Nassau News

Teen pregnancies in Nassau County, according to the Nassau County 1996 Health Assessment (PDF), had a rate of 46.4 per 1000 -- Hempstead being one of the top four communities in the county with the highest pregnancy rates.

Are existing sex education campaigns that support sex after marriage going to alleviate these statistics in the Hempstead community or will teenagers ignore them and continue to follow the teachings of a “sex sells” community? It is a question for which an answer is not easily determined but some religious leaders in the Hempstead community are convinced that “saving it” is the only way.

According to Laura Giannuzzi, a Catholic representative for the Long Island Teen Freedom group in Hempstead, the Catholic Church began responding to the sexual revolution by supporting abstinence campaigns, teaching theology of the body, and maintaining the faith in the traditional beliefs of sex after marriage. Giannuzzi also believes that this approach to sex is very realistic and very beneficial. (Read the transcript of the interview.)

Rabbi Meir Mitelman, executive director of the Jewish student organization, Hillel, at Hofstra, told Nassau News that Judaism, like Catholicism, practices sex after marriage but acknowledges that there are liberal forms of Judaism that have approached sex differently over time. (See video for details). When asked about the effectiveness of this belief today, Rabbi Mitelman said that he could not respond to that question but acknowledged that society makes such traditional practices quite a challenge.

Despite the increased response that some religious leaders have had in regards to sex education today, some churches including Church of St.Ladislaus and Jackson Memorial AME Zion Church (both located in Hempstead) declined the invitation to provide perspective on this story. On the other hand, Heather Simonson, Planned Parenthood Director of Training and Education, didn’t hesitate.

Simonson, whose office in Hempstead caters to over 1,100 women, men, and teens each month, agrees that the church is a vital resource center for teens. She doesn’t agree, however, that its teachings of sex after marriage are realistic. (See interview transcript for details)

Simonson is not the only one who feels this way. According to the article “Abstinence-Only ‘Sex Education’ Prevalent, Failing New York State, NYCLU Report Finds,” Executive Director Donna Lieberman said “It’s time to stop wasting taxpayer money on ideologically driven programs that don’t work.”

As of October 2007, New York has canceled all programs that fund abstinence-only-until-marriage programs -- which will make the traditional approach to sex taught by Hempstead religious leaders all the more challenging.

Read this article as hosted on Khnuma Simmonds' tumblelog

View the full interview [2 minutes] with Rabbi Mittelman by clicking on the embedded player below:

View the full interview with Laura Giannuzzi, a Catholic representative for the Long Island Teen Freedom group in Hempstead, by clicking on the embedded player below:

• This multimedia article was reported as a final individual project for JRNL 80, Online Journalism, Section A, Fall 2007, Professor: Mo Krochmal, Hofstra University (e-mail: maurice.krochmal at hofstra.edu).