Free Condoms

* In response to “Free Condoms Now Just a Fact of Life at High Schools,” July 6:

I applaud The Times for its investigation of the condom availability policy of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Reporter Henry Chu correctly talked to a lot of students and teachers and other school site personnel in compiling a fair and balanced view of this policy. However, there are a couple of very important points to be made regarding the fight against AIDS that were not within the scope of the article.

The first point I want to stress is that making condoms available will be effective only if it is part of a broader strategy of informing young people and their families and then motivating them to protect themselves. This is why the AIDS education and prevention policy of the LAUSD includes provisions to increase the level of education in health and other classes as well as the intention to conduct an extensive parent and community education policy.

This education must go beyond just giving the facts about AIDS. It must include the opportunity for extensive discussions of the sensitive topics of sexuality, sexual activity, sexual orientation, etc. Only through the opportunity to discuss and think about these issues can our young people come to their own decision that they must do whatever is necessary to protect themselves--starting with abstinence and including safer sex practices such as condom use.

Unfortunately, we still have a long way to go to fully implement these educational programs. Our slow progress in the LAUSD (and the even slower progress in most other districts in Los Angeles County) is due to budget constraints but also to attitudinal barriers that must be surmounted. I wish that the relative low level of requests for condoms in our high school was a reflection of a low rate of sexual activity, but all surveys show that teen sexual activity is increasing. Unfortunately, we have not yet persuaded enough of our young people who are sexually active to insist on using a condom. That is a job for the classroom and the living room.

One final fact needs emphasizing: AIDS is now the leading cause of death among young men ages 25 to 44 in Los Angeles County (as it is in most U.S. cities). Over one-quarter of all deaths in this group were from AIDS. Because of its long incubation period, those who die from AIDS in their 20s probably contracted it in their teens.

JEFF HORTON

Member, LAUSD Board of Education