The weekly report on US and International policy
by Edwina Rogers
Sign-On Letter Opportunity: Uganda Non-Governmental Organizations Restrictions
Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Uganda are facing trouble as a new bill about to be passed in Parliament will make virtually all NGO decisions fall under the oversight of a government agent, potentially preventing or stopping humanist and freethought groups from operating.
Please sign on to the letter that asks the Ugandan government to keep freethought free. The deadline to sign on is Friday, September 4, 2015. Just let me know if your group would like to be listed by sending an email to edwina@secularpolicyinstitute.us. You may review the letter here.
Share Previous Letter Campaigns
Thank you all very much for signing on to our past letters. All finalized Sign-on Letters are available for viewing on our website at https://secularpolicyinstitute.net/advocacy-campaigns. Please feel free to share with your organization.
This letter is still open for group signatures and opposes new citizen being forced to recite pledges that include “Under God”:
2015 Sex Ed State Round-Up  -163 Bills Introduced In 40 States
Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), a DC public policy advocacy organization of which┬áSPI is a supporter and collaborator, is pleased to release the┬á2015 Sex Ed State Legislative Round-Up: Overview of Activity Across the Country. This first-ever analysis of policy provisions introduced in state legislatures related to sexuality education highlights key takeaways, enacted legislation, and common provisions within legislative topic areas for the 2015 state legislative session. SIECUS identified 163 bills from across the countryÔÇÖs state legislatures that included provisions ranging from advancing school-based sexuality education, requiring sexual violence prevention education, restricting sexuality education with content requirements, and promoting abstinence-only-until-marriage programs.┬á
Highlights of the report include:
- 163 bills related to school-based sexuality education were introduced in 40 states.
- Sexual violence prevention, instruction requirements, and safe schools/bullying prevention were the most common legislative topics introduced related to sexuality education.
- 11 states enacted 13 laws to related to sexuality education. Of these, 12 new laws advance sexuality education and 1 new law restricts sexuality education.
- The vast majority of introduced (74%) or enacted (92%) bills contained provisions to advance sexuality education in their respective states.
Latinos Warming To Climate Change
A new poll of Latinos in the United States finds that a large majority– more than four fifths — accept that climate change is real, and┬áthat a majority — almost two thirds — accept that climate change is┬ámostly due to human activity.
Asked “Do you think global warming and climate change are mostly┬ácaused by human activities; caused mostly by natural changes in the┬áenvironment; other; or none of the above because global warming and┬áclimate change isn’t happening,” 66% of respondents preferred┬áthe first answer, 31% preferred the second answer, 3% preferred the┬áthird answer, and 6% preferred the fourth answer, with 3% saying that┬áthey didn’t know.
In a memorandum about the poll, Latino Decisions — which conducted┬áthe poll for Earthjustice and GreenLatinos — commented, “Latinos,┬ámore than other Americans, see climate change as a consequence of┬áhuman activity. Almost two-thirds (66%) accept anthropogenic
explanations of global warming. Comparing our results to other┬ánational surveys of the broader population, the differences are around┬á14 percentage points.”
For the memorandum (PDF), visit:
http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/National%20Release%20Polling%20Memo%20Formatted.pdf