53 House Republicans Target Jennings

Fifty-three House Republicans, led by Congressman Steve King, sent aletter to the White House Thursday calling on President Obama to fire Kevin Jennings, whom Obama appointed in May to head the Education Department's Office of Safe andDrug Free Schools.

Despite conclusive evidence from Media Matters that the student Jennings advised on his sexual relationship with an older man was of legal age of consent at the time of their conversation, conservatives who are gunning for Jennings to step down aren't giving up their fight.

"Support is growing in Congress and across America for President Obama to fire Kevin Jennings and replace him with someone possessing the appropriate qualifications and ethical standards to serve in a presidential administration," King wrote. "Despite serving as the 'safe schools' czar, Jennings has no experience keeping students safe or keeping our schools drug free. Jennings is committed to the 'safety' of only a narrow portion of American students, while expressing disdain for religion and traditional values. President Obama should fire Kevin Jennings immediately."

The text of the letter and names of signers follows on the next page:

October 15, 2009

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President,

Werespectfully request that you remove Kevin Jennings, the AssistantDeputy Secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, fromyour Administration. It is clear that Mr. Jennings lacks theappropriate qualifications and ethical standards to serve in thiscapacity.

As the founder of the Gay, Lesbian and StraightEducation Network (GLSEN), Mr. Jennings has played an integral role inpromoting homosexuality and pushing a pro-homosexual agenda inAmerica's schools -- an agenda that runs counter to the values that manyparents desire to instill in their children. As evidence of this, Mr.Jennings wrote the foreword for a book titled Queering ElementaryEducation: Advancing the Dialogue About Sexualities and Schooling.Throughout his career, Mr. Jennings has made it his mission toestablish special protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual andtransgendered students to the exclusion of all other students. Thetotality of Mr. Jennings' career has been to advocate for publicaffirmation of homosexuality. There is more to safe and drug freeschools than can be accomplished from the narrow view of Mr. Jenningswho has, for more than 20 years, almost exclusively focused onpromoting the homosexual agenda.

Equally troubling is Mr.Jennings' self-described history of ignoring the sexual abuse of achild. In his book, One Teacher in Ten, Mr. Jennings recounts a 15-year-old student confiding in him that he had a sexual relationship with amuch older man. Mr. Jennings' only response was to ask if the underageboy used a condom. As a mandatory reporter, Mr. Jennings was requiredby law to report child abuse, including sex crimes. Mr. Jennings cannotserve as the "safe schools" czar when his record demonstrates awillingness to overlook the sexual abuse of a child.

As the"safe schools" czar, Mr. Jennings is also charged with ensuring ourschools and students are drug free. It is clear that Mr. Jennings isunfit to serve in this capacity, as well. His own history ofunrepentant drug and alcohol abuse indicates that he is of the opinionthat getting drunk and high as a young person is acceptable. In hismemoir, Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son, Mr. Jennings describes his use ofillegal drugs, without expressing regret or acknowledging thedevastating effects illegal drug use can have on a person's life.

Everyonethat deals with the education of the most vulnerable must be a positiverole model. Our children are not blessed with the wisdom to discern andreject. Children presume the adults who educate them are approved bythe larger society and their parents. Kevin Jennings cannot gain theapproval of parents who want their children safe and their schools drugfree. You should replace him with someone who has a record of educatingchildren in a safe and moral environment.

Given these very serious issues with Mr. Jennings' record, we urge you to remove him immediately.

Sincerely,

King
Alexander
Aderholt
Akin
Austria
Bachmann
Bachus
Bartlett
Barton
Boozman
Broun
Brown, H.
Carter
Chaffetz
Coffman
Cole
Conaway
Davis, Geoff
Fallin
Fleming
Foxx
Franks
Garrett
Gingrey
Gohmert
Hunter
Issa
Jordan
Lamborn
Latta
Luetkemeyer
Marchant
McClintock
McHenry
McKeon
McMorris
Mica
Miller, J.
Myrick
Neugebauer
Olson, P.
Pence
Pitts
Posey
Rogers (AL)
Rooney
Ryan, Paul
Shuster
mith, C
Smith, L.
Wamp
Westmoreland
Jones, Walter