crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters

It was just as I figured yesterday. Those who are out to get Kevin Jennings won't let up with their innuendoes.

As fast as Chris Good of The Atlantic magazine published a piece declaring that Jennings' job is safe, the forces out to get him have launched a new and interesting attack.

From the Washington Times:

On Oct. 11, 2008, Jeff Davis, Mr. Jennings “partner” of 15 years, described their first meetings: “The first few interactions were challenging for both of us. He was a member of Act Up. Act Up! So it's like – you know – here's a big gay activist.”

ACT UP's demonstrations in the late 1980s and early 1990s centered on vandalism of churches, businesses and homes as well as disrupting public events. The Catholic Church was a favored target because it opposes same-sex marriage and the distribution of condoms. From New York to Los Angeles, activists disrupted Catholic Masses and desecrated Holy Communion, which Catholics believe is the body of Christ.

From a One News Now article,  which also repeats the lie that Jennings encouraged an underaged child to have sex with an adult :

According to Brian Camenker of the pro-family group MassResistance, another fact has surfaced regarding the GLSEN founder. Camenker says Jennings was once a member of Act Up — a “radical homosexual group” he says “profaned churches, vandalized homes and businesses, and disrupted public events.” In addition, he points out that Harvard University is thanking Jennings for providing a grant to help fund a recently opened Act Up exhibit on campus.

 

This will be another flimsy guilt-by-association attack like that of NAMBLA.

For one thing, neither article says that Jennings was involved in the so-called radical activity of Act-Up.

For another thing, according to David Hart of Tips-Q,  Act-Up is unfairly getting a bad rep.

He said Act-Up was founded in frustration because of the government's slow action on the burgeoning AIDS crisis:

During the late eighties, Act-Up engaged in numerous demonstrations of civil disobedience. They were, loud, obnoxious and in your face. The police would usually show up donned in full toxic chemical suits. As a nation, we were in a crisis. People were dying every day and the government's inaction was appalling. AIDS was viewed as a queer disease. Numerous leaders of the Christian right were framing AIDS as God's punishment on gays. One can only imagine the resources that would have been available if a dozen white Boy Scouts contracted a strange, deadly disease. Gays were not only expendable but, in some quarters, AIDS was heralded as a means to eliminate us. It was in this environment that Act-Up became a force for change.

Some people may agree with Act-Up's tactics and others may not. To me, a group of Americans being pushed to radical action because their government didn't care that they were dying of a horrific disease is an interesting facet of the story.

And it's a facet that will be ignored should other right-wing bloggers take up the story and definitely if folks like Sean Hannity go on another attack against Jennings.

And you certainly won't the hear the fact this recent attack on Jennings (like the Fistgate lie) is coming from the Massachusetts anti-gay hate group Mass Resistance.

And Mass Resistance's war on Jennings gets worse. It claims that not only Jennings was a member of the “radically, dirty, evil, filthy” group Act-Up but also he help to fund an exhibit chronicling AIDS activism in New York.

There is nothing wrong with this because AIDS activism in general is history.  History must be examined and studied.

However Mass Resistance seeks to destroy any logical and normal determination of this fact via publishing (with slanted commentary) the most graphic pictures of the exhibit with the implication that “this is what Kevin Jennings has in store for your children.”

Of course Mass Resistance doesn't tell that other contributors to this exhibit included:

The Office of the Provost at Harvard University and the following endowment funds at the Harvard Art Museum: The Agnes Gund Fund for Modern and Contemporary Art; the Alexander S., Robert L., and Bruce A. Beal Exhibition Fund; the M. Victor Leventritt Lecture Fund; and the Charlotte F. and Irving W. Rabb Exhibition Fund. Gifts and grants have also been provided by The Barbara Lee Family Foundation; The Open Gate: a Fund for Gay and Lesbian Life at Harvard University; Fred P. Hochberg and Tom Healy; the Harvard College Women's Center, the Office for the Arts at Harvard, and Harvard Technology Services with special support from Apple Inc.

So I guess all of these groups are out to ”indoctrinate” America's children.

Since so many blogger, and various groups (i.e. One News Now and the Washington Times) have demanded at one time or another that Jennings go on record about his so-called radical leanings and associations, I think they should do the same.

Why do these folks have no problem with receiving information from a known hate group?