New NYCLU Report: New York Is Failing Students on Sex Education

Curricula from 50 school districts reveals rampant medical inaccuracies, abstinence-only lessons, and scarce support for LGBTQ students

**Read the full report here. See selected lessons from schools here.**

NEW YORK – Today, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) released “Stereotypes, Stigma, and Silence: How New York Fails Students on Sex Ed” — a new report examining sex education curriculum in 50 urban, suburban, and rural school districts across the state. Given that New York does not mandate comprehensive sex education in schools, the report reveals inconsistent curricula that’s riddled with medical inaccuracies, excludes LGBTQ people and their identities, and promotes abstinence. In some cases, students are not receiving sex education at all. Key findings include:

• Over one-third of schools in our sample teach medically-inaccurate information about basic human biology and reproductive anatomy
• The majority center abstinence as the primary or sole message in sex ed curriculum
• Nearly half exclude or erase LGBTQ+ identities from curriculum
• About a third ignore, misrepresent, or omit materials on STI prevention and treatment
• And nearly 65% omit any mention of abortion — with some even using materials created by known anti-abortion organizations

“It’s 2026, and New York still isn’t giving students a comprehensive, age-appropriate sex education,” said Aliyah Ansari, Senior Education Strategist at the New York Civil Liberties Union. “Our report shows that schools preaching abstinence, skipping lessons on STI prevention or consent, or erasing LGBTQ identities aren’t a relic of the past — it’s happening right now, in New York. As the federal government attacks LGBTQ people, restricts reproductive healthcare, and pushes a narrow, regressive vision of gender and family, New York has a responsibility to give students the knowledge and tools to protect their bodily autonomy.”

Students continue to bear the consequences of New York’s longstanding failure to provide comprehensive statewide sex ed curricula. The state ranks 10th in the nation for rates of chlamydia and 7th for gonorrhea, and 3 in 10 young women in New York become pregnant at least once before their 20th birthday. Nearly 20% of young people report experiencing sexual violence, with LGBTQ+ students reporting some of the highest rates of bullying and harassment.

The NYCLU received documents from school districts that ranged from entire lesson plans, to PowerPoint presentations, to in-class assignments. This includes the slides below, as well as more that are available here.

Today’s report serves as a follow-up to the NYCLU’s report “Birds, Bees, and Bias: How Absent Sex Ed Standards Fail New York’s Students.” That report, written over a decade ago, similarly found lessons with widespread inaccuracies about reproductive anatomy, harmful gender stereotypes, and shame-based messages about sex and sexuality.

“Stereotypes, Stigma, and Silence: How New York Fails Students on Sex Ed” was written by Aliyah Ansari, Quinn Martha, Jessica Balistreri, Simon McCormick, and Marie Holmes. The full report is available here.

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