I'm at the RNC, speaking at a faith press conference on sexuality education and other sexual justice issues

I received a call late yesterday afternoon, to come out to St. Paul and do a press conference at the RNC meetings on a faith based perspective on sexuality education and adolescent sexuality. Here's the press release. It's at 2 p.m. CST...please keep me in your prayers.

Advocates of Comprehensive SexualityEducation Holding Press Conference in St.Paul , Minnesota (Sept. 4, 2008 -- St.Paul , MN ) A panel ofclergy, youth and family advocates, and educators will hold a press conference today at 2:00 PM in the Mezzanine Conference Room of theAlliance Bank Center, at 55 East5th Street , St. Paul .

These leaders will call on elected officials at the stateand federal levels to stop funding for abstinence-only programs and to protectadolescent health by supporting comprehensive sexuality education. Although $1.5 billion dollars in taxpayer money has beenspent on abstinence-only programs since 1996, abstinence-only programs are noteffective. One in four teenage girls has a sexually-transmitte d infection, andof the 750,000 teen pregnancies that occur each year, 82% are unintended.*

The best way to protectAmerica ¢s young people fromunintended pregnancies, and from sexually-transmitte d diseases and infections,is by providing comprehensive sexuality education in our public schools. .

Speakers will include: Rev. Debra Haffner, Director of the Religious Institute onSexual Morality, Justice, and Healing; Rev. Robert Eller-Isaacs, Minister of Unity Church-Unitarian of St. Paul andPresident of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association; Brigid Riley, Executive Director of Minnesota Organization for AdolescentPregnancy, Prevention and Parenting (MOAPP); Dr. William J. Doherty, Marriage and Family Therapist andLicensed Psychologist ; Libby Arnosti, seventeen-year- old high school student andcongregant at Unity Church-Unitarian.

If you're out here, please join us. I'll tell you how it goes later!