I think it's safe to say that not one person running for office in this city has even mentioned the dreaded 3-letter word during this election; SEX. Despite what has happened in this city during the last 4 years, I could only assume that it isn't something they either feel comfortable talking about, or something that they feel isn't an issue.

It is, and I just want to point out why it is an issue.

In 2004, one out of 12 teenage girls in the city of Philadelphia had Chlamydia. The result was a massive outbreak in our cities high school of multiple STD outbreaks. Despite this, there is still a lack of overall good sexual education in our public high schools and the availability of free condoms to promote safe sexual health is lacking.

Despite the fact that there are 10 clinics run by the Philadelphia Health Care Center, only 2 of them offer STD testing.

There is no federal website informing citizens of STD rates in Philadelphia, or just what STD's are around. If there is, they've made it incredibly difficult to find!

In my platform, and when I'm elected, I plan on reforming this and making sure that Philadelphia becomes a national leader in safe sexual health! To simply ignore our most basic instinct and to hope it works itself out is not going to work.