FRC tries to derail Jennings

Kevin Jennings is the Safe Schools Czar in the U.S. An openly gay man as a matter of fact.

And now the homophobes are using quotes from his own book to justify his removal. If there’s one reason I love the FRC it’s because they allow you to edit the emails you send to the state education people for your state.

So in my case the original FRC message was:

I am writing to urge you to speak out against Kevin Jennings, President Obama’s choice to lead the office of Safe and Drug Free Schools at the Department of Education. Mr. Jennings has displayed a long record of fighting AGAINST parental rights in schools. The most dramatic illustration of Jennings’ unfitness for a “safe schools” post involves an incident when he taught at Concord Academy, a private boarding school in Massachusetts. In his book One Teacher in Ten (the title is based on the discredited myth, now abandoned even by “gay” activist groups, that ten percent of the population is homosexual), he tells about a young male sophomore, “Brewster,” who confessed to Jennings “his involvement with an older man he met in Boston.” But at a GLSEN rally in 2000, Jennings told a more explicit version of “Brewster’s” story. Jennings here quotes the boy and then comments: “‘I met someone in the bus station bathroom and I went home with him.’ High school sophomore, 15 years old. That was the only way he knew how to meet gay people.”

Did Jennings report this high-risk behavior to the authorities? To the school? To the boy’s parents? No — he just told the boy, “I hope you knew to use a condom.” Sex between an adult and a young person below the “age of consent” (which varies from state to state) is a crime known as statutory rape, and some states mandate that people in certain professions report such abuse.

I strongly urge you to contact the Obama Administration to remove Kevin Jennings from his post. Our children deserve better, our families deserve better, and our nation can do better.

Which I changed to:

I am writing to urge you to speak in support of Kevin Jennings, President Obama’s choice to lead the office of Safe and Drug Free Schools at the Department of Education.

Mr. Jennings has displayed a long record of support for equal rights. The most dramatic illustration of Jennings’ fitness for a “safe schools” post involves an incident when he taught at Concord Academy, a private boarding school in Massachusetts. In his book “One Teacher in Ten” he tells about a young male sophomore, “Brewster,” who confessed to Jennings “his involvement with an older man he met in Boston.” But at a GLSEN rally in 2000, Jennings told a more explicit version of “Brewster’s” story. Jennings here quotes the boy and then comments: “‘I met someone in the bus station bathroom and I went home with him.’ High school sophomore, 15 years old. That was the only way he knew how to meet gay people.”

Jennings had no duty to report this high-risk behavior to the authorities. He just told the boy, “I hope you knew to use a condom.” Sex between an adult and a young person below the “age of consent” (which varies from state to state) is a crime known as statutory rape, and some states mandate that people in certain professions report such but at the time mandatory reporting was not required. I think what Mr. Jennings did at the time was sage advice and quite proper in the realm of things.

I strongly urge you to contact the Obama Administration to support Kevin Jennings in his post. Our children would be well served by Mr. Jennings.

BTW, in case you’re wondering I edited the homophobic twaddle.

Sometimes they make it too easy.