February 19, 1997

Kevin Jennings, Executive Director of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Teachers Networks, lectured in Sanders Auditorium on “Teaching Respect for All: Why Schools Must Address Issues of Sexual Orientation.” The founder, while a student at Concord Academy, of the first gay-straight alliance, Jennings co-founded the Gay and Lesbian Independent School Teacher Network (GLISTeN) in Boston in 1990 and was the principle author of “Making Schools Safe for Gay & Lesbian Youth,” a report from the Governor’s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth which was the basis, in 1993, for the Massachusetts law that was the first in the United States prohibiting public school discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Jenning’s book, Becoming Visible: A Reader in Gay and Lesbian History for High School and College Students was published in 1993, and in 2009, United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan appointed Jennings as Assistant Deputy Secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools.