The legislative session ended this past Sunday, but this cool letter just came in.

The writer, from the 42nd legislative district (Whatcom County), wrote in about the sex ed bill —which passed the House as usual, 63-34, and the Senate finally, 30-19, under the leadership of suburban R-turned-D Senator Rodney Tom (D-48, Bellevue). Apparently, though, we need some more Rs-turned-Ds in Whatcom County.

Happily for kids who live in Washington State, our legislature recently passed the Healthy Youth Act, which mandates that public schools that choose to teach sex education must use a comprehensive, medically accurate curriculum. However, I was very disappointed that Representative Doug Ericksen A (R-42, Ferndale) used his floor time to oppose the Healthy Youth Act, claiming that that this was a “Seattle issue” and that he had not heard from anyone in his district regarding this bill. In fact, 50 of his constituents signed postcards asking for his support of the Healthy Youth Act. A delegation of constituents from the 42nd District went to meet with him in Olympia, but he cancelled the meeting leaving us with no other option but to leave materials about the bill with his staff. I personally sent him a hand-written note about the bill after he cancelled his meeting with us, and I also sent him several emails regarding the issue. I know others from our district have contacted him as well. Not only did Ericksen ignore his constituents’ support of the issue of medically accurate sex education, he lied during the debate.

Sincerely,

Lisa Van Doren
Bellingham, WA