Rush Limbaugh baselessly accused Department of Education official Kevin Jennings of having "encouraged" and "facilitated" a sexual relationship between a male high school student and an older man. In fact, there is no evidence that Jennings either "encouraged" or "facilitated"
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the relationship; indeed, Jennings has stated simply that he "listened, sympathized, and offered advice" to the student who was struggling with his sexuality.Limbaugh
claimed Jennings
"encouraged" relationship between student,
adult
Limbaugh:
"Obama's safe school czar is a guy promoting homosexuality in the schools and
encouraged a 15-year-old kid to have a homosexual relationship with an older
man, and even facilitated it." During
the September 28 edition of his radio show, Limbaugh sought to compare film
director Roman Polanski, currently facing extradition for the 1978 rape of a
13-year old girl, and stated, "[I]f you wonder why the libs are really ticked
off that Roman Polanski might be extradited to face the music on that long-ago
act with the 13-year-old girl, Quaaludes and rape, understand that Obama's safe
school czar is a guy promoting homosexuality in the schools and encouraged a
15-year-old kid to have a homosexual relationship with an older man, and even
facilitated it." [Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh
Show, 9/28/09]
Evidence
does not support claim that Jennings "encouraged" and "facilitated"
relationship
Jennings:
"I listened, sympathized, and offered advice." In his 1994 book,
Jennings
described "Brewster" as "a charming but troubled kid" who "was not very happy
with himself." Jennings wrote that he "didn't
have a clue as to why -- at least not at first," and went on to describe an
incident in which "Brewster" was brought into his office and discussed his
homosexuality by telling "a story about his involvement with an older man he had
met in Boston."
Jennings wrote that he "listened, sympathized,
and offered advice," and "Brewster" left his "office with a smile on his face
that Jennings
"would see every time" he "saw him on the campus for the next two years, until
he graduated." From his book:
I
remember Brewster, a sophomore boy who I came to know in 1987, my first year of
teaching at Concord Academy, in Concord, Massachusetts. Brewster was a charming but
troubled kid. His grades didn't match up with his potential, his attendance
could be irregular, and he often seemed a little out of it. He was clearly using
some substance regularly, and was not very happy with himself. But I didn't have
a clue as to why -- at least not at first.
[...]
Toward
the end of my first year, during the spring of 1988, Brewster appeared in my
office in the tow of one of my advisees, a wonderful young woman to whom I had
been "out" for a long time. "Brewster has something he needs to talk with you
about," she intoned ominously. Brewster squirmed at the prospect of telling, and
we sat silently for a short while. On a hunch, I suddenly asked, "What's his
name?" Brewster's eyes widened briefly, and then out spilled a story about his
involvement with an older man he had met in Boston. I listened, sympathized, and offered
advice. He left my office with a smile on his face that I would see every time I
saw him on the campus for the next two years, until he
graduated.
I was
thrilled to be able do for Brewster what I had wanted Mr. Korn to do for me ten
years before. But the conversation also left me troubled. I had been playing a
variation on the "don't ask, don't tell" game with my students. If they asked, I
told, but otherwise my sexual identity was not a fit topic for discussion. I
grew uncomfortable with the message this was sending, with the air of secrecy
and shame and scandal that my quasi silence implied. I decided I needed to come
out in a more forthright and honest fashion, and made plans to do so the fall of
1988, my second year at Concord. [One Teacher in Ten, pages
24-25]
Jennings
later said he counseled on the use of condoms to prevent HIV.
In a 2000 speech to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight
Education Network (GLSEN), Jennings offered more detail as to the advice
he gave to "Brewster." Jennings said after "Brewster" told him of the
incident involving an older man, "I didn't know what to say, knew I should say
something quickly. So I finally -- my best friend had just died of AIDS the week
before -- I looked at Brewster and said, 'You know, I hope you knew to use a
condom.' He said to me something I will never forget, He said 'Why should I, my
life isn't worth saving anyway.' "
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