Kevin Jennings, the founder and former head of the activist Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), has been named assistant deputy secretary at the Department of Education after serving on President Barack Obama's campaign.

Family advocates expect Jennings to take his activist agenda with him to his new post in the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools.

“At GLSEN, he was very much an activist, and now we’re going to see him much more of an activist, but this time with the imprimatur of the federal government,” said Dick Carpenter, an education professor at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

Candi Cushman, education analyst at Focus on the Family Action, said Jennings likely will control funding for recently proposed federal legislation — the Safe Schools Improvement Act — that would force many public schools to add pro-gay policies to their discipline codes.

— Steve Jordahl of citizenlink.com

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