An excerpt from The Homosexual Fifth Column - Ideology, Not Science
"The Public Schools
Ex-gay messages have no place in our nation’s public schools. A line has been drawn. There is no “other side” when you’re talking about lesbian, gay and bisexual students. ~ Kevin Jennings, Executive Director of the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN).
Mr. Jennings made the above statement upon the release of a 1999 GLSEN publication, Just the Facts About Sexual Orientation and Youth, which was mailed to almost 15,000 school district superintendents across the country. GLSEN said the publication was “prompted by concerns that school personnel were receiving inaccurate information on the issue of sexual orientation and how to address it best with students.” The statement strongly urges educators and school administrators to reject efforts to bring ex-gay messages into the nation’s schools.
GLSEN is certainly aware that homosexual attraction is neither innate nor immutable; the fact that homosexuality can be overcome is well documented by the personal experiences of thousands of individuals who have successfully left the lifestyle. Nevertheless, it is GLSEN’s intended purpose to show children from K-12 that same sex attraction is normal. Any suggestion that one can change his/her sexual orientation, GLSEN claims, is fruitless and unethical and has no place in the public schools.
Mr. Jennings efforts were recently rewarded by the National Education Association—the powerhouse 2.7 million-member union that represents most U.S. teachers—when the organization presented him with the 2004 Virginia Uribe Award for Creative Leadership in Human Rights.
Critics of his selection pointed out that Mr. Jennings was the keynote speaker at a GLSEN conference in 2000 at Tufts University where Massachusetts Department of Education HIV/AIDS coordinators discussed with teenage students ways to perform various homosexual acts. This event became known as the notorious “fistgate scandal,” and the controversy it raised over the exposure to children of vulgar and disturbingly graphic descriptions of homosexual acts is still reverberating in Massachusetts.
The National Education Association has been promoting gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgender affirmation in the public schools for many years, through such initiatives as recognizing sexual orientation as a protected “civil right” for both students and staff; developing sex education classes to include information on the “diversity of sexual orientations,” and teaming with homosexual rights groups to promote gay-oriented “Back to School” programs.
With the help of the NEA, the 1999 gay-friendly video, It’s Elementary, was shown in classrooms throughout the nation. In discussing the video, then president of the NEA, Bob Chase, said
Schools cannot be neutral when we’re dealing with issues of human dignity and human rights. I’m not talking about tolerance. I’m talking about acceptance. It’s Elementary is a great resource for parents, teachers, and community leaders working to teach respect and responsibility to America’s children.
Regrettably, while parents continue to entrust the education and social development of their children to the public school system, the educators are surreptitiously encouraging the children to explore a lifestyle that most parents find repulsive and unnatural, a lifestyle whose promotion is totally inappropriate in primary and secondary schools. At the same time, messages about persons who have overcome the homosexual lifestyle are not tolerated in NEA-dominated public schools..."
Educators' Honoree Challenged on Alleged Sex Abuse Cover-Up
"(AgapePress) - The founder of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), who was recently honored by the largest teachers union in America, is defending himself against allegations of engaging in unethical and illegal behavior. But a researcher of ex-homosexual issues says Kevin Jenning's response to charges he covered up an incident of child sex abuse raises more questions than answers.
California teacher Diane Lenning recently criticized the National Education Association (NEA) for giving a human rights award to GLSEN founder Kevin Jennings this summer. Lenning says Jennings broke Massachusetts law in 1988 by not telling authorities about a high school sophomore's homosexual affair with an older adult male.
But in a letter to the Washington Times, Jennings accused Mrs. Lenning of both "misstating Massachusetts state law" and "grossly mischaracterizing a situation with a student who needed a teacher to talk to."
Dr. Warren Throckmorton is a conservative columnist and professor of college counseling at Grove City College. Like Lenning, Throckmorton questions whether Jennings -- given his apparent failure to report child sex abuse -- should have received the award from the NEA. He explains that Jennings was required by Massachusetts state law to report the illicit affair.
Dr. Warren Throckmorton "The fact that he did not do that was confirmed by the Washington Times -- and in his letter, Mr. Jennings never disputes the fact that he did not make the report," Throckmorton says. "So I don't know how his involvement has been mischaracterized."
In his book One Teacher in 10: Gay and Lesbian Educators Tell Their Stories, Jennings says he counseled the teen regarding his relationship. But Throckmorton says no teacher should "wink at" or overlook a sexual offense that has been committed.
"Whether the student was complicit in any level or not really is not the issue for a minor," the college professor explains. "If I'm a parent and I send my kids to school and they're being taken advantage of in some way and a teacher finds out about it, I certainly hope that the teacher would let the authorities and let me know about it."
Although Jennings does not deny failing to report child sex abuse in 1988, he acknowledges that if any teacher realizes a student is being physically, emotionally, or sexually abused, they are mandated by law to report that abuse to authorities.
As for the allegations leveled against him by Lenning, Jennings says they are politically motivated and an attempt to distract him from doing his work and undermine his personal reputation.
"As a teacher, it's incredibly painful to have someone call into question my commitment to ensuring the kids in my classroom were anything but safe every day. Mrs. Lenning did just that with her remarks about me," Jennings says, "and the remarks are both misleading and they're unfair. In fact, our attorney has concluded that some of Mrs. Lenning's remarks are potentially libelous."
GLSEN has written a letter to Lenning, demanding she retract her accusations or face a lawsuit.
'Fistgate' Connection
Throckmorton also believes Jennings should be held accountable for his involvement as keynote speaker at the highly publicized "Fistgate" workshop at Tufts University, in which young students were given graphic "how to" lessons on performing homosexual acts. But Jennings says people often wrongly claim the pornographic workshop for teens was conducted by GLSEN.
"I made it clear then, and I'll make it clear again now: we found the content presented in that workshop age-inappropriate and wrong," Jennings explains. "We worked to make sure that there would be no reoccurrence of such a workshop ever again at a GLSEN workshop."
According to Jennings, that workshop occurred more than four years ago -- and there has never been a similar incident since then."
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