Last night, watching a little t.v., a public service announcement comes on.  You’re familiar with the genre:  “mom, talk to me about x.  If you don’t, who will?”  and “I might act embarrassed or say that I don’t want to talk about it, but I’ll listen.”  And I was sort of only half watching, expecting it to end with a “Parents: the anti-drug,” when instead I heard “so parents, talk to your children about sex, and tell them  they should wait until they’re married.  They’ll listen,” and then a flash to a website ending in .gov, where parents could go for more information.  (In case my description isn’t capturing it for you, here’s the video.)

PSA’s telling parents how to help their kids stay away from drugs?  Obviously.  Even a PSA helping parents broach the topic of sex with their kids, how to tell them to wait until they’re ready?  Fine.  But the government telling parents that the right way to parent is to tell their kids to wait until they’re married to have sex?  (To say nothing of the implicit heterosexual assumptions that accompany that particular message?) It irks me no end.