Dirty talk at the Minnesota Family Council

Is the Minnesota Family Council teaching kids about anal sex without their parents' permission? The Family Council conducted robo-calls throughout the Twin Cities over the last month in an effort to defeat a bill that would require Minnesota schools to offer comprehensive family life and sexuality education.

Part of the Family Council's objections to a comprehensive sex education bill is that it would teach teens about certain sex acts and the risks inherent in those acts. The group opposes sex education that includes anal sex and anal-oral sex -- a point it make clear in its robo-calls. The bill itself would not mandate the teaching of these sex acts, only the teaching of "medically accurate and age-appropriate" sexual health information with curriculum decisions left to parents and school boards.

But, in its zeal to have the bill defeated, the Family Council inadvertently taught teens a little bit about anal and anal-oral sex. A colleague of mine shared a story she heard at her son's soccer game last week. A local parent's teen-ager picked up the phone and learned about anal sex from the Minnesota Family Council.

In fact the Family Council's tirade about anal sex is left on answering machines and voicemails if no one picks up -- answering machines and voicemails that children often check for messages.

The Family Council did not return a request for a transcript of the calls it made this year, but it made similar calls last year. Local blogger, Eva Young, saved the recording about anal sex from the Family Council's robo-calls last spring.

Partial transcript: "...anal sex and oral anal sex. Here's how you can help Gov. Pawlenty protect your children from unhealthy sex ed. Press one to be connected to Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher. Politely ask Speaker Kelliher to protect our children and remove unhealthy sex education..."