October 1987: U.S. Senate Promotes Abstinence

“Control [Jesse Helms]” 1989 by Gran Fury (artists’ collective). Courtesy Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library Digital Collections.

October 1987 The U.S. Senate adopts The Helms Amendment in a 94-2 vote, requiring federally financed AIDS educational materials to stress abstinence and forbidding promotion of homosexuality or drug use.