Brian Dixon

Population Connection

Brian Dixon has been the Director of Government Relations at Population Connection for over a decade.  In this role, he has led the advocacy efforts of America's largest grassroots organization concerned with the effects of global and domestic population growth, and represented the organization at a number of international meetings leading up to the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994 and the five year follow up events

Since joining the organization, he has been actively involved in efforts to defend international and domestic family planning funding from severe cuts and onerous restrictions. He is a leader of a large coalition of organizations that support American involvement in international family planning programs. He has worked closely with members of congress to draft bills and amendments, and to develop legislative strategy and messages around key international issues like the Global Gag Rule and support for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). He has been actively involved in efforts to eliminate federal support for abstinence-only programs and to shift that funding to responsible, comprehensive sex education. In addition, he has worked for passage of legislation requiring insurance coverage of contraceptives in Congress and in state legislatures. 

Finally, he has appeared on numerous radio and television programs to discuss the population growth and its impact on the quality of life in the United States and around the world.

Prior to his work at Population Connection, Brian worked on Capitol Hill as a legislative aid responsible for environmental and energy issues.  He graduated from Hofstra University with a B.A. in Political Science.

Introducing the Responsible Education About Life (REAL) Act

Brian Dixon

As if we needed any more proof that America needs REAL sex education, Sen. John McCain provided it last week. McCain was completely baffled by a question about whether he believed that federal funding for contraceptives—including condoms—in Africa could help slow the spread of HIV/AIDS.

He must have gotten his information from one of many federally funded abstinence-only programs that seem designed to undermine confidence in contraceptives.

Or, maybe this was just another example of political prevarication. But political calculation like this is exposing American youth to ideologically driven abstinence-only programs that leave them woefully ill-prepared to make healthy, responsible decisions about sexuality. That these programs are often filled with wild exaggerations of contraceptive failure rates and other gross medical and scientific inaccuracies leave many young people truly unsure of whether condoms can help protect them from unwanted pregnancy and STD's.