Don’t Let Pono Choices Be Derailed

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By the Rev. Jonipher Kupono Kwong

Jonipher Kwong

As a minister, I am deeply troubled by the recent negative attention on sexuality education here in Hawaii.

The idea that we need to withhold valuable and essential health information from our keiki is counterproductive to these youth acquiring the knowledge and skills necessary to protect themselves throughout their life journey. Instead, I encourage us all to support early intervention and prevention education, two components that are key to our health, including our sexual health.

The Pono Choices Culturally Responsive Teen Pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) Prevention Program is similar to a curriculum that our denomination, the Unitarian Universalist Association, produced in collabora- tion with the United Church of Christ over a decade ago called OWL, which stands for Our Whole Lives (http://www.uua.org/re/owl/).