crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters
Dept.of Education official Kevin Jennings is being attacked again.
From Mediamatters.org:
Conservative blogs have claimed that Department of Education official Kevin Jennings is unfit as “Safe Schools Czar” because he supposedly promoted “child porn” by allowing an education organization he founded to recommend for students in grades 7-12 books that included sexually explicit content.
. . . In a December 4 post on his Gateway Pundit blog – headlined, “Breaking: Obama's 'Safe Schools Czar' Is Promoting Child Porn in the Classroom” – Jim Hoft wrote that “Scott Baker from Breitbart-TV.com and Co-Host of 'The B-Cast' submitted this shocking report today on Obama's deviant Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings.” In the post, Baker wrote that the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), which Jennings founded and previously served as executive director, published a reading list for students in grades 7-12 that contained books which included “X-Rated” and sexually explicit content.
But like all the other attacks against Jennings, this one is full of holes.
The implication seems to be that GLSEN and Jennings are encouraging children to read explicit or x-rated material. But such, according to Media Matters, is not the case:
GLSEN states in red type: “All BookLink items are reviewed by GLSEN staff for quality and appropriateness of content. However, some titles for adolescent readers contain mature themes. We recommend that adults selecting books for youth review content for suitability. The editorial and customer reviews listed at Amazon.com often provide information on mature content.” From the section:
So the implication that Jennings and GLSEN are attempting to expose children to sexually explicit material is not only wrong but highly irresponsible. The organization is suggesting a list of books for students to read. However the organization is also clearly suggesting that adults review the list and make the choice as to which books are appropriate for students.
This latest smear on Jennings reminds me of how members of the religious right
declared war on Deerfield High School in Illinois in March of 2008.
Students in a Seniors Honors English class were assigned to read the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Angels in America, which told of the early days of the AIDS epidemic.
Members of the religious right, including Peter LaBarbera and Matt Barber, made sure to post the most explicit parts of the play and also made it seem that Angels in America was required reading.
Students had to have permission from their parents to read Angels in America.
If they did not want to read Angels in America, they were then allowed to read another book, The Plague by Albert Camus.
As the Deerfield so-called controversy and the newest smear against Kevin Jennings proves, it's so simple how the omission of a few basic facts can unfairly paint someone as a monster out to harm children.
The two incidents also show that more scrutiny needs to be aimed at those making such accusations rather than the acceptance of their words at face value.
UPDATE – I have just received an email from someone who did not dispute my post but chose to appeal to hyperbole by posting some of the most explicit passages of one of the books.
Nice try but your attempt to shock is still refuted by the fact that GLSEN was advising adults to make the choice as to what books were or were not appropriate. That makes your implication irrelevant.
Your attempt is ironic in the fact that when I posted about the Deerfield/Angels in America controversy last year, someone tried to do the same thing, i.e. post explicit passages that appeal to shock rather than the truth of the matter.
Is that the best you can do? If so, then you are pitiful.
Related posts:
Anti-gay right advances new smear that DOE official Jennings promoting “Child Porn in the Classroom”
Superintendent of Schools gives truth behind Angels of America situation . . . and is attacked on a personal level
Update on the Deerfield High School situation – The things the anti-gay industry omitted in their hyperbole
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Dept.of Education official Kevin Jennings is being attacked again. 
8 Comments
This is a crying shameHow many lies will it take to make their idea of America come true?
The bible-bashersare now bashing the bible. There are several instances of sexually explicit prose and poetry in the Bible. It’s beautiful literature, especially Song of Songs (Solomon).
Additionally, doesn’t it talk in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (that they want posted on every courtroom) about bearing false witness against your neighbor?
They aren’t just lying, they are lies personified.
child porn is not kids reading pornDo these idiots not even know what they’re talking about? Kids getting porn, and even that’s not true, is not child porn. Goddess, someone hit these folks with the clue bat.
New rules!Bearing false witness doesn’t count when you’re lying in order to regain totalitarian political power!
Of course they knowThe words “child porn” are associated with a very negative value judgment in most people’s minds. These people know full well that what they mean by child porn is very different than the meaning that negative value is associated with. They use the words anyway because it gives rise to that negative value in their listener’s heads. It is emotional manipulation at its finest.
Frothy used this trick in his reaction to the Larwrence decision: he said that the decision was absurd because if the consent of two adults was all that mattered, incest would be permissible. Ignoring the question of whether consent is possible, look at the mechanics of what he did: he used the word “incest” to indicate a non-canonical referent (sex between two consenting adult blood relatives) knowing that doing so would cause many listeners to have an emotional reaction based on the the more canonical case of an older man raping an underaged boy or girl.
Actually, exposing the moral depavity the outright and blatant lies an is a necessary step to take prior another full scale marriage equality campaign.
Or for twisted religious groups that condemn LGBTI’s
Dena
They never stopThe religious wingnuts will never stop. That is, until the day we kill the 4th wave morons. I’m almost finished reading Max Blumenthal’s “Republican Gomorrah”. It’s like a train wreck of Republican and Religious Conservative bad behavior.
For example, Leslee Unruh’s assertion that heavy petting can cause pregnancy. That was amply demonstrated in the first season of Glee btw.
Or how about Armstrong Williams homophobic twaddle when there is demonstrated record of Williams’s own homosexual activity.
Total insanity – Blumenthal calls it a culture of crisis. And that is precisely why we keep seeing them attacking Jennings.