{"id":247549,"date":"2021-06-25T10:44:02","date_gmt":"2021-06-25T15:44:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=247549"},"modified":"2021-06-24T16:37:12","modified_gmt":"2021-06-24T21:37:12","slug":"summer-music-camp-planned-parenthood-sex-ed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/summer-music-camp-planned-parenthood-sex-ed\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer music camp for girls promotes Planned Parenthood’s virtual sex ed instead"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Virginia summer camp founded to teach middle school girls about musical performance and songwriting seems to have abruptly shifted its focus from music to sex ed this summer, thanks to a partnership with Planned Parenthood.<\/p>\n

Girls Rock Roanoke<\/a>\u00a0(GRR) was launched in 2012 as “part of a national and worldwide movement to educate and empower girls and gender non-binary youth through music, creativity, and collaboration,” according to the organization’s website<\/a>. While the website’s home page<\/a> simply notes that the camps are canceled for 2021, a local news channel reported<\/a> that GRR is now promoting a Planned Parenthood virtual sex ed program called Teen Connections<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A telling statement from GRR’s Executive Director makes clear that this partnership is intentional and a direct reflection of the views of GRR administration.\u00a0Lacey Levy told WDBJ, “We really get to hone in and focus on a lot of the messages that we send to them many ways in camp. It\u2019s not masked in music this time, it\u2019s more direct and straightforward<\/em>.” (emphasis added)<\/p>\n

Teen Connections<\/a> is “the education branch of Planned Parenthood here in Roanoke and the New River Valley of Virginia” and targets girls in 6th-12th grade. Participants will receive a $100 gift card after completing the two-week program, as well as a “peer educator” designation.<\/p>\n

While the Teen Connections website is actually just a collection of links, those links take viewers straight to the Planned Parenthood South Atlantic website, directly to an appointment scheduler<\/em> for PPSA, as well as to the Planned Parenthood YouTube channel and to Amaze videos, an “at-home sex ed video series”, according to Breitbart<\/a>. You’d never know it from GRR executive director Levy’s vague assurances that Teen Connections participants will feel “more self-assured, have more confidence” and be “more educated on themselves and how to interact with others,” but parents have every reason to be suspicious of any sex ed materials created or promoted by Planned Parenthood.<\/p>\n

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