Though by law it is supposed to focus only on promoting abstinence outside marriage, Louisiana's program also connects young people to the broader conservative politics surrounding the abstinence-only movement. The strategy helps turn out the next generation of foot soldiers who can, in turn, provide the grassroots political support necessary to perpetuate such programs in the long term. "The right has done an extremely effective and aggressive job of trying to orient and train young people on their political goals, philosophy and techniques," says Elliot Mincberg, vice president and legal director of People for the American Way. Rather than teach about religious beliefs, which many of the people drawn to Louisiana's abstinence program already have, the governor's program links those ideas to political action. Says Mincberg, "They're suggesting you can't be a good Christian unless you support this particular political point of view."
For the past few years the governor's program has used the $1.6 million in federal funds it receives yearly to teach abstinence to middle schoolers, run a website and create "GPA Clubs," which are now in 285 high schools and fourteen colleges throughout Louisiana. For many, the voluntary clubs' primary function is social. "It gives you friends at your school... [who] will support you in your stand to say no," Lipscomb says of his GPA club. Sometimes members wear their GPA T-shirts so they can be identified, he says. "And you can go hang with them if you don't feel comfortable around another group that might be talking about sex or participating in it."
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