32 Facts About Kevin Jennings

Kevin Brett Jennings was born on May 8,1963 and is an American educator, author, and administrator.

Kevin Jennings became a teacher and was named one of fifty "Terrific Teachers Making a Difference" by the Edward Calesa Foundation; he came out as gay to his students.

Kevin Jennings has authored seven books, including one which won the Lambda Literary Award.

Kevin Jennings was the youngest of five children to Chester Henry, an itinerant Southern Baptist preacher, and Alice Verna Jennings.

Kevin Jennings's family was poor and constantly moved around the South as his father sought a permanent post.

Kevin Jennings's father died when Jennings was eight and the family was living in a Lewisville, North Carolina, trailer park.

Kevin Jennings became a high school history teacher, first at Moses Brown School in Providence, Rhode Island, from 1985 to 1987, and then at Concord Academy in Concord, Massachusetts, from 1987 to 1995, where he was chair of the history department.

Kevin Jennings then co-founded the Gay and Lesbian Independent School Teacher Network in Boston in 1990, to address the problems facing LGBT students.

In 1992, Kevin Jennings was appointed by Governor William Weld to co-chair the Education Committee of the Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth.

In 1993, Kevin Jennings was named a Joseph Klingenstein Fellow at Columbia University's Teachers College, from which he received his master's degree in interdisciplinary studies in education in 1994.

Kevin Jennings moved GLSTN to New York to accompany his studying, and decided to make the organization national in scope.

In both 1995 and 1996, Kevin Jennings was in Out magazine's list of "Top 100 Newsmakers and Earthshakers".

Kevin Jennings has published six books on gay rights and education.

Kevin Jennings's works have described his own past as a closeted gay student.

Three days later, the caucus ousted Lenning as chairwoman over her stance against gays, and later that month The Washington Times published a letter from Kevin Jennings saying the accusations were hurtful, inaccurate and potentially libelous.

Kevin Jennings is a lifelong, avid ice hockey fan, who has played in the New York City Gay Hockey Association.

In 2008, Kevin Jennings spoke out against the practice of homophobic chants from fans at New York Rangers home games, and stopped his practice of regularly attending their games for about a month.

Kevin Jennings was a founding member of the advisory board for You Can Play, a campaign dedicated to fighting homophobia in sports.

Kevin Jennings stepped down as head of GLSEN as of August 2008.

Kevin Jennings's office has awarded safety grants worth millions of dollars.

Kevin Jennings specifically led the development of the Safe and Supportive Schools program, which utilized student survey data to analyze school safety and direct grants to those schools identified by students as facing the biggest challenges.

In September 2010 Kevin Jennings became one of the notable members of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, a public-private partnership designed to advance and update the 2001 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention and an outgrowth of the Suicide Prevention Resource Center.

On May 19,2011, the Boston-based nonprofit organization Be the Change, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, announced that Kevin Jennings would be resigning his position with the Obama administration and on July 25 he would become president and chief executive officer of the organization.

Kevin Jennings was praised for his perseverance and effectiveness in the face of early criticism.

From 2008 to 2013, Kevin Jennings served as board chair for the Tectonic Theater Project, creators of The Laramie Project.

Kevin Jennings served on the board of the Harvard Alumni Association from 2008 to 2014, becoming only its second openly gay elected director in 2008.

Kevin Jennings founded First Generation Harvard Alumni, an alumni association of graduates who were the first in their families to attend college which offers mentorship and other support and advocacy services for current first-generation students at Harvard.

From 2009 to 2015, Kevin Jennings served on the board of Union Theological Seminary, where he chaired the Development Committee and served on the executive committee.

Kevin Jennings received the Distinguished Service to American Education Award of the National Association of Secondary School Principals in 2007.

Kevin Jennings received the Diversity Leadership Award of the National Association of Independent Schools in 2008.

In 2010 Kevin Jennings was elected by his classmates to be Chief Marshal of the 2010 Harvard Commencement.

Kevin Jennings was honored by another of his alma maters, Columbia University's Teachers College, with its Distinguished Alumni Award in 2012.