Misleading

I’m writing to warn Santa Barbara and Goleta residents about a misleading voter guide I recently received in the mail. The headline says, “Science should not be partisan…” yet at least two of the candidates recommended in the guide support policies that are not science based.

Caroline Abate running for the Goleta school board is an outspoken Trump supporter. Trump’s stance on science speaks for itself, with statements like, “I don’t think science knows…” regarding climate change that has been documented by the scientific community.

Like Abate, Justin Shores who’s running for Goleta city council, opposes reality-based sex education in our schools, believing that information about gender, sexual orientation, contraception, STI prevention, consent, and sexual abuse should be withheld from our children. Yet the research is clear that comprehensive sex education about healthy sexuality helps protect our children from suicide, unintended pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, sexual assault, and abusive relationships.

As a sexuality instructor at SBCC for the past 20 years I have had hundreds of students say they wish they had received more complete and earlier sex education in school. I encourage voters to look at the specific policies of these and all candidates to determine if they truly support science-based decision making.