By Helen M. Alvare, J.D.,
Senior Fellow in Law,
… President Obama is under fire for moving too slowly to champion homosexual rights, in the view of leading voices on the left. The appointment of a “czar” like Kevin Jennings is one way in which President Obama can ensure the influence of homosexual-rights-activists in important places – like our nation’s public schools – without the president’s having to pass a law, or even hold a Congressional hearing, both of which might generate public attention and opposition. That Jennings’ influence in the Department of Education might promote the early or inappropriate sexualization of children is apparently not as important as what Jennings’ appointment might do in the way of smoothing relations between President Obama and the Human Rights Campaign.
In the case of the 2000 and 2001 sex education workshops sponsored in part by the Massachusetts state education establishment, the state partnered with GLSEN and with Planned Parenthood (known usually as the nations’ largest abortion provider), which provided the actual fisting “kits” available to participants. Both of these groups are clearly outside the “mainstream” of adults’ thinking and behavior about human sexuality and respect for human life and dignity. When states offer taxpayer dollars to private “partners” for carrying out state programs, the identity of these partners matters a lot.
Groups like Planned Parenthood, GLSEN, or another frequent government partner – SIECUS (Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S) -- have little in common with the average American’s beliefs about sexual morality. For such groups, the body is a tool, an object to be managed to maximize physical pleasure while minimizing disease and pregnancy. The materials they publish for adolescents can only be described as depressing and dehumanizing. Watchdog groups and citizens are vitally necessary in order to expose these groups, and the government programs and bureaucrats who would partner with them.
One of the outcomes of the current tempest over Kevin Jennings should be his ouster. But surely another should be a demand that the government get out and stay out of the business of instructing our children about human sexuality in ways that degrade them specifically as children, and also as human beings. [Emphasis added.]
See also:
“LAWYER DECRIES CHOICE OF US SAFE SCHOOLS ‘CZAR’; Denounces Agenda of Sexualizing Children” (Zenit, 1-12-10)
A consultor to the Vatican's laity council is protesting U.S. President Barack Obama's chosen "safe schools czar," Kevin Jennings, due to his history of promoting homosexuality, especially to young people. … She expressed concern regarding recent revelations about the career history of Jennings …
