In June, she stood before a room of state education leaders and explicitly described the types of sexual practices Utah teens mistakenly think are safe.

A couple weeks later, she rallied students to stand behind lawmakers at a legislative hearing on sex education.

In August, she publicly confronted Gayle Ruzicka, the influential leader of the conservative Utah Eagle Forum, about why comprehensive sex education should be taught in schools.

And all this before her 18th birthday.

Emma Waitzman, a West High School senior, has become a new player in the debate about sex education in Utah. She's not loud, angry nor rebellious -- in fact, she's a leader at her school, a volunteer and academically ambitious. She's quick to laugh at herself but serious about her cause, one that makes many people squirm. Her activism has drawn both praise and criticism.

But she sees comprehensive sex education, which includes more than just STDs and contraceptives, as a right for all Utah teens. For months, Waitzman has been showing up at meetings on the topic, working with lawmakers, the Planned Parenthood Action Council (PPAC) and running a Facebook group about the issue -- Comprehensive Sex Ed in Utah -- that has nearly 600 members.

She argues with the Utah parents and educators who believe that comprehensive sex education should be taught in the home, not in the classroom. They believe it's a parent's place to teach their children about sexual topics, and some even question Waitzman's participation in the debate.

But Waitzman worries about those teens whose parents won't -- or don't know how to -- talk to them about sex.

"I feel like a lot of rights people should have get stifled, and it's time someone did something about it," said Waitzman, a blue-jeans wearing teen who otherwise doesn't seek the spotlight. "It should be the teens' fight. It's going to make a difference in our lives."

Speaking her mind » Waitzman said the issue first piqued her interest when she visited the state Capitol last legislative session as part of a Planned Parenthood Action Council (PPAC) teen lobbying day, though she says she wasn't a member of the group. That's when she first heard about HB189, a bill that would have removed language from state law that prohibits health teachers from encouraging the use of contraceptives.

Now, Utah teachers are allowed to teach students about contraceptives but not encourage their use, which some say leads teachers to avoid the topic all together out of fear of accidentally crossing the line.

HB189 died when lawmakers held it in committee in February, but Waitzman became determined then to get involved in future efforts to change sex education in Utah. She had already seen one teenage friend become pregnant and another endure sexual harassment. It was an issue she believed affected her and one she could do something about.

"If I let teens know there's an opportunity for their voices to be heard and listened to, I think that's really important," Waitzman said.

She asked Rep. Lynn Hemingway, who sponsored HB189, to meet with her to discuss how she could help. Hemingway met with Waitzman at the West High school library in the spring and was impressed with the teen's tenacity.

"She eloquent, and she's serious," Hemingway said. "Emma has a lot of confidence in what she has to say. She really has shown no fear."

She and the other teens she's rallied are now supporting a new proposed bill by Hemingway that would split Utah sex education into two tracks: one would teach abstinence only while the other would encourage abstinence but include information about contraceptives -- with no explicit prohibition on encouraging their use -- but require parental permission, Hemingway said.

Quinn Smith, a West senior who has been helping Waitzman fight for the new bill, said she and her friends are passionate about the bill because it would give parents and students a choice.

"All of us do practice abstinence only, so it's not like we're out there trying to have everyone have sex," Smith said. "We just want kids to have information."

She said Waitzman has inspired many of the students who've gotten involved.

"Emma is a very outgoing person, and she's not afraid to speak her mind, whether she should or shouldn't," Smith said. "She's always going to stand up for what she believes in."

A polarizing battle » Not everyone believes Waitzman's activism is appropriate.

Liz Zentner, health commissioner with the Utah PTA, said the issue of sex education law is best left to parents and adults.

"There's issues [teens] can get involved in, but when it comes to this issue, they are too young to be making these kinds of decisions. Kids at this age, they are more hormone driven, and they don't have the big picture that parents have," Zentner said. "Where they're trying to change the state law, I think is so inappropriate."

Zentner said the PTA does not believe Hemingway's latest bill is necessary. She said current law is fine as it is, and the two tracks aren't a good idea because the first one would be even more restrictive than current law and the second one would give teens information that should be taught in the home.

"It's really a comprehensive track, which is what the PTA and parents have been fighting -- that idea of encouraging the use of condoms and expecting kids to have sex and telling them they'll be safe if they use condoms when really that is not the safest thing," Zentner said.

Mary Ann Kirk, a Murray PTA member who was part of the group that helped design the state's sex education curriculum, said it's not the current curriculum that's the problem; it's how it's being implemented. She has many of the same problems with Hemingway's bill that Zentner does. And she said people should take what teen activists such as Waitzman have to say with a grain of salt.

"I think it's important to listen to them, but there's a point where you have to realize where they're coming from and their age and maturity," Kirk said.

Ruzicka, president of the conservative Utah Eagle Forum, also stands against the proposed bill.

"If we're going to teach children they should not be sexually active, then we shouldn't turn around and teach them how to be sexually active," Ruzicka said. "You can't send a mixed message."

But she said it's "wonderful" to see any young person get involved in the political process. "Just because she's on the opposite side of this doesn't mean she shouldn't be involved," Ruzicka said.

In August, Waitzman confronted Ruzicka at a PPAC-hosted community meeting about the proposed bill, but she did so in her usual calm, professional manner. She doesn't yell, point fingers or name call.

It's a quality that's characteristic of their daughter, say Waitzman's parents. It's also a quality that makes her a good spokeswoman for the issue, said Leanne Webster, with PPAC.

"It is emotional but she's not coming at it from an emotional standpoint as much as an intellectual social justice standpoint," said Waitzman's mother Laura Cover, a clinical social worker at the University of Utah Neuropsychiatric Institute.

Both Cover and Waitzman's father, Norman Waitzman, an economics professor at the U., are proud of their daughter. The two, who were both once activists in Washington, D.C., named her after Emma Goldman, a woman known as an anarchist but also an advocate of women's rights. Waitzman's parents moved to Utah from California when she was 2 years old.

"I'm proud of her for taking the initiative and for basically taking the arguments very seriously," said Norman Waitzman. "She's chosen something here that is very close to her heart."

Waitzman's mother admires her daughter's bravery. "What Emma's doing at her age, I certainly didn't do or feel like I could have done," Waitzman said. "I just didn't have that kind of confidence."

Most teens would be uncomfortable talking about sex with lawmakers, policy leaders and political movers and shakers. But Waitzman says it's just part of what she has to do to get her point across.

And if she's makes others uncomfortable, that's OK.

"If they're going to be uncomfortable when I say that," Waitzman said, "how are they ever going to feel comfortable talking to their kids about it?"