According to the Politico, Kevin Jennings, Assistant Secretary of Education, is leaving the US Department of Education.
I suspect Mr. Jennings was growing weary of being a “token queer” in administration that is perfectly content to let queer kids die. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know the feds have held a conference on bullying in schools. But the Obama administration has consistently dropped the ball when it comes to queer lives, including and especially the lives of queer children. That Jennings is leaving mid-way through the first term, well, it’s just one more piece of evidence of where things stand.
Thinking Queerly: Schools, politics and culture 
Not to be an Obama apologist (because I agree that the administration is not doing nearly enough to protect LGBT youth from bullying), but the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (which recently welcomed Roberta Achtenberg to its ranks) also held a hearing on bullying (primarily addressing the bullying of sexual minority youth) last week, and I was surprised that Jennings was not invited to testify, although it makes sense in light of his resignation. All four panels are on C-SPAN: http://c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/event.php?id=193763
The Commission is accepting submissions from experts for another 9 days (for 15 days after the hearing), as they make a determination about whether to recommend the passage of a federal bullying prevention statute, so if you have not already submitted something, I encourage you (and other advocates of queer youth) to do so.
By: Adrienne M-S on May 19, 2011
at 5:33 pm