Kevin Jennings' Legacy: Veteran Teacher Traumatized at Fistgate

Read this eyewitness report on Kevin Jennings' GLSEN-Boston Fistgate Conference in March 2000. Reprinted in its entirety from Massachusetts News.

Veteran Teacher Traumatized at Fistgate

December 2000

This veteran teacher says that if parents believe that keeping their children out of sex-ed classes will prevent the children from hearing and believing the agenda that permeates our schools, they are wrong.

It might make the parent feel good and give a false sense of security that all is okay under his roof. But what about GLSEN's "Integrated Curriculum Plan?" How does a parent remove his child from math, science, English, social studies, and foreign languages when teachers have been taught to plant little contaminated seeds into the fertilized ground of the usual daily lessons?

This teacher's name will not be used for obvious reasons.

The most traumatic experience of my many years in teaching was attending what is now known as the Fistgate Conference at Tufts University last March 25 [2000].

I was not prepared for the overwhelming distress that my body, mind and spirit would suffer. I began by visiting an exhibit booth where a cheerful girl, about 15-years-of-age, generously supplied me with sequin-decorated packets of condoms, which held other paraphernalia including a Band-Aid. (Another eyewitness would later tell me that the girl explained to him that the Band-Aid was in case the sex "got a little rough.")

Despite their "safe sex" public relations campaign, the people who sponsored the event, Gay Lesbian Straight Educators Network, obviously teach minors that sadomasochistic practices are normal. I thought we have laws on the books to prevent such abuse to children, but the governor, courts, and legislature have collectively buried their heads in the sand. It is up to individuals to expose this horrific and overwhelming evidence of massive criminal sexual exploitation of our children. The exhibits were only my first encounters. Suddenly the burden of reporting the evils of this event weighed heavily on my soul. 

Another handout shocked me, not for prurient reasons, but for its painful honesty. The small flier had a phone number for lesbians to call when they have been physically harmed by a partner. Statistics from the gay community bear out the ugly truth that homosexuals are far more abused or accidentally murdered by one of their partners than they ever are by heterosexuals. S & M lives, but its victims do not. 

There is nothing "gay" about these damaging violent relationships. Violent relationships. Yet not one of the sixty workshops addressed this serious hidden problem where youths are bound to be its prey. So much for "safe sex." I doubt that Ted Kennedy's hate crimes bill covers these crimes. 

Massachusetts is Model for National GSAs 

I slouched into the auditorium and sat down among about 300 adults and 200 kids. Just sitting elbow-to-elbow with minors at what I first thought would be an adult-only conference was disconcerting. In all my decades of teaching, I had never before attended any education seminars where students were taught on the same level with veteran teachers. Even before the conference began, I sensed the importance of the adult-child mentorship that is so vital for the "gay agenda" to propagate its divisive and destructive doctrines into the core beliefs of the youth subculture. 

The keynote speaker was the Founder of GLSEN and GSAs, Kevin Jennings. A sort of heroic guru, he was revered and wildly applauded by young and old alike.  Jennings boasted of co-creating in 1988 the country's first two GSAs - both in Massachusetts. In little more than a decade, GSAs now total 700, having doubled their numbers in the last two years. "Students liberated themselves from the closet," Jennings trumpeted. 

Thanks to the well-funded coffers of the Governor's Gay and Lesbian Youth Commission, 188 GSAs thrive in this state alone. (That means that one in four GSAs across the country are organized in Massachusetts.) However, Jennings expressed sadness that almost half of the Commonwealth high schools still have no such club. This indicated to him how much work still must be done.

Make no bones about it; the Commonwealth - with your tax money - is their youth model for the rest of the nation. Our adversaries have set their goal in concrete: a GSA in every high school. According to several published articles I have read, they now have begun to push them into the middle schools. 

"There is [sic] no two sides to this debate. There is a right; there is a wrong. We are right our opponents are wrong," Jennings exulted to his cheering fans. I longed for the good old days - maybe fifteen years ago - when the G & L community said all they were asking for was "tolerance." But there is no tolerance for the Judeo-Christian point of view now that the Governor's Gay and Lesbian Youth Commission dictates its ideology to the mind-controlled masses. They have the nerve to call this "education?"

GLSEN High Priest Twists Scripture 

The son of a Southern Baptist minister, Jennings preached with overt religious exhortations. I wondered how the hundreds of trusting parents who blindly sent their children into this den of government-funded iniquity would feel if they knew that the  state was unabashedly retraining their children. 

How many of these brainwashed teens would return to their families with new "spiritual arguments" to challenge their parents' old-fashioned, moral absolute beliefs of right and wrong? GLSEN's tactics, like those of postmodern liberalism, are simple: 1) mock, tear down and remove the foundational Judeo-Christian morality and the beliefs on which American religious culture was built; and 2) replace the spiritual void with a new "enlightened" religious substitute, masking what is the strategically planned opposing worldview of secular humanism.  (See Humanist Manifesto I and II.) 

I was shocked to hear the "Reverend" Jennings retell the Gospel's story of the widow's mite. The poor widow was blessed by Jesus because she placed all that she had in the temple offering. Jenning's misinterpretation came in the final point as he challenged the audience to political activism: "Are we giving all that we have [to the G & L movement]? Probably most of us could do more." Jennings' congregation listened intently. Several workshop presenters later echoed his do-more-for-the-cause exhortation.

Not one listener even raised an eyebrow to question High Priest Jennings' twisted scripture. I recorded his religious rhetoric, only the first of many such references I would encounter during the conference. It appears that GLSEN advocates, who were spouting pagan or secular dogma a decade ago, have now adopted more culturally acceptable religious overtones. I wondered if even the youth brought up in the church would be able to discern the difference between GLSEN's designer-deity garbage from the sweet fruits of God's absolute truth.

Jennings' Vision at Press Conference in 1993 

I flashed back to my notes of the June 30, 1993 press conference when a then unknown Jennings outlined his gay-youth vision and introduced the first 25 GLSEN "teacher trainers" to the public. They were christened by the Massachusetts Teachers Association and the Massachusetts Department of Education. Seven years ago he proclaimed: "The teacher training program we're announcing tonight is extremely ambitious...in terms of its scope in that it will reach every city, town, and village in Massachusetts....We hold these truths to be self-evident that all people are created equal...It's time our schools took these words to heart and made them a reality in the classroom, on the playing field and in the hallways. This training program rests on two essential assumptions. First, we must understand that homophobia prevents students from learning the way they should...Secondly, we must understand that serving gay and lesbian students is not optional..."

Referring to the foreseeable religious objections by parents and teachers of faith, Jennings added in 1993, "All they are doing is claiming personal objections or religious beliefs as an excuse.... I would like to take a moment here to address the complaint by religious groups who feel that our program violates their religious beliefs and therefore is inappropriate. In case people have forgotten, I'd like to remind us all that there is separation of church and state in this country, and that religious beliefs cannot...dictate state policy." The audience wildly applauded their approval.

My memory of the unique location of this 1993 press conference serves me well. Following Jennings' speech to much fanfare, Governor William Weld entered the sanctuary and spoke from the pulpit of the Arlington Street Unitarian Universalist Church on Boston Common. Kevin Jennings and his entourage in the Governor's Gay and Lesbian Youth Commission are blind to their own hypocrisy. They selectively omit any church-state separation arguments when the most extreme left-wing religious organizations and tenets can serve their purposes.

Not All Teens Express "Gay-ity" 

After Jenning's speech, I attended the first workshop (which was recorded by Scott Whiteman and reported in Massachusetts News). By lunchtime, I was too emotionally drained to converse with other participants. So I sat apart and silently observed these beautiful and profoundly confused young people. I speculated where their initial steps onto these wayward paths might eventually lead them on life's journey. 

Many of the youths, who were bussed in from dozens of local high schools, were outwardly jubilant. Some greeted each other with same-sex hugs and mouth-to-mouth friendly kisses as they recognized familiar faces in a crowded cafe. The gay and lesbian adult community has provided these kids with a sense of belonging and acceptance, a sense of purpose for their rebellious "whatever" lifestyles. Like all teens, these children - tossed in the insecure throes of adolescence - long for meaningful relationships, caring for others and being cared for in return. 

Not all the youths expressed "gay-ity." One frail, round-shouldered young man caught my eye.  Dressed androgynously with a girl's triangular kerchief tied around his head, he played with skimpy portions of rice and vegetables, then finally pushed the tray away. His eyes and cheeks were hollow, and he looked the classic case of anorexia. "He's starving for much more than food," I thought.  His image further depresses me. 

The handsome young man with delicate features stared from one end of the table observing the animated banterings of the other guys who wolfed down their mounded plates. He was the picture of loneliness lost in a crowd, trying to fit in somewhere. His heart hungered to belong and his soul was running on empty. His tightly-closed negative body language hid a silent story of pain and rejection.  His emotional level registered numb. Throughout the entire lunchtime, not one of the peers acknowledged his presence.  His portrait is framed in my mind.  I've titled it "hopeless." 

Grand Finale: Student Monologues 

I took copious notes at two more workshops, then headed back to the auditorium for the finale performance. A disclaimer warned the audience that offensive language would be used in these original student monologues. However, I was not prepared to hear graphic details of their homosexual encounters, communicated in poetic, literary and comedic forms. 

After six hours of mentally absorbing the propaganda of a lifestyle contrary and perverse to nature, my mind was shutting down. I vaguely remember introductory remarks by the gay playwright who coached the performers. A quartet of two boys and two girls took turns dramatizing their scripts without the least hint of inhibition. I remembered thinking, "These kids are really talented. If only someone would guide them with a moral compass to channel their energy into wholesome outlets. If only ..." 

Their fast-paced deliveries were frequently interrupted by boisterous hoots and howls from an enthusiastic audience of mostly teens. (Educators did not receive DOE-approved re-certification credits for the finale, so most of them had left.) Yet, in the shadows I saw somebody's mother or perhaps a curious teacher reacting with negative body language when the more shocking passages pierced her ears. She was not happy, but would she dare register her complaints with those in power? Fat chance. 

I just was not "getting" much of the humor or points that the teen quartet took turns sharing with full abandon. But the audience responded uproariously to sexual innuendo that zapped over my head. The youthful actors were connecting with peers because both had experienced or eroticized similar sexually promiscuous encounters in their short lives.

Two parts stand out in my memory. One girl spoke in triple-X terms of her lesbian affair with an older woman on the desert sands. She entitled it, "Lizard Woman." I wondered why no one ever told this minor that she had been statutorily raped, even if her liaison was consensual. 

Another young man interrupted his monologue to play an original composition on the piano. I relaxed, thinking how gifted and un-sexualized this kid was.  Suddenly, he stood up from the bench, and - still playing - simulated masturbation with the edge of the keyboard. The audience responded raucously. Despite all I had experienced in the last six hours, I was still shocked by this raunchy, socially unacceptable behavior. Apparently, this composition was his interpretation of self-stimulation. "Has this young man already joined the ranks of those who are addicted to cybersex?" I feared. 

Since I have never attended a show for "Adults Only," I guessed that this finale was a good example of one. But these are kids! Where are the police to protect them from such a criminal exploitation? If this auditorium at Tufts had been zoned for adult entertainment in any Massachusetts town, GLSEN would have had to apply for alicense. The sensibilities of common citizens would not allow such establishments anywhere near children. 

But here our tax dollars are supporting profanity, obscenity, and lewd and lascivious conduct "by minors" and "for minors!" Governor Cellucci, the state Board of Education, and the DOE have not even called for a full investigation of Fistgate. Based on the accumulating evidence, they should be booked for conspiring in crimes against children. Being part of the educational system, are they not all "mandatory reporters" wherever child abuse is suspected? Where is the DSS when you need them to uncover bona fide sex crimes en masse against children? 

A man with a video camera recorded the whole show. I wondered if these kids would end up on a porno flick. Someone once told me that since these obscenities occurred in an educational setting, there is a Massachusetts law that protects garbage as "free speech."  Then why do we not change such a ridiculous law? If I showed young people that videotape of Fistgate in my home, I would be arrested!

Lost Children of GLSEN 

My journey into the secret depths of Fistgate was almost more than I could endure.  Descending into this Demonic Dungeon of Darkness was bearable only because God's "still small voice" assured me that this institutionalized evil had to be exposed to the light of day.

As in the days of Esther, a few of us are called for "such a time as this."  Some must be the risk-takers and emissaries of truth in order to deliver God's innocent children from impending annihilation.  "My only agenda," I anonymously told the principal in Acushnet last summer, "is to save children from all harm and danger." (See Acushnet school stories in July and August issues of Massachusetts News.) He agreed with me. That was his agenda, too.  (Principal John Tavares's courageous decision to eliminate the homosexual component from the students' anti-prejudice projects of the Holocaust curriculum bears this out.)

More than a week after Fistgate, I still could not get a restful night's sleep. Like a recurring nightmare that torments one's soul, I was haunted by the trusting faces of these bewildered kids - the Lost Children of GLSEN - cycloning in my head. 

I was gazing into the future faces of death, for surely some of these GLSEN-ized teens will not live to see 30. The unhealthy homosexual practices (for which Fistgate was named) will spread personal tragedy to them and their families and then spiral down further to destroy society. Disease and emotional pain and suffering will eventually enslave their bodies and souls, eradicating any trace of "gay-ity" that comforts them now in the gay and lesbian initiation rituals. We will learn the tragic follies from Fistgate Fallout as the years unfold. 

Our children have been fed a deadly lie, with dollars deceptively drawn from our own pockets. This conference offered no more than unbridled sexual license pandered by a death-seducing skeleton in place of what young people are actually desiring - loving relationships that last for a lifetime. 

But the real devastation is yet to come. Hundreds of unsuspecting kids who have never heard of this conference will fall into the GLSEN trap every day of the school year. Remember Kevin Jennings' keynote sermon? With missionary zeal, he inspired teachers and students to carry the Holy Grail or the GLSEN Crusade into every pocket of society. 

Simply keeping your own children out of these workshops and sex-ed classes in health will not prevent them from hearing and believing the lies that already permeate every institution in our culture. Signing a permission slip to remove your child from a questionable assembly program might make you feel good and give you a false sense of security that all is okay under your roof. 

But what about GLSEN's "Integrated Curriculum Plan?" How does a concerned, knowledgeable parent remove his child from math, science, English, social studies, and foreign languages when teachers have been taught to plant little contaminated seeds into the fertilized ground of the usual daily lessons? These bad seeds will metastasize later into a full-scale sexual scourge that destroys the most vulnerable minds and bodies of our kids.

I do not know how my beloved teaching profession has sunk to such a gutter of depravity in only 12 years since the first GSA was organized. I only know that enough good people have done nothing to stop the lies and deceptions from spreading from town to town when this plague was nothing more than a sneeze.

GLSEN's scourge will only cease from demolishing more children when enough good people declare war and expose the enemies for the liars they really are.

The days ahead will not be easy. Rest assured, any citizen who counters the status quo by running for public office, any parent who dares to defy the ideological lies integrated in the school curriculum will be castigated and subjected to other incivilities. Get used to it. You have plenty of company, and the ranks are growing every day. Your kids are worth it.

Take heart. Remember that our children do not belong to GLSEN, the Department of Education, the National Education Association, the U.S. Government, the United Nations or the devil himself. They legally and biblically still belong to you - the parents. And there are a lot more of us than there are of them.

[Search archival articles on Fistgate in Massachusetts News.]