give intentionally deceptive and medically inaccurate information to fulfill an anti-choice agenda.

3. Birth control- pills, patches, and shots- leads to higher rates of sexually transmitted infections and possible sterility and death.

4. Condoms don’t prevent the contraction of Chlamydia.

5. Her website links to Optionline.org which tells visitors that abortion causes breast cancer, infertility, and permanent psychological damage. Her website also sites the egregiously anti-choice Family Foundation as her ‘friend.’

We need your help to make sure our teens hear the truth at public school assemblies! As tax payers, we cannot support the use of public school time to promote medical inaccuracies and a political agenda thinly disguised as sex education. And as parents, and community members, we cannot allow our school district to support these lies. That’s why we’re asking you to take action!

Please call the school district and send Freeman High School ’s principal an email today! Tell these community leaders that you don’t support Pam Stenzel speaking at Freeman High tomorrow. Tell them that her medically inaccurate statements don’t prevent sexually transmitted infections and teen pregnancies. They only promote risky behaviors.

Act now!

1. Call Superintendant Patrick Russo at (804) 652-3600

2. Call High School Coordinator Eric Jones at (804) 652-3600

3. Call Principal of Freeman High School Ann Poates at (804) 673-3700

4. Email Principal Anne Poates at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Please, ACT NOW!