Rep. Steve King Peddles Old Lie That "Safe Schools Czar" Jennings Ignored "Sexual Abuse"

December 17, 2009 1:10 pm ET

In October, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) joined the far-right's homophobic smear campaign against Kevin Jennings, who heads up the Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools. More than two months later, King has renewed his false attacks, which have been thoroughly debunked by Media Matters and CNN.

Rep. Steve King Lies AGAIN About Kevin Jennings

Rep. Steve King:

Mr. Jennings' record proves that he is unfit to serve as the "Safe Schools Czar." My colleagues and I, along with the American people, deserve to know why Mr. Jennings is still serving in your Administration, despite his lack of appropriate qualifications or ethical standards. Mr. Jennings has a history of pushing a pro-homosexual agenda in America's schools, ignoring the sexual abuse of a child, supporting inappropriate sexual relationships between adults and children, using illegal drugs without regret and facilitating certain types of sexual behavior by children. Mr. Jennings must be removed from his position as the "Safe Schools Czar" immediately. [King Letter to Obama, via The Hill, 12/16/09; emphasis added]

In Reality, No Sexual Contact Occurred & The "Child" Was Of Age

CNN Debunked This Exact Smear Months Earlier. As reported by CNN:

Conservative groups charge that Jennings, who is openly gay, condoned statutory rape and child molestation. That's in reference to an incident in 1988 when Jennings, who was a teacher at the time, did not tell authorities that a 16-year-old student revealed to Jennings that he'd had sex with an older man.

Now that former student is speaking out for the first time and telling CNN he did not have sex with that man at all. He did not elaborate on what he told Jennings at the time. Jennings could not be reached for comment late Friday.

In a statement obtained by CNN, the former student, who wanted to be called Brewster, wrote: "Since I was of legal consent at the time, the 15-minute conversation I had with Mr. Jennings 21 years ago is of nobody's concern but his and mine. However, since the Republican noise machine is so concerned about my 'well-being' and that of America's students, they'll be relieved to know that I was not 'inducted' into homosexuality, assaulted, raped, or sold into sexual slavery."

[...]

Critics contend that Brewster was 15 at the time of the incident. But CNN has obtained a copy of Brewster's driver's license which verifies he was 16 at the time. The legal age of consent for sexual activities in Massachusetts is 16. [CNN, 10/2/09; emphasis added]

From MediaMatters.org:

The former student at the center of the Fox News fueled Jennings controversy has provided Media Matters for America with the following statement:

Since I was of legal consent at the time, the fifteen-minute conversation I had with Mr. Jennings twenty-one years ago is of nobody's concern but his and mine. However, since the Republican noise machine is so concerned about my "well-being" and that of America's students, they'll be relieved to know that I was not "inducted" into homosexuality, assaulted, raped, or sold into sexual slavery.

In 1988, I had taken a bus home for the weekend, and on the return trip met someone who was also gay. The next day, I had a conversation with Mr. Jennings about it. I had no sexual contact with anybody at the time, though I was entirely legally free to do so. I was a sixteen year-old going through something most of us have experienced: adolescence. I find it regrettable that the people who have the compassion and integrity to protect our nation's students are themselves in need of protection from homophobic smear attacks. Were it not for Mr. Jennings' courage and concern for my well-being at that time in my life, I doubt I'd be the proud gay man that I am today.

- Brewster

From MediaMatters.org:

Media Matters for America has exclusively obtained the Massachusetts drivers' license of the student confirming that at the time of the incident, he was at least sixteen years of age -- the legal age of consent in Massachusetts.

Jennings' 2006 memoir, Mama's Boy, Preachers Son, makes clear that he began teaching at Concord Academy, the student in questions school, in late August or September 1987.

The following scanned image of the student's current drivers' license has been heavily redacted to protect his identity.