A weblog by Knot O'Reilly

Kevin Jennings is the assistant-deputy of the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, he has a bachelors degree from Harvard, a Master’s from Columbia and a M.B.A. from New York University.
Among other accomplishments he has been a high school history teacher, published six books on gay rights and education and founded the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) which ’seeks to end discrimination, harassment, and bullying based on sexual orientation and gender identity.’
A couple of conservative groups have been muckraking and bashing Jennings, and recently FOX joined the fray with this long and inaccurate piece and series of reports and comments by the regular cast of TV tough guys. It seems to be part of Sean Hannity’s recently proclaimed jihad against Obama’s ‘czars’. He claimed”my job starting tomorrow night is to get rid of every other ['czar'].”

In FOX’s favour they do include some balance in their article leading the punch-up of Jennings by including some quotes from Amanda Terkel, deputy research director at the Center for American Progress, although they leave this comment to the very last in the article

For a long time I think this position was largely neglected. It was seen as a throwaway position [by the Bush administration.] Now the Obama administration has made an attempt to find someone who, in many ways, seems tailor-made for this position. [Jennings] has devoted his whole career to promoting safe schools.

Earlier in the piece they quote  an attendee at a conference Jennings was also at,  who discusses rectal and vaginal fisting, and link Jennings to the quote by his disagreement that the speaker was filmed without permission. They also highlight disparaging comments on religion that Jennings, a Christian,  made when he was at a spiritually low point decades ago.

Jennings has made it clear that his interest in ‘promoting homosexuality’ stems from an interest in increasing understanding and awareness among straight and gay people and decreasing bigotry and bullying. He has many accomplishments towards these ends. FOX and friends on the right are misrepresenting these attempts as an attempt to teach sexual techniques and there is an undertone that ‘promoting’ means to somehow turn straight kids gay.

Think Progress did a Fact Check on the Family Research Council campaign against Jennings, and this is one example:

FRC Claim: Jennings is “unfit for the post to which he’s been assigned.”

FACT: Jennings, in fact, will be the first head of OSDFS in years to have a background as an educator. His predecessor, Deborah Price, received her BS degree in home economics, worked on the National Prayer Breakfast, on the Senate Republican Policy Committee, and then doing student aid in the Department of Education. Her predecessor, Eric Andell, was a judge from Texas and was eventually fired. He “pleaded guilty in federal court to one misdemeanor count of conflict of interest that included using federal money to pay for personal expenses.” Jennings has received many mainstream education awards, including the Distinguished Service Award of NASSP. ThinkProgress spoke to NASSP Executive Director Gerald Tirozzi, who wrote a recommendation letter on Jennings’ behalf. He said that he has “always been impressed with Kevin and his forthrightness. He’s a very courageous young man.” Tirozzi stressed that Jennings’ work on school bullying made him an ideal fit for this particular position.

UPDATE: Oct 1 Media Matters for America release a rundown of stories on this issue.

Fox News Launches Another Smear Campaign Against an Obama Official

Network relies on made-up charges, homophobic attacks, distorted quotes in witch hunt against Department of Education official

Washington, D.C. – Today, Media Matters for America condemned the latest Fox News-driven smear campaign, in which right-wing media figures have called for Department of Education official Kevin Jennings to be fired. Conservative media have promoted the made-up charge that Jennings “cover[ed] up statutory rape.” They have painted him as a “radical” “gay activist” and have misrepresented and distorted Jennings’ previous comments.

“Fox News’ allegations about Kevin Jennings covering up a statutory rape are wholly unsupported by the facts,” said Eric Burns, president of Media Matters. “But Fox has already proven that facts don’t matter in its campaign against Jennings. Who needs facts when your reports are built on made-up charges and anti-gay bigotry?”

UPDATE #2 Oct. 6
From The Plum Line “FOX News Corrects False Claims against Gay Obama Education Adviser-Will Hannity Do the Same”

Okay, so Fox’s news division, such as it is, has now quietly issued an online correction of the false claims the outlet had been making while waging a high-profile assault on Kevin Jennings, the gay high-level education adviser who’s reviled by conservatives for his past in gay rights activism.

…

The “statutory rape” charge is based on the assertion that the kid was 15 years old at the time, a claim originally floated, wrongly, by Jennings himself, and continuously amplified by Fox News and the right even after it had been corrected.

Fox News has now issued an online correction. But Hannity has been silent on this since Friday. It’ll be interesting to see if he corrects the record on the air. I’m checking with his producer and will keep you posted.