#LetsTalkMonth: A Pressure Valve for This Moment

When it comes to sexual health, we are currently living through what history will recognize as a significant moment for human rights.

Looking through young people's eyes, all that is happening in our country and throughout our state must be jarring: #MeToo revelations are being revealed at a record pace, including the most recent headline-making claims coming from the highest offices in our land.

In our state of California, news of sexual assault in our schools is front-and-center. Our comprehensive sex education law is under attack from fringe anti-LGBTQ groups, who want to put an end to inclusive education for young people. It feels like all of the voices around us have reached a fevered pitch, and young people are often caught in the crosshairs.

In the face of adversity, parents, educators, students, and advocates have joined together to ensure high-quality sex education stays in our schools, influencing policy to drive positive, inclusive, and affirming curricula and services to our young people. This ranges from passage of the California Healthy Youth Act, to the development of educator guidance for lawful implementation of the CHYA, and accountability at school boards for addressing sexual misconduct and assault.

In this vein, October is #LetsTalkMonth, which is dedicated to facilitating frank conversations between young people and the adults they trust about sexual health. Thousands of parents, educators, administrators,social workers, students, and advocates in California (and around the country and even globe) are joining in, and we are SO PUMPED!

This October, we at BACHE are elevating the conversation a step further by using the #LetsTalkMonth platform not just to raise awareness about young people’s sexual health, but also to show our support for medically-accurate, comprehensive, and inclusive sex education in California schools. We’re using the celebration to convey our values of respect, tolerance, and honesty, showcase the strength of our numbers, and fortify our position, especially in the face of attacks on our health programs and state law.

What we’re doing:

1. Spreading the word: We’re working across our state and beyond, reaching out to hundreds of school districts and thousands of parents, educators, administrators, social workers, students, and advocates to join the campaign. We will have representation from San Francisco, Orange County, the Peninsula, the East Bay, and more.
2. Instilling hope: We came up with the theme - “hope” - for this year. All of our communications for the month will be designated by the dual hashtags, #LetsTalkMonth and #MyHope. Our key message is: When it comes to sexual health, our hope is for our kids to grow up happy, healthy, and thriving.
3. Building momentum: Most importantly, we created a “campaign-in-a-box,” a set of pre-packaged, ready-to-go posts for the whole month. The package contains easy-to-follow instructions, 31 posts, and several optional campaign banners.

What can you do? Join us!

• Reach out to BACHE directly to let us know you’ll be participating.
• Watch our short training video.
• Download the pre-packaged campaign-in-a-box. It takes 10-30 minutes to plug it into your Facebook page or other media sites (you can even run it on your individual page, or simply follow one of us, such as Palo Alto Parents for Sex Ed (@PAParents4SE) on Facebook, and easily share our daily posts).

Like the campaign, but want to share a different resource or change a message? Go for it! We want you to be able to use this kit in a way that works for you, whether that be as is or customized. Our only ask is that you keep your content positive, stay within the theme of hope, and use the hashtags #LetsTalkMonth and #MyHope in your posts.

Help us turn this major historical moment into a positive, inclusive, and hopeful movement for our young people both here in California, as well as around the world by taking part in the #LetsTalkMonth #MyHope campaign.