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crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters
People for the American Way are reporting that now Fox News has published a long article detailing the attacks on Kevin Jennings, President Obama's appointee in the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools (OSDFS) and GLSEN founder. To make a long story short:
(It) is basically a collection of the greatest hits of right-wing attacks against him and features quotes from the likes of Peter LaBarbera and Peter Sprigg.
You know Fox News is desperately reaching if they are citing Porno Petey and Peter (gays should be deported) Sprigg.
I read the article and of course the same lies are repeated about Jennings, including:
Jennings encourages children to learn about gay sex (and yes the article does mention the alleged “fistgate” controvesy but inaccurately labels the conference which it took place as a GLSEN conference. The article also fails to mention that other than co-sponsoring the conference, neither Jennings nor GLSEN had anything to do with the alleged controversy. The article also seems to go for shock, making sure to give a verbatim account of the offending quote, but does not go into detail as to what happened afterwards. The official, Margot Abels, who gave the definition of “fisting” was fired but was reinstated with full back pay after an arbitrator ruled in her favor. Those interested in the full story can go here. )
Jennings hates religion,
Jennings has said ugly things about the religious right (which when you really think about who the religious right is composed of – Sprigg, LaBarbera, Matt Barber, etc – can you really blame him if he did).
But then there is a new lie courtesy of Peter Sprigg:
Sprigg countered that nobody has adequately answered the questions that are being raised about Jennings.
Speaking of Jennings' job, he said: “I think it's unfortunate that [it] is a position that did not require any sort of confirmation process, because there are a lot of serious questions about Jennings and there has not been any forum in which Jennings has been required to answer the questions.”
I'm confused as to Sprigg's definition of adequately answering questions because several sources have addressed the “concerns” about Jennings's credibility.
Most specifically was this piece very long, very thorough piece by ThinkProgress which broke down all of the lies against Jennings. It was published on July 3rd of this year.
And while some folks may not think of my blog being in the “big leagues,” I've run a series of posts addressing the lies thrown at Jennings (you can see my list of posts talking about the situation at the end of this piece.)
Let's break this down to the brass tacks. The only reason why the religious right opposes Jennings is because he is a gay man in a high level position that deals with the future of our nation's children; a position which he deserves based upon his successful past work.
Now while some folks may say that it is up to President Obama to not back down, I say let's take it further.
It's also up to us, the lgbt community, to defend him. It's up to us to make sure that Jennings keeps his position and President Obama doesn't blink in this rising tide of nonsense.
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15 Comments
Jennings has said ugly things about the religious rightBoo fucking hoo.
Watch this:
They’re psychotic, largely closet homosexual men, largely…….large (as in Stay-Puft), sexual deviants, sexual hypocrites, they say ugly things about pretty much EVERYBODY, and nothing more than well-paid professional busybodies.
Who cares what those kooks think?
False?“and an incident in 1998 in which he did not report an underage student who told him he was having sex with older men.”
Is that part true? The other stuff is nonsense, but if that is true. I don’t want him around any child, ever.
People like Jennings got Obama electedHow many of us would stand up to this kind of scrutiny by the right?
Unlike them, we don’t lie about who we are and what we do in our personal lives. We admit to taking illegal drugs and having sex. We don’t pretend to be guided by a magic sky fairy.
How many other Americans are just like us?
Why are our government officials expected to be paragons of virtue? You can bet that those who claim to be pure as snow are liars. It is just that simple.
Those of us who elected Obama rejected the self-righteous pretenders like Sarah Palin and John McCain. We don’t expect those who are appointed by Obama to be fundamentalist Christians and war heroes. We expect the opposite to be true.
Read, offspringOffspring, I addressed that issue in the post – Attacks on Kevin Jennings sleazy, un-Christian.
Not that I’m trying to be biased or anything but anytime the religious right makes a claim, it’s best that we investigate it before taking any type of statement regarding the person they are attacking.
That is a half truththe story (as told by the righties) and honestly can’t find any other source….since only the fundies seem to know about this. (It may be in Jenning’s book, but I have not read it yet, I will now). But considering their other out of context “quotes” I would believe this situation is also out of context.
A student approached Jennings (outside of school) to talk about a sexual encounter he had in a bus station. Jennings first concern was for the student’s safety. Asking to make sure the student used protection.
What happened after? Maybe someone who read the book can fill in that info, but judging from Jennings’ other actions he probably worked within the system to help the student.
As far as “reporting” the incident. According to the only report, the incident was not in the school setting, it was outside.
Stop reading the FOX news web site, it will rot your brain and leave you a brainless zombie….I mean fundie.
Who cares?Obama does. Just ask Van Jones.
That Gandhi Shitis not only going to destroy the democrats, but all gay rights in the future.
The more people Obama throws under the bus “because Glenn Beck says so”, the more of the pussy he’s going to come across to EVERYONE. I’m almost sure he’s going to be a 1-term president.
No wonder Joe Solmonese is his gay lap dog: milquetoast weakling birds of a feather flock together.
Van Jones was speaking the truth about republicans, and in my opinion, didn’t say enough.
Mandated reporters and age of consentTeachers, nurses, doctors, and others in similar roles are mandated reporters of child abuse. They are required to report abuse both in an outside of their roles of employment.
In the case cited by the fundies, it is unlikely that Jennings failed to act as required by law. If he did, he certainly would not admit it.
The boy who confided having sex with an adult was probably of the age of consent in that jurisdiction.
The most common age of consent in the United States in 16.
It is a common misconception that having sex with anyone under the age of 18 is a crime everywhere in the U.S. and that’s just not true. The age of consent is 18 in only 12 states.
So, it is very possible that Jennings was told by a person under the age of 18 that he was having sex with an adult and that it may not have been a reportable action.
I believe Jennings was working in Massachusetts.
So, Massachusetts has two ages of consent. It is 18 for virgins and 16 for non-virgins.
See how confusing this can be? It is probably a safe bet that Jennings acted within the law. The boy was probably over 16 and not a virgin.
We will end up with only Christians, conservative christiansin any kind of position.
Guess what, Religious Right?
Gays and Lesbians do not like you
Because you lie about us
Because you incite hatred that leads to our deaths
Becuae you deny us equality bassed upon your ursupation of the Bible and imposition of your interpreation as the only truth
We do not like you
We do not respect your hypocrisy
And like Thomas Jefferson, we devote our resources to breaking your power.
There are these same kind of confusing age of consent lawsin a lot of jurisdictions. Here in PA, for instance, the age of sexual consent is 16, yet a person is still considered a minor till age 18. And sex with a minor is statutory rape.
I suspect the ambiguity is deliberate. It give cops a prosecutors a lot of leeway to decide who gets arrested and/or indicted and who doesn’t. As in virtually every other context, the law works for “the man,” not for the people.
one term is right,I know quite a few people who will not be voting for him in 2012, including me.
Same HereAnd Obama need not waste his time calling on his gay lap dog Solmonese to round up GLBT support either. It’s one thing that he bamboozled gay people into voting for him (myself included), but the way things are going, he’s going to waste his entire presidency kissing republican ass and trying to make them comfortable all the while alienating his support. He better recognize, those punks didn’t vote for him – WE did.
I’m going to bet Obama calls up Glenn Beck and asks him permission to take a piss:
“Hello, Glenn? I mean, God? I need to take a piss but want a second opinion from you first – you know, reaching across and trying to find common ground from a lunatic with the temperament of a kindergardener.
May I go take a piss? I don’t want to sound rude, but my bladder is starting to hurt. If you say I should wait for another hour, I’m cool with that. Whatever it takes to make you feel comfortable, I’m here to do as you say.”
This is hardly surprising!
If he wanted to avoid saying things about the Religulous Reich that they considered ugly, he’d have to stay completely silent.
aaarghgiven some of the people who held “policy” jobs in the last administration…this is so infuriating. may kevin jennings serve long and prosper.
I did readI just don’t have the time to search through the 15 links on there.
But now that I have read the correct link, unless I’m not getting it, that story appears to be in his own words? What advice did he offer to the student? I know 1987 was different time. I was merely 3 then. In my day we had Safety Officers who are at schools to talk with students about things like this one on one. But its still a tricky situation. I can see the argument. Since I can only talk about my own experiences, if an educator did not report the incident in today’s society they would probably be reprimanded/fired.