Who is Kevin Jennings?

On May 19, 2009, U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced the following appointment to his senior staff in a press release:

Kevin Jennings, Assistant Deputy Secretary, Office of Safe & Drug Free Schools

Kevin Jennings is the founder and former executive director of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), an organization that works to make schools safe for all students, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Prior to his tenure at GLSEN, Jennings served as History Department chair and a history teacher at Concord Academy in Massachusetts and before that as a history teacher at Moses Brown School in Rhode Island. Jennings has also authored six books including Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son: A Memoir which was named a 2007 Book of Honor by the American Library Association and Telling Tales Out of School which was the winner of the 1998 Lambda Literary Award. Jennings received an A.B. in history from Harvard, an M.A. from the Columbia University Teachers College and an M.B.A. from NYU's Stern School of Business.

The following month, the Family Research Council (FRC) announced the launch of the Stop Kevin Jennings campaign with the following accompanying satement.

"Kevin Jennings is a radical homosexual activist whom President Barack Obama appointed to head the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools. As the former president of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, Mr. Jennings worked tirelessly to bring the homosexual agenda into our nation's classrooms, even in grades as young as kindergarten. In addition, in his autobiography, Mr. Jennings expresses no regret about his past drug abuse or recognition of its risks. Instead, he seems amused. In his words, "[W]atching the planes take off and land is actually quite fun when you are drunk and stoned."   Jennings has spoken publicly about a high school student he once counseled who was in a sexual relationship with an older man he met in a bus station - yet Jennings never reported this abuse to the authorities, the school, or the child's parents. Family Research Council is launching www.stopjennings.org, to educate the American people about how Jennings' dangerous views make him unfit to protect our nation's schoolchildren. The website will also serve as an action center for those who will join us in calling on the President Obama and Congress to stop this appointment and put someone in this office who truly cares about schoolchildren - someone who would work to protect them from the very influences he seems to promote. "

"Kevin Jennings' record shows he has neither the temperament nor the ethical standards needed for public service," said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins. "His history demonstrates disregard for our obligations to safeguard the health and well being of the student population. He is unfit for the post to which he's been assigned, and Secretary Duncan should withdraw his appointment at once."

In June the conservative website, Human Events, published an article by Tony Perkins entitled "Kevin Jennings -- Unsafe for America's Schools"  which stated "Few Obama administration appointments have been as startling as Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s appointment of Kevin Jennings, the homosexual founder of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), to head the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools."

The non-mainstream media concerns regarding Mr. Jennings' appointment as Presidient Obama's Assistant Deputy Secretary, Office of Safe & Drug Free Schools remained off the radar and ignored by the mainstream media until mid-September when Fox News reported on the Jennings appointment as part of an overall story regarding the Presdent Obama's myriad appointmnents of "Czars" to his administration. (Video below)

Suddenly there was a renewed interest in Mr. Jennings and his appointment as Obama's "Safe School Czar." 

Some issues just don’t have a right or left ideology; they just have a right or wrong. One of those issues is the protection of the health, safety and well-being of children. Suddenly, some very specific questions were being asked regarding the appropriatemness of President Obama's appointment of ...

…a person who founded and ran an organization where instructors had explicitly described to middle school youngsters how to perform homosexual sexual acts?

…a teacher who had been told by a boy of 15 that he had been sexually abused by an older man, but did not tell authorities or his parents or do anything to protect the youngster from the abuser?

…a person who wrote the forward to a book called Queering Elementary Education?

…a person who has publicly, in writing and in speeches, ridiculed and demeaned people of faith?

…a person who has publicly, in writing, encouraged young people to defy their parents and religious leaders.

This week the press seems to be picking up on Kevin Jennings for having failed to report that a 15-year-old sophomore student in his school had told him of having sex with an older man and failed to inform either th authorities or the boy's parents of this incident which is tantamount to statutory rape.  Mr. Jennings admits only that he counseled the under age boy that he should wear a condom.

But apparently there is more to this story that is just now beginning to see daylight.

Lori Roman, a regular contributor to Regular Folks United stated in a September 30, 2009 article that:

"For anyone who spends even an hour on the internet looking into Jennings’ speeches and writings, his nonchalant attitude about an older homosexual man having sex with a boy should not be a surprise. What is surprising is that no one is mentioning reports that Jennings publicly stated that he was inspired by one of the biggest promoters of pedophilia in the country—Harry Hay. Hay actively promoted sex between men and boys and supported the North American Man Boy Love Association (NAMBLA). Transcripts of a GLSEN conference in NYC on October 25, 1997 indicate that Jennings said, “one of the people that always inspired me is Harry Hay.” Jennings also edited a book called Becoming Visible: A Reader in Gay and Lesbian History for High School and College Students which included a biographical sketch on Harry Hay. One of GLSEN’s Education Department resources also lists a work on Harry Hay."

Mr. Jennings wrote the forward to a book titled "Queering Elementary Education: Advancing the Dialogue about Sexualities and Schooling" by William J. Letts IV and James T. Sears.  On the back cover of the book is a review which states:

"Queering Elementary Education is an important contribution to nourishing the ethical heart of teaching, reminding us how anemic and cold and partial our embrace of our students has too often been. For some readers this collection will be an affirmation, for others a surprise and challenge. But it is a book for all teachers and parents, indeed for anyone concerned with the healthy development of children and schools. And, yes, it has an agenda: it stands straight and strong for fairness, for respect, for humanity, for simple decency. …"

Did I forget to mention who authored the above review?

It was none other than our very own 60's terrorist William ("Bill") Ayers.  Remember his comments about smashing monogamy? Remember his confession in the New York Times article on 9/11 about the Weathermen's sexual experimentation, including his own sex with his male best friend? Ayers is a recognized authority on "social justice" education. And of course, Presidient Obama was the first chairman of Ayers' Chicago Annenberg Challenge, so one can safely assume they share quite a few ideas about children and educating about "social justice."

Wait, there's more!

Addressing a church audience on March 20, 2000 in New York City  GLSEN Executive Director Kevin Jennings offered a stinging (and quite intolerant) assessment of how to deal with religious conservatives:

“Twenty percent of people are hard-core fair-minded [pro-homosexual] people. Twenty percent are hard-core [anti-homosexual] bigots. We need to ignore the hard-core bigots, get more of the hard-core fair-minded people to speak up, and we’ll pull that 60 percent [of people in the middle] over to our side. That’s really what I think our strategy has to be. We have to quit being afraid of the religious right. We also have to quit — I’m trying to find a way to say this. I’m trying not to say, ‘[F—] ‘em!’ which is what I want to say, because I don’t care what they think!  Drop dead!” 

 Kevin Jennings speech to Marble Collegiate Church, March 20, 2000

It should also be noted that on March 25, a statewide conference, called "Teach-Out," was sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Education, the Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, and the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN).  Kevin Jennings was the Executive Director of GLSEN at the time.  This "Teach Out" conference evolved into a nation wide controversy at the time which became known as  "fistgate."  (Click on the link.)

As Lori Roman stated, "I don’t believe there is a vetting problem in White House personnel; I think there is a morality problem. Part of that morality problem stems from this White House catering to billionaire George Soros, who is one of the highest level donors to GLSEN through his Open Society Institute. And part of that problem stems from this White House bowing to the teachers’ union (the NEA works closely with and funds GLSEN). And part of it is rooted in pandering for the votes of the homosexual community. In the end, it seems that this Administration has put money, power and votes over the needs and safety of children and parents. And that has nothing to do with right or left; it is just wrong."

I hope that over the next few weeks the mainstream media starts to pay some serious attention to Mr. Jennings and his appointed position as Obama's "School Safety Czar" but I am not holding breath.  As such I am asking that those of you who share my views in these isues, please email this blog to as many of your friends as possible.

Peter J. Mahon