News/Lawmaker News

Coburn’s STD lecture in danger

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) may have to skip his famous STD lecture to Capitol Hill interns this year, depriving students of what was sure to be one of more awkward moments of their summer.

Coburn, an OBGYN, has traditionally provided a graphic slide show to interns as a warning to practice safe sex. (He also warns students that condoms aren’t 100% effective.)

But this summer, the Senate Ethics Committee is taking issue with Coburn’s plan to have outside groups sponsor the lecture and buy pizzas for the 150 to 300 interns expected to attend.

Fox News:

“Coburn spokesman John Hart said the “safe-sex slide show” — which Coburn, a practicing obstetrician, has given annually since 1997 — is on hold pending a decision over who will buy the pie.

“It’s something we’re going to be discussing,” Hart told FOXNews.com.

He said the Senate Ethics Committee has strict rules regarding outside groups, and that it “would argue that that’s an outside group increasing our office account inappropriately” — a rule he said “doesn’t make much sense.”

Can’t they just have the lecture without pizza?

On a side note, Coburn’s 2005 presentation apparently had a Star Wars theme, likely giving rise to all kinds of possible puns and double entendres that I will not attempt to figure out.