endorsing sex between old guys and young boys?

Where did he do that? He's accused of praising the then-geriatric Harry Hay, founder of the Mattachine Society.

Here's the Jennings quote, praising Hay:

***QUOTE***

"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. It took him two years to find one other person who would join. Well, 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."

***END QUOTE***

Now, Hay was a Commie and a nut and a NAMBLA sympathizer, but how is a statement praising him an endorsement of pedophilia?

Allen Ginsburg was a NAMBLA member and I not only have long enjoyed his poetry, I met him. In a men's room! (It's absolutely true.) Let me say right now, "One of the people who has always inspired me is Allen Ginsburg!"

Also, I'm an Alfred Kinsey fan! Have been even since my father gave me his book.

One of the people who has always inspired me is Alfred Kinsey!

Does that mean I endorse pedophilia too?

Gee I better not put this in a post or else I'll be denied a gummint job! (That's why it's only in a comment, Hee hee!)

I want my Czardom, dammit!

BTW, the book to which he wrote the intro is unmitigated gay advocacy, even Orwellian propaganda, and I'm sure I could do a good job of trashing it, but propaganda is not pedophilia.

I hate propaganda and I would no more select this man to teach my children (if I had any) than I would a member of Falwell's Liberty University, but that's not the point here. I think he is being unfairly maligned.

You say that you're not comfortable with him in that position. I'm not comfortable with the existence of that position, period.

Nor am I especially comfortable about defending him. Because it appears to be an endorsement of his style of politics (which it isn't), of the gay agenda (which it isn't) or of his position (which it isn't).

I may be wrong, but I see the attacks on Jennings as being part of the war against sexual freedom.

Eric: I obviously am not up on the nuances of the gay community.

And I too love Ginsburg's poetry. But I see a double standard here. You would not endorse Chuck Berry's attraction to young girls. I would not endorse NAMBLA's attraction to young guys. How would you feel about a North American Man Girl Love Association? And if one of its supporters was charged with some function dealing mainly with elementary education?

And "Queering Elementary Education"?

Queering Elementary Education: Advancing the Dialogue about Sexualities and Schooling (Curriculum, Cultures, and (Homo)Sexualities)

Let me quote a line or two from an approving review:

The writers here are good (or well edited, at least) and their work has been strongly influnced by multiculturalism, feminism, and upper-level academic theory.

Yuck.

Maybe we are all screwed up about sex in America. I would still not feel comfortable about anyone who even skirts the edges of pedophilia any where in the Education Dept. Assign him to Treasury if he needs a job. Or the Dept. of Energy. Or make him the Czar of Don't Ask Don't Tell in the DoD.

Heck. Make him the Ambassador to Iran. Or even better Israel.

Just not in Education.

And if promoting safety in schools for homosexuals was the intent (as I said in the piece - a good idea) find some one without all the baggage. Dick Cheney might be a good choice. Alan Keyes very bad.

Find some one on the right who is supportive of their gay offspring. Give people a comfort zone.

Unless ramping up a culture war was Obama's intention.

How would you feel about a North American Man Girl Love Association?

The same way I feel about NAMBLA. I hate the organization.

And if one of its supporters was charged with some function dealing mainly with elementary education?

I'd be 100% opposed. But the question you should be asking is this:

And if someone who praised one of its supporters was charged with some function dealing mainly with elementary education?

I'd want to know the context of the praise. What Jennings is quoted as saying is not support for NAMBLA.

screw reading, writing and arithmetic let's put a pro gay guy in charge of school safety.
b/c the feds should be in charge of local schools don't ya know. another O! fail.

I may be wrong, but I see the attacks on Jennings as being part of the war against sexual freedom.

With all due respect, Eric, I think you're wrong.

Now I haven't followed all the latest things about Jennings ... my one and only post on him on proteinwisdom was kind of mocking of his convenient apology and claim that because of his past bad judgments (vis a vis this kid and drugs) it actually makes him MORE qualified to be "safe schools czar".

I don't care about Jennings sexual orientation ... I would question his judgment if he was trying to facilitate an abortion for an underage girl or telling a kid with a heroin addiction how to score clean needles. His judgment was wrong and being "only 24" is no excuse.

Is it "disqualifying"? In and of itself I would say "no". My concern is that Jennings is just part of a whole glaxay of czars in the Obama universe that have problems that give one pause. It is the sum of the parts that is troubling.

And I found the "product description" on "Queering Elementary Education" both alarming and disturbing -- full of modern "buzzwords" and leftist social-engineering jargon that is more designed as a way to cut parents out of the way as Brave New Citizens are molded. Let's make sure that little girls are forbidden to play house and little boys must sit to pee and tell them if they ever express a preferred desire to marry The Other they are succumbing to heteronormative privilege.

Horsefeathers.

And I say this as the proud mom of a daughter who was a founding member of her highschool's Gay-Straight Alliance.

There's common sense, then there's indoctrination.

I'd venture a guess that Allan Ginsberg is best-known as a poet. I didn't even know he was gay until just now.
Maybe I'm getting a distorted image of Harry Hay because I never heard of him before this controversy, but it seems to me he's best-known as the kind of gay activist who would split with other gay activists because he was adamant about the importance of mainstreaming NAMBLA.
If you say Ted Kaczynski has always inspired you, I think it's reasonable to believe you're not talking about geometric function theory. Same goes for Hay and gay rights.