An Indiana Joint Committee was discussing a sex education bill. There was concern because Republican State Senator Gary Byrne amended the bill to remove the part about teaching consent. To worsen the problem, he admitted that he made the decision arbitrarily, without consulting with any experts, and tried to kick the can down the road, claiming that it was a local control issue:
STATE REP ANDREA HUNLEY: What groups were consulted with in the removal of the section about consent? What groups?
STATE SEN GARY BYRNE: Nobody come to me as a decision that I made to not have it in there.
HUNLEY: And so, I’m confused though because your expertise is not in human sexuality instruction that I’m aware of. And so, I’m wondering, did you consult with any experts about whether or not this is suitable to be removed, especially in a state where right now it’s one in five or one in four of our teenage girls experience a sexual assault or sexual abuse or sexual harassment before they leave and leave high school. And so, I’m just wondering what experts were consulted with.
BYRNE: Yeah, so I appreciate your concerns. Again, this is a sensitive subject for many. I believe it may be different thoughts in different communities and this is what the bill does. It leaves for the most part local control on making those decisions and so that’s my response.
