Posted on 01 October 2009 by Mr. Enos
(Image Curtsey of the AP)
Media Matters is reporting that the child in question was of legal age. I–Matt Harrington–am working with the author of this post–Graham Enos–to resolve this situation. Update below:
Hypothetical situation:
The year is 1988. You are a high school teacher in Concord, Massachusetts and one day a 15-year-old sophomore tells you that an older man he encountered in a Boston bus station restroom had sex with him.
Do you:
A. Do nothing.
B. Ask for more information about the situation, inform your superiors so that they can inform his parents, Child Protective Services and the proper Authorities.
C. Tell him to use a condom.
If you’re a normal, rational, compassionate human being, you would obviously answer ‘B’.
If you are Kevin Jennings–Obama’s “safe schools czar” and the founder of the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN) –you pick ‘C’.
You read that right. The guy Obama tapped–perhaps a poor choice of words–to be in charge of ensuring that children in our nations schools are safe told a kid who was sodomized that he “hoped he used a condom”. Admittedly, the young man was gay, but regardless of his sexual orientation, he was a minor who in the eyes of the law was sexually assaulted and Jennings did nothing about it. He has since apologized, admitting in a statement issued Wednesday that “Twenty one years later I can see how I should have handled this situation differently. I should have asked for more information and consulted legal or medical authorities.” Of course, where child rape is concerned hindsight is always 20/20.
This guy influences Obama’s policy decisions. How did this happen?
As more and more of Obama’s Czars are embroiled in scandals, this intrepid bloviator cannot help but wonder if anyone is actually vetting these people before they get the keys to their offices in the west wing.
Read – FoxNews
UPDATE: As mentioned above Media Matters (a highly progressive organization) has latched onto this story, as has CNN, claiming that the student in question was in fact of legal age when he approached Jennings. However, Regardless of the student’s age at the time Jennings has, by his own admission, categorically stated that he “should have handled this situation differently”. As for the other accusations of him promoting a gay agenda in schools, I have no proof of that nor do I believe that he has or would engage in that kind of behavior. However, there have been accusations that his failure to take action in 1988 may have put a child at risk and, again, his admission that he should have done more for that child as a teacher shows that he is–at the very least–not taking his role as “safe schools czar” seriously enough. And as with the other czar scandals, eventually the facts will come out, but the accusations raised should not be taken lightly and should be seriously investigated.
We will update as the facts of this matter unfold. You can see CNN’s take on this story after the jump.
Read – Media Matters
UPDATE 2: Upon further review, the evidence Media Matters has brought forward appears to be valid, and after a lengthy examination of the facts released today the editorial staff now believe that Mr. Jennings was incorrectly accused of involvement in the coverup of statutory rape. However, due to our internal editorial rules, we are unable to redact or in any way subtract from–in whole or part–any post after it has been published, regardless of the validity of its content. As a result the post will remain on the site as it is. To that end, we also believe that further independent review of the situation is required and we will continue to cover this story, both through updates to this post and in new posts as the facts of the story are unfolded.
–The Harrington Report Editorial Staff
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