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Tell Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford: End Endorsement of Controversial Abstinence-Only Program
  1. Signatures
    798 out of 1,000
    Petitioning
    1. Sheriff (John Rutherford)
  2. Created By
    Michael Jones
    Boston, MA
About this Petition Petition Letter Petition Updates

Project SOS is a controversial abstinence-only program -- based out of Jacksonville, FL -- that has come under increased scrutiny in recent weeks after the Florida Independent noted that its founder, Pam Mularkey, had close ties to a leading anti-gay pastor in Uganda who has called for the death penalty for gay people.

Moreover, Project SOS has come under fire from the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, which said that Project SOS teaches misinformation and downright lies about HIV/AIDS to students. The American School Health Association also said that the curriculum that Project SOS uses in its abstinence-only work is "unacceptable," and does not do a good job of educating students on the issue of human sexuality.

So why is Jacksonville's Sheriff, John Rutherford, giving his full-throated endorsement to the program? 

Send Sheriff Rutherford a message that his office has no business endorsing a program that misleads students on such important issues as HIV/AIDS and human sexuality, as well as has ties to rabid homophobia in Uganda that could institute harsh laws criminalizing homosexuality with the death penalty or life imprisonment.

Does Sheriff Rutherford really want his office tied to something so vile?

Why People Are Signing
Recent Signatures

Please end endorsement of Project SOS

Dear Sheriff Rutherford,

It's come to my attention that the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office has given a full-throated endorsement to a controversial abstinence-only program that has come under fire for spreading misinformation and lies about HIV/AIDS, and which has ties to extreme anti-gay activists in Uganda who are working to pass a law that would criminalize homosexuality with the death penalty. The abstinence-only program, Project SOS, has even been dubbed "unacceptable" by the American School Health Association.

Yet your office continues to support this controversial program, going so far as to say: "The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office is greatly appreciative of Project SOS in strengthening our youth and educating our parents. We applaud [Project SOS'] statistics and success as well as their dedicated service to our community."

But the quality of the education provided by Project SOS has been dubbed misleading, wrong, inaccurate, and false. When it comes to educating our kids about human sexuality, we can't afford a curriculum that bears these characteristics. And moreover, it should be alarming that the founder of Project SOS, Pam Mularkey, has praised the work of ministers in Uganda calling for the death penalty for LGBT people. Mularkey even went so far as to call one of Uganda's leading anti-gay ministers a "change agent" whose "passion, charisma and character make his vital message irresistible."

Please withdraw your endorsement from Project SOS. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office shouldn't be in the business of legitimizing a program that's been labeled "unacceptable" by leading educators, and has ties to dangerously anti-gay activists around the globe.

Thanks for your time.

[Your name]

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