This Grassroots Group Teaches What Arizona Classrooms Won’t

On a sweltering Tuesday evening in July, dozens of Spanish-speaking LGBTQ+ community members gathered at Trans Queer Pueblo in central Phoenix. Fans whirred, people wiped sweat from their brows, and cups of hibiscus tea and horchata clinked against foldable metal chairs as the temperature lingered above 100 degrees after sunset.

Still, the mood was bright. The crowd laughed and cheered as Health Justice Coordinator Aron Castillo passed around a microphone, asking each person to introduce themselves and share a myth they’d heard about sex.

One attendee joked that they used to think religious people don’t have sex. Another mentioned long-standing misconceptions about sexually transmitted infections.

“For a lot of us, we didn't speak about sexuality with our parents,” Castillo said. “We grew up with myths to scare us. That’s the education that we had.”

Castillo helped organize the night’s event, “Sex Ed Lotería,” a spin on the traditional Mexican bingo-style game. Instead of roosters or devils, the cards featured sexual health images labeled in Spanish — “condón interno” (internal condom), “el consentimiento” (consent), “anticonceptivos” (contraceptives). When a new card was called, organizers read out its definition. Winners walked away with sex toys, vibrators, and bottles of scented lubricant as prizes.

The idea is simple: make learning fun, accessible and, most importantly, inclusive.

Arizona’s sex ed gap

That inclusivity is largely missing from Arizona schools. The state only recently began dismantling laws rooted in anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination. In 2019, Arizona repealed a decades-old law that barred positive portrayals of same-sex relationships in public schools, following a lawsuit from students and Equality Arizona. Two years later, lawmakers also stripped a provision requiring schools to “promote honor and respect for monogamous heterosexual relationships.”

The State of Inclusive Sex Education in Arizona

Former students tell their stories on how the state’s restrictive sex education programs affected their lives and relationships

LOOKOUTShelby Rae Wills (they/she)

But restrictive sex ed rules remain. State law allows schools to cover HIV transmission but requires that they promote abstinence over contraceptives or PrEP, a medication most commonly used by gay men but available for anyone to prevent HIV.

And there’s no mandate to teach sex education at all, leaving some students with no instruction and others with courses critics say are inadequate, politicized and exclusionary toward LGBTQ youth.

Advocates also point to vague provisions, such as prohibitions on “abnormal, deviate, or unusual sexual acts and practices,” which they say could be weaponized to target queer students.

“When we think of sex education, we think about teaching little kids about how to put on a condom when they're not even ready yet. But it's more than that,” said Sheily Quiñonez, a media coordinator with Trans Queer Pueblo. She said lessons on consent, the difference between consensual and non-consensual sex, and the importance of pleasure are usually missing from school-based programs.

Building community health

At Trans Queer Pueblo, community education looks different. The group’s weekly Junta Comunitaria (community meeting) offers space for people to learn about topics ranging from health to workers’ rights — and to simply share a free meal together.

Events like Sex Ed Lotería are paired with direct services. The organization also runs a free health clinic that provides access to hormones, condoms and menstrual products.

Attempting to avoid LGBTQ+ issues, school districts are denying basic sexual health education.

Superintendents pointed to anti-LGBTQ+ culture wars and fear of repercussions as reasons why kids are not being taught sex-ed.

LOOKOUTShelby Rae Wills (they/she)

Some attendees said they first learned through the program that PrEP can be used by people beyond gay men, or that internal condoms even exist. That knowledge gap is exactly what the group hopes to close.

"We have failed our people in our communities and our schools,” Quiñonez said. “And this is why Trans Queer Pueblo is trying to change that today, to bring in the knowledge to our community.”