The Idaho House of Representatives approved House Bill 249 on Friday, requiring parents to opt in for sex education of their children, as opposed to the blanket opt-out requirement that was in place earlier. The bill, which was introduced by Representative Barbara Ehardt, passed with a vote of 56-12 and amends certain provisions of Chapter 16, Title 33 of the Idaho Code relating to the instruction of sex education.

Section 1 of the bill amends Section 33-1609 of the code, which defined “sex education” only as “the study of the anatomy and the physiology of human reproduction.” The bill, however, inserts another category of sex education, which it refers to as “instruction regarding human sexuality,” and defines as “any presentation, story time, discussion, or reading assignment, other than sex education as specifically and narrowly defined [otherwise], that is focused primarily or substantially on human sexuality, encompassing the topics of sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, eroticism, sexual pleasure, or sexual intimacy,” while expressly limiting the scope of sex education as it originally existed.

For this newly-inserted definition, the bill places an opt-in requirement, where parents who want their children to be given human sexuality instruction shall provide written permission to the school district board of trustees, while the opt-out requirement for the instruction on the anatomy and physiology of human reproduction remains in place. Therefore, the bill effectively divides sex education into two areas and indicates that schools would be disallowed from offering instruction in areas relating to human sexuality, gender identity, sexual orientation, and sexual pleasure unless parents or legal guardians specifically and explicitly file written forms allowing for such instructions to take place for their child.