Campaigning leads to some interesting conversations. Over the last couple of weeks, one of those conversations involved sex education. Yes, you read right. A few weeks ago, Rep. Julie VanOrden, chairwoman of the Idaho House Education Committee, proposed a series of changes to update the language in Idaho law about sex education.
Two responses to the proposed bill seemed to dominate the conversations:
1) It’s a bad bill. Tell committee members to vote “no.”
2) We need to update the existing language, but the proposed bill could benefit from some changes.
Rep. VanOrden listened to the feedback. She revised the proposed language and presented an updated version to the House Education Committee this week. The committee then voted unanimously to move forward with a full hearing. This process reflects the kind of legislative discussion we want to see in Idaho, and I support Rep. VanOrden’s efforts.
In some instances, we do need to stand up and say, “No!” But in many instances, we need to work together to make something better. That’s my philosophy and approach to most things in life. It will also drive my approach to serving this district.
If we default to “no,” we close doors to opportunities to make things better for our community and state. But when we step up and listen to each other, we can often find common ground to resolve our concerns and create real solutions for the problems we face.