Well look at this! We were totally right — it happens sometimes — and conservatives are firing up their attacks on Kevin Jennings, the nation's gay "safe school czar." And they're using terms like "statutory rape." How timely!

Jennings once lived life as a closeted school teacher. And, at the time — 1988 — a student told Jennings that he had consensual sex with an "older man" in a public bathroom. Jennings told the student to use a condom and later wrote in his book, that the student "left my office with a smile on his face that I would see every time I saw him on the campus for the next two years, until he graduated."

Now, perhaps inspired by all the hoopla over Roman Polanski's arrest, the right's throwing it all back in Jennings' face. The Washington Times editorialized this week:

In this one case in which Mr. Jennings had a real chance to protect a young boy from a sexual predator, he not only failed to do what the law required but actually encouraged the relationship.
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His job in the Obama administration is to ensure student safety, and this scandal directly calls into question his ability to perform that job. Mr. Jennings and Obama administration officials refuse to answer any questions about this newly discovered evidence. A lot of Americans want answers about this guy and how he was approved for a job in the White House.

The paper also claims that Jennings "has made extremely radical statements promoting homosexuality in schools," an allusion to Jennings work as the founder of Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, which tries to teach America's little punks that gay folk and straight folk are the same. How radical.

Sensing backlash on the horizon, Jennings released a statement today expressing his regret over the situation:

Twenty one years later I can see how I should have handled this situation differently. I should have asked for more information and consulted legal or medical authorities. Teachers back then had little training or guidance about this kind of thing. All teachers should have a basic level of preparedness. I would like to see the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools play a bigger role in helping to prepare teachers.

As we all know, though, White House critics are not that easily deterred. Sean Hannity tonight used his show to claim that Jennings "covered up a statutory rape" and called for him to be fired:

Now, as The Washington Times said, 'At the very least, statutory rape occurred,' and he didn't report it. Now he's saying that he made a mistake, only because it's been reported on. My question is, where's the vetting process? Why was he even put in this position?

Duh! Because Obama's a socialist who wants to destroy this once-great nation by working with anarchists and fags and all sorts of other bad people. Why do people even have to ask?

But, seriously, if all these people are so concerned about the nation's youth, focus your energies on examining why a gay kid would feel the only sexual outlet he can find comes from anonymous sex in a bathroom. Demonizing Jennings — and his gayness — will only teach younger readers and viewers that same-sex loving's nothing but trouble.