Czar of the Schools

The Obama administration is spending precious capital protecting its Safe Schools “czar,” but many believe that loyalty carries more political risk than reward. Last week, Kevin Jennings’s “aw, shucks” response to covering up child sexual abuse should have sounded the alarm over at the Department of Education. Instead, Secretary Arne Duncan used the opportunity to praise Jennings as “uniquely qualified” to serve on the team. That may not be the consensus for much longer, since FRC has uncovered a series of op-eds that show Jennings’s incredible hostility toward Christianity.

In at least two Huffington Post columns, Jennings attacks people of faith with complete and utter disdain. When the former director of GLSEN tried to implement a series of Gay Straight Alliances in classrooms back in 2007, Jennings described a Christian who fought the idea as having “not-yet-fully evolved views maybe because of his proximity to the Everglades (from whose ooze he may have recently climbed), [but] I can’t dismiss them as the ravings of a single troglodyte. Instead, they represent a classic example of how right-wing extremists continually try to mislead the public about the nature and purpose of GSAs.”

In another article, “Recruit, Recruit, Recruit!” Jennings called Christian students “hypocrites” and mocked the members of Young Life for trying to evangelize their friends. At one point in the column, Jennings says, “…[T]hey want everyone to have to believe the way they do.” Ironically, that’s what Jennings ‘s movement has been pushing for all along: forced acceptance! He and his activist friends want tolerance, but not for others.

Maybe that’s why leaders like Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) are calling for Jennings ‘s head. “The totality of his life,” King says, “has been the promotion of homosexuality, and much of it within education.” His work, says Rep. King, is “a political movement… It’s not about protecting kids, it’s about promoting homosexuality and demanding public affirmation… President Obama should fire Kevin Jennings immediately.”

Obviously, the only “unique qualification” Jennings possesses is an ability to practice the same kind of intimidation his office is trying to prevent. As FRC has said for four months, a man charged with creating safe schools can’t possibly achieve it by turning America’s classrooms into a hostile environment for kids with religious beliefs. Otherwise, we’ve allowed the anti-bullying boss to become the biggest bully of all!

Tony Perkins heads the Family Research Council. This article is excerpted from the Washington Update that he compiles for the FRC.