Sex education opposition sparked mutiny within Nebraska’s GOP, according to The Washington Post

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — Nebraska is making national headlines after a Washington Post article was released on Sunday, highlighting backlash over sex education in schools.

It says unproven claims that these lessons “groom” kids sparked changes that helped reshuffle Republican Party leadership this summer.

The new report says far-right candidates were emboldened and hijacked the party’s state convention earlier this month in Kearney.

Former Chairman Dan Welch was voted out of leadership and several other top officials later resigned.

“Grooming” can be defined as the actions of adults who sexually abuse children by building trust, in order to take advantage of them.

The Washington Post reports that even people who claimed that’s what sex education would lead to have since acknowledged there’s no research suggesting as much.

Leading child abuse experts say it’s actually the exact opposite. They contend children who receive sex education are able to arm themselves with information that protects them from harm.

Retired educator Rita Bennett, who worked with Lincoln Public Schools for 30 years, says that claims about grooming in schools are false information.

“The bottom line is that this type of influence isn’t happening, nor would we want it to,” Bennett said. “What educators are involved in is meeting learning objectives so that we are turning out students who are ready to be productive, successful members of society.”

Rachel Gibson of the League of Women Voters said the group’s research has found that sex ed is one small part of what schools do for the community.

She says grooming is a very serious issue, but when it’s politicized with rhetoric and “unsubstantiated” accusations, it makes it harder to address the issues and help victims.

“I have kids of my own; I know that they ask questions, and if I don’t answer them, they’re gonna find the answer somewhere else,” Gibson said. “The idea of being able to let children understand who they are and that they are in control of their body is what we have found, in all the research we’ve done, is really an effective way to teach kids to take care of themselves.”

Gibson, as well as educators in the school system, said parent involvement in schools is a good thing and is even linked with higher academic success and self-esteem in kids.

But she and others agreed that the claims about grooming seem to be baseless.