States’ Dangerous Text Lines
Utilizing a program that makes high-school sex ed look mild by comparison, states all over the country are funding and promoting sex textlines for teens and preteens to ask anonymous adults intimate questions about sex, relationships, contraception, sexually transmitted infections, “gender identity,” and more. These text lines are set up and maintained by the American Sexual Health Association (ASHA).
Flying Under the Radar
And considering the organization does business with states — business paid for by taxpayer dollars — ASHA is super secretive about which states it has as clients. The New Americanwas able to verify that the BrdsNBz sex textline for teens (or something similar) is available in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Maryland, Florida, Texas, Indiana, New Mexico, and Virginia. California has its own homegrown version of the program — subtly named “Hookup.” BrdsNBz began in North Carolina as ShiftNC before being taken over by ASHA. BrdsNBz may be available in other states, as well. But since the ASHA website is conspicuously silent about which states use its service, the full list is a mystery.
ASHA’s behavior is a great departure from the way other organizations publish lists of state clients in an effort to attract new states to come on board. Moreover, since the company’s product is meant for public use by minors, its client list should be released. If ASHA serviced private companies or organizations, keeping a tight lid on its client list would be understandable, but since ASHA’s clients are state governments, the lack of transparency is suspicious at best. It looks as if both ASHA and its state clients are keeping a low profile to avoid publicity — or public scrutiny.
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