The Center for American Progress, the liberal think tank close to the Obama administration, has posted a blog entry headlined “Obama Stands By His LGBT Nominees Under Attack From the Right.” The Center says that President Obama, in his speech to the Human Rights Campaign Saturday night, “strongly reiterated his support” for Kevin Jennings, head of the Education Department’s Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, as well as for Chai Feldblum, a lesbian law professor nominated to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — although Obama did not mention either Jennings or Feldblum by name.
This is the passage from Obama’s speech in which the Center says the president “strongly reiterated his support” for Jennings:
We’re pushing hard to pass an inclusive employee non-discrimination bill. For the first time ever, an administration official testified in Congress in favor of this law. Nobody in America should be fired because they’re gay, despite doing a great job and meeting their responsibilities. It’s not fair, it’s not right, we’re going to put a stop to it. And it’s for this reason if any of my nominees are attacked not for what they believe but for who they are, I will not waver in my support because I will not waver in my commitment to ending discrimination in all its forms. [emphasis added]
Is that a strong expression of support for Obama’s unnamed nominees? Or is it a carefully-worded statement in which Obama left wide open the possibility of sacking administration officials “for what they believe”?
Jennings has come under heavy criticism from many conservatives for, among other things, his work to introduce gay themes into the nation’s classrooms, including elementary schools; the foreword he wrote for a book entitled Queering Elementary Education; his lack of experience in school safety and drug issues; some of the work of the organization he founded, the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network; and his handling of an incident in 1988 in which, as a high school teacher, Jennings was approached by a sophomore boy who confided that he had become involved with an older man. Jennings’ supporters claim he is under attack because he is gay, but the White House could conclude that Jennings’ beliefs, as put into action throughout his career, are not appropriate for the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools. Couldn’t the administration then push Jennings out — without violating a word of Obama’s lawyerly pledge to the Human Rights Campaign?
