Comments on: Obama official regrets advice to gay student

By: bobweekend

bobweekend — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:31:49 +0000

I don’t get it. The student was confiding in Mr. Jennings. I am sure that was very difficult for the kid. I could not tell anyone about an anonymous encounter with a hitchhiker under a bridge on my way home from school. Even though I initiated the encounter, it took me years to understand my feelings about that. I wish I had a Mr. Jennings that I could have talked to about these issues. Mr. Jennings it seams showed compassion and understanding. He offered reasonable advice. What’s the problem?

By: Sarrellec

Sarrellec — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 06:38:05 +0000

To Alex Parrish:
I think I love you. A brilliant summing up. I hope you get to teach kids.

By: GayIthacan

GayIthacan — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:23:10 +0000

Kristie:

The ‘boy’ was of legal sexual age when the incident occurred.

That being the case, what he did sexually was none of your or anyone elses business. And that goes for parents as well.

There comes a time when parents have to realize their kids are going to f*** other people – and get over it.

By: Craig in AZ

Craig in AZ — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:09:55 +0000

I see no problem whatsoever in telling a kid who is active sexually that “I hope you used a condom” during the 1980′s.

The kid was ALREADY having sex. Kristie is being unrealistic in her desire to know what is going on. No 15 year old boy is going to want to talk with his parents (especially in the 1980′s) about sexual desires (let ALONE gay sexual desires) or sexual episodes in their lives. Get real.

Kevin Jennings did what I wish would have been done for me at that age by an authority figure.

I agree with JonnyBoy, on the “two lines from a speech” to cruicify someone. And to hell with apeasing the wingnuts from the right.

By: DaveW

DaveW — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:41:49 +0000

right, and the same parents who would have sent him to theological reprogramming would send their kids to a weekend outing with a predatory priest.

Parents were in denial or totally stupid…I can’t tell you how many guys I know raised catholic, completely straight, who were warned by their parents to stay away from the priests. IT WAS NO SECRET yet abusive parents, seemingly not happy with the abuse they deliver in the form of brainwashing their kids into a cult, still sent those kids in harms way in an effort, I can only surmize, to save their own faith from doubt.

Think about how cruel and evil that is: “I’m not willing to accept the fallability of my priest as it will destroy my faith so instead I will let my kid get raped”.

As people who have had to come out at some point to our parents I’m sure many of you understand the power of parental denial. Combine this with the fear of everlasting hell and you get child abuse.

But rest assured if they had a gay kid they’d fix that pretty fast.

This particular kid was seeking out sex in bathrooms. Sure, mother of 15 year old, you would want to know….but some things are not for knowing. The man should not be doing this to young kids but I see much more harm in outing the kid who obviously needed a parent figure than in turning him in to his parents.

By: Mike W, South Range WI

Mike W, South Range WI — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 01:23:14 +0000

I wish the Obama administration would spend as much time agonizing over DOMA and DADT as it does over appeasing conservatives.

By: JonnyBoy

JonnyBoy — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:12:58 +0000

Also, can we all stop taking one or two lines out of individual’s speaches and using them to crucify the person? What was the greater point Jennings was trying to bring up? Could it have been that he was trying to show the kid that there are more dangerous things than simply a lunatic…HIV can kill as well?

By: JonnyBoy

JonnyBoy — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:07:46 +0000

Unfortunately, Kristie, you are currently the mother of a 15 year old boy, and you have never been a 15 year old boy, especially not one coming to grasp with his own sexuality in the early 80s.

Additionally, the kid had already done the deed of going with the man – Jennings could not stop him from making the initial bad decision, and convincing a teenager, as you probably know, to do what you desire is often complicated.

We all have instances where we wish, with our 21 year 20/20 hindsight vision, that we had proceeded in a different manner than that which we had. Kudos to Jennings for approaching the topic in a manner which allowed the kid to trust him in the future. I wish I had had a similar role model when I was growing up in the 80′s.

By: Kristie

Kristie — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 22:29:44 +0000

Personally, as the mother of a 15 year old boy (the same age as this kid was) I sure as hell would have wanted someone to let me know if my child was in this situation. This boy was 15 and he had been picked up by some 44 year old man in a bathroom and gone home with him. Of course Kevin Jennings should have told someone what had gone on. It’s not about bringing this boy to the attention of the authorities, but about reporting the adult who had sex with this kid to the authorities. He was putting himself in danger of not only contracting a deadly virus, but he was also putting himself in a position where he could have ended up going home with some kind of nutcase. If he’d told Kevin Jennings what had gone on and then the next week ended up dead thanks to another older man he met and went home with (or the same one) would it still have been right not to say anything?
In reference to Alex_Parrish’s comments,
while there was a lot of less than tolerant thinking going on in the 80′s it doesn’t mean that this kid would have automatically been rejected by his parents or sent off to some kind of anti-gay deprogramming boot camp. And I hardly think that a 44 year old man, having sex with a 15 year old boy is what I could call, “being kind to him”. I’d call it taking advantage of someone much younger and more vulnerable for your own sexual gratification.

By: Wayne M.

Wayne M. — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:45:01 +0000

The only reason social conservatives want Kevin Jennings denied the position in the department of Education is that he is Gay. A bad decision made 21 years ago is only another excuse for them to press their already established opposition to his appointment. I do not believe that Kevin Jennings should be denied a position for a misstep 21 years ago when it has been proven that his record since then is one of outstanding leadership for safe and caring schools for all students.