Anti-gay group calls for resignation of Obama aide
The American Family Association (AFA) has called for the resignation of a White House official who told a gay student to use a condom.
Kevin Jennings, who is the head of the department’s Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, told the student 21 years ago that if he was having a relationship with an older man, he should be careful to use a condom.
Jennings has come under fire from religious and conservative groups for not reporting the relationship to authorities or the boy’s parents.
Now, the AFA is calling for him to lose his job. The organisation is most famous for campaigning against “immorality” in the media. In the past, it has also attacked companies such as MacDonalds and Heinz for supporting gay rights.
In a statement, AFA president Tim Wildmon said Jennings “actively advances a radical homosexual agenda in America’s public school system under the guise of promoting anti-bullying policies”.
Wildmon added: “Are we to believe Kevin Jennings will fairly treat Christians who believe homosexuality is wrong? Students of faith will hardly be safe from bullying and intimidation in any school that listens to him. It’s time for the Obama administration to demand his resignation.”
Jennings has recounted that as a 24-year-old teacher in Massachusetts, the boy had come to him for advice about a sexual relationship with an older man.
He said he told the boy: “My best friend had just died of AIDS the week before. You know, I hope you knew to use a condom.”
The student was at first reported to be 15 at the time of the relationship but it has now been confirmed he was 16, the legal age of consent in Massachusetts at the time.
Known only as Brewster, he gave a statement to Media Matters for America, in which he claimed the conversation was private, but added it had helped him become “a proud gay man”.
