Sex Education in Public Schools

Sex education has long been a debated topic in schools. Many people have different opinions about how it should be done. In a news article by The Guardian, "How Obama's healthcare reform boosted abstinence-only sex education," the reporter points out that conservatives are managing to gain funding for and implement abstinence-only sex education programs in schools. The three states mentioned in the article, Texas, Tennessee, and Wisconsin, have already launched "aggressive legislative efforts to promote abstinence-only education."

Tennessee has already passed legislation which specifies that teachers are not to endorse abstinence as the only true sexual choice, or face a $500 fine. Contraceptives are only to be discussed as inferior methods of "safe sex." This bill also allows parents to sue schools and teachers for allowing their children to engage in "gateway sexual activity." Gateway sexual activity is defined by Tennessee's House Bill 3621 as "...sexual contact encouraging an individual to engage in a non-abstinent behavior. A person promotes a gateway sexual activity by encouraging, advocating, urging or condoning gateway sexual activities."
Some attribute this kind of legislation to a mix of religion and politics. Conservative, radical Christians are often blamed for the promotion of abstinence. It is seen that they believe sex is wrong, dirty, and sinful. Gender roles can have another place in this also. The emphasis is placed on men as dominant, sexual beasts who take control in the bedroom, which can sometimes feed their ego and create masochistic sexual "pigs." The emphasis is placed on women as sexually pure, but then also as a temptress who makes men have sex with them, and ultimately it becomes the woman's fault if sexual relations occur. Within society, we know these gender roles are sometimes true, sometimes reversed, and other times completely false.
What do you think? How should sex education work in our schools? Does abstinence-only education work?  Is there such a thing as gateway sexual activity?