Sex as Apple Pie

Last year, three hundred parents thronged the auditorium at the Word of Faith Christian Center in Detroit, They came to near Detroit school-board president Gloria Cobbin defend the idea of putting “comprehensive health clinics” in two nearby high schools. She talked about teen death rates; she talked about suicide, accidents, and homicide; she talked about everything except what they considered the key issue: contraception. Then a black woman, who had become a single parent at 16 and a welfare-dependent soon thereafter, stood up: “I don’t want my girls to make the same mistake I did…. But how am I going to teach them what’s right if they put this clinic in the school and start passing out birth control?”

For Reverend Keith Butler, the dynamic black pastor of Word of Faith, it was a moment of triumph. The school board’s proposal had the support of virtually all the Detroit establishment, including black community groups. But, in the end, Butler’s coalition of 105 mostly black pastors won: the school board agreed that the health clinics would not promote birth control.

MW

About the Author

Michael W. Schwartz

Michael W. Schwartz is a lawyer in New York.

Featured Tags

Last year, three hundred parents thronged the auditorium at the Word of Faith Christian Center in Detroit, They came to near Detroit school-board president Gloria Cobbin defend the idea of putting “comprehensive health clinics” in two nearby high schools. She talked about teen death rates; she talked about suicide, accidents, and homicide; she talked about everything except what they considered the key issue: contraception. Then a black woman, who had become a single parent at 16 and a welfare-dependent soon thereafter, stood up: “I don’t want my girls to make the same mistake I did…. But how am I going to teach them what’s right if they put this clinic in the school and start passing out birth control?”

For Reverend Keith Butler, the dynamic black pastor of Word of Faith, it was a moment of triumph. The school board’s proposal had the support of virtually all the Detroit establishment, including black community groups. But, in the end, Butler’s coalition of 105 mostly black pastors won: the school board agreed that the health clinics would not promote birth control.