The smear campaign continues: Fox Nation, Washington Examiner manufacture Jennings-NAMBLA link
The Fox Nation and The Washington Examiner linked Department of Education official Kevin Jennings to the North American Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) based on a 1997 speech in which Jennings praised gay rights activist Harry Hay, who had spoken in support of the organization. But like many obituaries written about Hay upon his death in 2002, Jennings was touting Hay as a gay civil rights pioneer for his role in helping start "the first ongoing gay rights groups in America" in 1948, and Jennings' comments had nothing to do with NAMBLA.
Fox Nation and
Washington Examiner smear Jennings with false NAMBLA link
From The Fox Nation:
From an October 1 column by Washington Examiner editorial page editor Mark Tapscott:
Kevin Jennings, President Obama's Assistant Deputy Secretary of the Office of Safe and Drug FreeSchools at the U.S. Department of Education, is in hot water this week for having failed to report that a 15-year-old sophomore student in his school had told him of having sex with an older man.
But failure to report what appeared to be a case of statuatory [sic] rape of a child may be the least of Jennings' worries. Lori Roman of Regular Folks United points to statements by Jennings a decade or more ago when he praised Harry Hay of the North American Association for Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), which promotes the legalization of sexual abuse of young boys by older men.
Roman provides damning details and links here.
Conservative blogosphere runs with new smear of Jennings
RedState.org: "I wonder if Kevin Jennings suppots [sic] NAMBLA." In a September 29 post on his Twitter account, RedState.org's Erick Erickson wrote, "I wonder if Kevin Jennings suppots [sic] NAMBLA."
Power Line's Hinderaker cited Jennings' speech, NAMBLA. In an October 1 post, Power Line's John Hinderaker noted Jennings' 1997 speech and wrote: "Obama nominee Kevin Jennings actually said that the founder of NAMBLA -- the North American Man-Boy Love Association -- Harry Hay, is '[o]ne of the people that's always inspired me,' " and asked, "Why, exactly, would a President put someone who admires those who advocate homosexual relationships between middle-aged men and high school or junior high school aged boys in charge of 'safety' in American public schools? Who would do that? It's not as though Kevin Jennings' benign view of such exploitation is a secret; on the contrary, this is his career, his claim to fame, his qualification for federal employment. One can only ask: is the Obama administration completely insane?" Hinderaker's claim that Hay founded NAMBLA is false. As the Associated Press noted in 2002, Hay "in 1950 founded the secret network of support groups for gays known as the Mattachine Society." Hay wrote in the Gay Community News (retrieved from Nexis) in 1994, "I am not a member of NAMBLA, nor would it ever have been my inclination to be one."
Numerous other conservative blogs have raised the purported connection in linking to The Washington Examiner and the 1997 speech.
Jennings' 1997 speech: Nothing to do with NAMBLA
Jennings inspired by Hay, "who started the first ongoing gay rights groups in America ... the Mattachine Society." Peter LaBarbera, president of a group that seeks to "expos[e] and counter the homosexual activist agenda," published a transcript of Jennings' 1997 remarks at the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network's (GLSEN) mid-Atlantic conference that LaBarbera said was reprinted from the Lambda Report. In that speech, Jennings said, "One of the people that's always inspired me is Harry Hay, who started the first ongoing gay rights groups in America. In 1948, he tried to get people to join the Mattachine Society." Jennings' remarks include no mentions of NAMBLA.
From LaBarbera's transcript of Jennings' remarks regarding Hay:
One of the people that's always inspired me is Harry Hay, who started the first ongoing gay rights groups in America. In 1948, he tried to get people to join the Mattachine Society [the first American homosexual "rights" group]. It took him two years to find one other person who would join. Well, [in] 1993, Harry Hay marched with a million people in Washington, who thought he had a good idea 40 years before. 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 [sh*tty] 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?' That if we believe that can happen, we can make it happen. The only thing that will stop us is our lack of faith that we can make it happen. That is our mission from this day forward. To not lose our faith, to not lose our belief that the world can, indeed, be a different place. And 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. You can see the same changed happen in your lifetime if you believe you can.''
Obituaries described Hay as helping pioneer gay rights movement -- just as Jennings did
Hay broadly recognized as gay rights pioneer. Upon Hay's death in October 2002, numerous obituaries (retrieved from Nexis) noted that Hay was a pioneer of the American gay rights movement -- just as Jennings noted in his 1997 speech:
- NYT: Hay "founded a secret organization six decades ago that proved to be the catalyst for the American gay rights movement." The New York Times wrote on October 25, 2002: "Harry Hay, who founded a secret organization six decades ago that proved to be the catalyst for the American gay rights movement, died early Thursday morning at his home in San Francisco. He was 90. Although little known in the broader national culture over the years, Mr. Hay's contribution was to do what no one else had done before: plant the idea among American homosexuals that they formed an oppressed cultural minority of their own, like blacks, and to create a lasting organization in which homosexuals could come together to socialize and to pursue what was, at the beginning, the very radical concept of homosexual rights."
- AP: Hay was "a pioneering activist in the gay rights movement" who founded "the Mattachine Society." The Associated Press wrote on October 25, 2002: "Harry Hay, a pioneering activist in the gay rights movement, died Thursday, according to family members who said he had suffered from lung cancer. He was 90. Hay, among the first to argue that gays represented a cultural minority, devoted his life to progressive politics and in 1950 founded the secret network of support groups for gays known as the Mattachine Society."
- SF Chronicle: Hay "considered by many to be the founder of the modern American gay rights movement." The San Francisco Chronicle wrote on October 25, 2002: "Henry 'Harry' Hay, considered by many to be the founder of the modern American gay rights movement, died Thursday at home in San Francisco at age 90."
The obituaries made no mention of NAMBLA.
Washington Examiner links Jennings to Bill Ayers -- for writing foreword to book decrying anti-gay violence
Washington Examiner links Jennings to Ayers. In his October 1 Washington Examiner column, Tapscott connected Jennings to Bill Ayers, writing:
Roman provides damning details and links here. She also notes that Jennings wrote the forward "to a book called Queering Elementary Education. And another fellow you may have heard of wrote one of the endorsements on the book jacket -- Bill Ayers." Ayers, of course, is the Weather Underground bomber from the 1960s who is just an "acquaintance" of Obama.
Jennings' book foreword decried anti-gay violence. Jennings wrote the foreword to the 1999 book Queering Elementary Education: Advancing the Dialogue about Sexualities and Schooling. In the book, Jennings called for valuing "every human being as a precious gift" and looked forward to the day when students could "walk down our streets without fear." The Washington Examiner did not mention the content of Jennings' foreword, choosing instead to create a link between Jennings and Ayers.
From Jennings' foreword:
That is the reason that all these revelations about Jennings don't phase me in the least and they are just fodder for media talk show hosts. Because who they are worried about, or who they fret over probably aren't worth the time. Any impact they have is probably irrelevant.
I expect to hear this move into the legal arena soon.
Stay tuned.
Liar. Please stop using that lie. Because it is a lie. And nobody likes liars.
I guess conservatives think lawsuits are the answer to everything.
Liar. Please stop using that lie. Because it is a lie. And nobody likes liars. Especially repetitive liars.
There is absolutely no connection between one statement and the other. He is merely trying to deflect attention away from his original lie by trying to backpedal it into a quarter-truth at best.
Nice try, Tommy. It didn't work.
And the Republicans in that election were suing left, right, and all over the place.
Observe, for example, failed Republican candidate Norm Coleman of Minnesota, suing, and suing, and suing, long after it was obvious he couldn't win.
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN0723225120070607
If true, this would likely be the greatest thing the conservative movement has ever done, or could ever do, to promote abstinence.
It made a big splash in all the major papers, and because of the universal mockery, the scene was cut from the final printing. The title of the book was "1945" and you can see a review here.
I think the diminution of a grown woman as a "kitten" and the assumption that there's nothing dirtier or more exciting than a fem domme might be "conservative overtones."
What I see from that is that liberals are consistent in their support of trial lawyers while conservatives will trash them in speeches and legislation, but hypocritically go running for their services when they think they need to. Well made point, right ON.
I don't believe that it's as simple as who gives the campaign contributions. Of course, there are some, like those in the health care industry, who make so much money that they contribute to everyone. That's a different matter.
If it's a false statement meant to do harm to the targeted person, which this seems to be, it's "libel". And, it may the cause for legal action by Jennings against these right-wing hacks.
Liberal or conservative - it doesn't matter. Libel is libel.
Here's the definition of "libel", in case you need to get an idea of why this may move into legal action (from the link below):
"to publish in print (including pictures), writing or broadcast through radio, television or film, an untruth about another which will do harm to that person or his/her reputation, by tending to bring the target into ridicule, hatred, scorn or contempt of others."
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Libel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Hay
Jen7, (or anyone reading this) I bet you are no further than 6 people from NAMBLA yourself. OMG! We're all linked to NAMBLA! Yikes!
It's an old trick people play to link anyone to anyone. These so-called "news" outlets use this trick all the time. Becky-boy uses this trick a lot on his black board. Watch how he does this. You can see he's using the 6-degree theory.
It was a speech about Hay. That doesn't' mean Jennings himself was involved with NAMBLA.
Pedophiles are pedophiles. Some like the same sex, some like the opposite sex.
Just because someone's a homosexual, it does not automatically make them a pedophile. That's another right-wing distortion of the facts.
I'm the one defending Jennings.
But the idea's the same. The right-wingers are using the 6-degree trick to link anyone to anyone.
Again sorry I misunderstood your point.
In the early 1980s, Hay joined other early gay rights activists protesting the exclusion of the North American Man Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) from participation in LGBT social movements, most noticeably pride parades–arguably the most visible signs of LGBT culture–on the grounds that such exclusions constituted a betrayal by the gay community.[33] In 1983, at a New York University forum, sponsored by an on-campus gay organization, he remarked "[I]f 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."[49] In 1986 Hay was confronted by police when he attempted to march in the Los Angeles pride parade, from which NAMBLA had been banned, with a sign reading "NAMBLA walks with me."[
The Fox Nation and The Washington Examiner linked Department of Education official Kevin Jennings to the North American Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) based on a 1997 speech in which Jennings praised gay rights activist Harry Hay, who had spoken in support of the organization.
Harry Hay spoke in support of NAMBLA.
That's their message, no matter how distorted and untrue it really is.
I already understood what the right was trying to do.
Has everyone started drinking early today or something? LOL
And Jennings praising Hay for founding the Mattachine Society has nothing to do whatsoever with pedophilia, unless, like the tighty-righties, one believes the lie that more gays are pedophiles than straights.
Jennings praised a man who stood up for gay rights. This is the same crap they're trying to do with all the Jeremiah Wright horse manure. They take a few sentences out of nearly thirty years of sermons, and scream bloody murder that a man who served America in the United States Marine Corps hates his country.
It was a tactic that was lower than pond scum then, and it's still lower than pond scum now.
(This is assuming that he did it. I'm not trying to start an unrelated debate to MJ.)
But hey, people like to be heard and be a part of a movement. No harm no foul.
As far as Jennings goes, my gut reaction is.... nambla? ewww.
Hay and Jennings who?
http://manhattan.about.com/od/glbtscene/a/stonewallriots.htm
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/28/at-the-presidents-pleasure/
As well documented by this blog, Mr. Jennings did not endorse the NAMBLA (North American Man-Boy Love Association) and is not a member of that group. Mr. Jennings in fact honored Harry Hay, who co-founded the Mattachine Society, the first enduring LGBT rights organization in the United States, in 1950. See Wikipedia.
Now if blog logic holds, then President Ronald Reagan is a supporter of NAMBLA, because Mr. Reagan's campaign manager was Robert Bauman. Mr. Bauman was also a founding member of several conservative activist groups, including the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) and the American Conservative Union (ACU), where he served both as national chairman. Mr. Bauman went to the House of Representatives where he regularly warned against the dangers of gay people and the homosexual conspiracy. Then, Mr. Bauman was arrested and convicted for soliciting sex from a 16-year old youth. So, if Mr. Reagan made Bauman his campaign manager, then Mr. Reagan must have had a secret agenda to promote man-boy love and so must the organizations of Young Americans for Freedom as well as the American Conservative Union. Of course Mr. Reagan did not have such and agenda and neither does Mr. Obama.
By blog logic, one could even say that the Catholic Church had a secret pedophile agenda, since Mr. Bauman was a married conservative Roman Catholic with four children when he solicited gay sex from the 16-year old youth.
It is also important to note that the media did not fully report the story. The young man Mr. Jennings spoke to was not 15 but 16. That was a legal age of consent at the time in Mass. Does Mr. Jennings regret the way he handled the situation at the time as a young teacher? Yes, as he has said even as the one who made the events public.
Now all of us should be very, very careful about people who make big noises on blogs, in the media and politics about gay people and pedophilia. This study and the actual facts of public record show why:
Adams, H. E., L. W. Wright, Jr., et al. (1996). "Is homophobia associated with homosexual arousal?" J Abnorm Psychol 105(3): 440-5.
The authors investigated the role of homosexual arousal in exclusively heterosexual men who admitted negative affect toward homosexual individuals. Participants consisted of a group of homophobic men (n = 35) and a group of nonhomophobic men (n = 29); they were assigned to groups on the basis of their scores on the Index of Homophobia (W. W. Hudson & W. A. Ricketts, 1980). The men were exposed to sexually explicit erotic stimuli consisting of heterosexual, male homosexual, and lesbian videotapes, and changes in penile circumference were monitored. They also completed an Aggression Questionnaire (A. H. Buss & M. Perry, 1992). Both groups exhibited increases in penile circumference to the heterosexual and female homosexual videos. Only the homophobic men showed an increase in penile erection to male homosexual stimuli. The groups did not differ in aggression. Homophobia is apparently associated with homosexual arousal that the homophobic individual is either unaware of or denies.
Now this finding should be of no scientific surprise, given the public record. Think of these examples from the news:
Douglas Sovereign Smith, a former high-ranking Boy Scouts of America official who ran a task force that worked to protect children from sexual abuse, pleaded guilty to a federal child pornography charge. Smith was a national program director and led the Youth Protection Task Force that was supposed to shield youth from sexual abuse. Was this a fox in the Hen House? This Boy Scout big shot was caught with a stash of pornographic photos of young boys, which he swapped with other cyber-smut collectors, said authorities.
For a quarter century, the man who was Spokane's mayor, James West, had secretly used positions of public trust – as a sheriff's deputy, Boy Scout leader and powerful politician – to develop sexual relationships with boys and young men. He has spent his entire Republican political career actively calling for bans against homosexuals. He was covering up his own his improprieties.
So any time a person rails against the gays and pedophilia, you might want to insist that they have their penile circumference measured looking at dirty pictures of gays and kids. The safest way to keep attention from yourself is to accuse others of your very crime.