By Bob Unruh
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

Kevin Jennings

A transcript from a 1997 speech shows Office of Safe Schools
chief Kevin Jennings in the U.S. Department of Education
expressed his admiration for Harry Hay, one of the nation's
first homosexual activists who launched the Mattachine Society
in 1948, founded the Radical Faeries and was a longtime advocate
for the North American Man-Boy Love Association, NAMBLA.

"One of the people that's always inspired me is Harry Hay," the
transcript shows Jennings saying, "who started the first ongoing
gay rights groups in America. In 1948, he tried to get people to
join the Mattachine Society. It took him two years to find one
other person who would join.

"Well, [in] 1993," Jennings continued, "Harry Hay marched with a
million people in Washington, who thought he had a good idea 40
years before."

WND has reported several times on Jennings' homosexual activism,
including his founding of the organization "Gay, Lesbian,
Straight Education Network," which advocates for homosexuality
in public schools.

Most recently, he admitted that he now knows he should have
reacted differently two decades ago when he was a teacher and he
was approached by a 15-year-old student who admitted he had a
sexual relationship with an older man.

"The Marketing of Evil: How Radicals, Elitists, and Pseudo-
Experts Sell Us Corruption Disguised as Freedom"

Jennings response was to suggest using a condom, although the
student's statement probably revealed, at a minimum, statutory
rape.

His perspectives and activities have come under scrutiny because
of his office, where he now is responsible for creating and
implementing programs that make public school classrooms across
America "safe."

The comments about Hay are significant because of Hay's extreme
positions regarding homosexuality.

For example, according to the website for the North American Man-
Boy Love Association, Hay told the organization in a 1983
speech: "I also would like to say at this point that it seems to
me that in the gay community the people who should be running
interference for NAMBLA are the parents and friends of gays.
Because if the parents and friends of gays are truly friends of
gays, they would know from their gay kids that the relationship
with an older man is precisely what thirteen-, fourteen-, and
fifteen-year-old kids need more than anything else in the world.
And they would be welcoming this, and welcoming the opportunity
for young gay kids to have the kind of experience that they
would need."

The statements from Jennings are being reported by Americans for
Truth, an activist organization that works to expose the actions
and statements of the nation's homosexual advocates.

It was just days earlier that a spokesman for President Barack
Obama confirmed the president believes Roman Polanski should be
held to account for his three decades-old confession to sexually
assaulting a teen.

Americans for Truth chief Peter LaBarbera told WND the
statements were transcribed from a tape of Jennings' address
before a "Looking to the Future" panel at GLSEN's Mid-Atlantic
conference Oct. 25, 1997, at Grace Church School in New York.

Jennings describes how "being finished" with his work might
"some day mean that most straight people, when they would hear
that someone was promoting homosexuality, would say, 'Yeah, who
cares?'"

"Close your eyes for a second and think, 'What would the world
look like if we were through with our work? If we were done. If
we could close the doors on 27th street [GLSEN's New York City
headquarters], and shut down the chapters, and disband the
board. What would be happening?'" he questioned.

"This is the only thing that can stop us, is if we believe that
our dreams cannot come true," he continued.

Then he praised Hay.

"Everybody thought Harry Hay was crazy in 1948, and they knew
something about him which he apparently did not – they were
right, he was crazy. You are all crazy. We are all crazy. All of
us who are thinking this way are crazy, because you know what?
Sane people keep the world the same [blank] old way it is now.
It's the people who think, 'No, I can envision a day when
straight people say, 'So what if you're promoting
homosexuality?'' Or straight kids say, 'Hey, why don't you and
your boyfriend come over before you go to the prom and try on
your tuxes on at my house?'"

He suggested conference participants "think how much can change
in one lifetime if in Harry Hay's one very short life, he saw
change from not even one person willing to join him to a million
people willing to travel to Washington to join him."

A spokeswoman in Jennings division at the U.S. Department of
Education declined to respond to WND's request for comment
today. A spokesman at the federal agency's office of public
information said he would have to check before responding. No
subsequent call or e-mail was received.

Besides Hay's endorsement of a "relationship" between teens and
adult homosexuals, in 1994 he gave another NAMBLA address that
cited the "growth and change" in the previous years.

"By far, gays' and lesbians' greatest strides were in the
dimensions of gay consciousness and in our breathtaking
discoveries in the richness and diversity of gay spirit. It is
in the realm of gay spirit where all the groups comprising the
gay and lesbian community currently are being challenged to take
great leaps, to expand their self-visions and potential
horizons," he said. "In this period, my beloved Radical Faeries
moved to perceive that our lovely and beautiful sexuality is the
gateway to spirit. Perhaps NAMBLA might consider expanding its
parameters also."

According to the archives of Concerned Women for America, when
Hay died in 2002, no mainstream media outlets reported his
advocacy for the pedophile activities of NAMBLA.

Hay also urged that NAMBLA, which advocates for the elimination
of any "age of consent" restrictions, be considered mainstream
in America.

"NAMBLA's record as a responsible gay organization is well
known. NAMBLA was spawned by the gay community and has been in
every major gay and lesbian march. … NAMBLA's call for the
abolition of age of consent is not the issue. NAMBLA is a bona
fide participant in the gay and lesbian movement. NAMBLA
deserves strong support in its rights of free speech and
association and its members' protection from discrimination and
bashing," he said.

According to the Americans for Truth website, the incident
involving the 15-year-old was just one among a series of
egregious behaviors by Jennings.

Another was the "fistgate" scandal in which his organization led
discussions at a seminar where "young teens were guided on how
to perform dangerous homosexual perversions, including
'fisting,'" the website said.

Yet another was Jennings' address in a New York City church on
March 20, 2000.

He said: "Twenty percent of people are hard-core fair-minded
[pro-homosexual] people. Twenty percent are hard-core [anti-
homosexual] bigots. We need to ignore the hard-core bigots, get
more of the hard-core fair-minded people to speak up, and we’ll
pull that 60 percent [of people in the middle] over to our side.
That's really what I think our strategy has to be. We have to
quit being afraid of the religious right. We also have to quit —
I’m trying to find a way to say this. I’m trying not to say,
'[F—] 'em!' which is what I want to say, because I don’t care
what they think! [audience laughter] Drop dead!"

Jennings is among a number of Obama "czars" who have become
controversial, including Van Jones, the ex-Green Jobs Czar who
quit in the middle of the night after being found to have called
Republicans an obscenity and being linked to the idea that the
U.S. government was behind or at least allowed 9/11.

Harvard professor Cass Sunstein, confirmed by the Senate as the
administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory
Affairs at the Office of Budget and Management, was exposed for
his belief that animals should be given legal rights like humans.

Technically, Jennings is not one of Obama's "czars," who are
special advisers accountable to no one but the president.
Jennings was named to a post in the Department of Education.
However, his hiring did not require legislative oversight, such
as the Senate vetting process required for other appointees.

WND previously reported on a speech Jennings gave in 1995
outlining his manipulation of words to obtain his aims.

Excerpts have been posted on the website of MassResistance,
where chief Brian Camenker has worked to oppose the demands of
homosexual activists.

In the speech, Jennings described how he was concerned about
being described as promoting homosexuality, so he chose to
campaign on the idea of "safety" instead.

"If the radical right can succeed in portraying us as preying on
children, we will lose. Their language – 'promoting
homosexuality' is one example – is laced with subtle and not-so-
subtle innuendo that we are 'after their kids,'" he told the
conference.

He continued, "In Massachusetts the effective reframing of this
issue was the key to the success of the Governor's Commission on
Gay and Lesbian Youth. We immediately seized upon the opponent's
calling card – safety – and explained how homophobia represents
a threat to students' safety by creating a climate where
violence, name-calling, health problems, and suicide are common.
Titling our report 'Making Schools Safe for Gay and Lesbian
Youth,' we automatically threw our opponents onto the defensive
and stole their best line of attack. This framing short-
circuited their arguments and left them back-pedaling from day
one."

WND reported earlier when it became known Jennings was appointed.