There's the take of people like state Sen. Ken Cuccinelli on teens and sex.

Teach young people the virtues of abstinence, and abstinence only. Tell them not to have sex, and they won't.

And then there's the take of a Roanoke youth I interviewed 2 1/2 years ago.

He was a junior at Patrick Henry High School. His name escapes me, but his candor and cavalier attitude about his sexual encounters have stuck with me.

"You walk up behind a girl, whisper in her ear and it's on," he said nonchalantly.

When it comes to teen sex, there's ideology and there's reality.

I consider myself a realist.

That's why Gov. Tim Kaine's take on teens and sex demonstrates good common sense for Virginia.

The governor has cut state funding for abstinence-only sex education programs from the state budget.

Kaine's decision to eliminate the $275,000 affects only organizations that offer federally funded sex education courses that teach only abstinence. The closest such program to Roanoke is called Alliance for Abstinence, in Lynchburg.

Of course, the ideologues are threatening to reverse Kaine's decision. That's ridiculous. Don't they have more pressing things to do, such as overturning the "abusive" driver fees?

Predictably, some folks have tried to make it a Democrats versus Republicans issue.

Del. Bob Marshall, R-Prince William County, and another abstinence believer, told The Washington Post this week, "When it comes to sex, Democrats can't think straight."

It's a cute line, but let's look at the science.

The truth is, studies show that abstinence-only programs don't delay kids from having sex. They start just as early, and have about the same number of partners as other kids.

Abstinence is a message teens should hear, but they need to know about contraception, too.

At the time of my interview, a new teen sex study of some sort had come out. So I talked to about a dozen Roanoke-area teens.

Boys. Girls. Suburban kids. City kids. White kids. Black kids. High schoolers. Middle schoolers. A teen mom. From Roanoke and Roanoke County schools.

Sex was prominent in their world. If they weren't engaging in it, they knew several who were -- or claimed they were.

That was the spring of 2005. Last fall, I sat in on a talk about sex and the pitfalls of early parenthood with hundreds of freshmen at William Fleming High School. The reactions and questions proved the need for sound and comprehensive information.

Like I said, there's the Cuccinelli take -- and then there's reality.

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• Posted by Shanna Flowers in State & national issues
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