Long before Kevin Jennings began advocating to end anti-GLBT bias in schools, he was a victim of it. In Mama’s Boy, Preacher’s Son, Jennings traces the roots of his activism to his school days in the conservative South, where “faggot” became more familiar to him than his own name. Creating safe schools for all youth is now a central part of the progressive agenda in American education, and Kevin Jennings is at the forefront of that fight. Mama’s Boy, Preacher’s Son was featured in People, Newsweek, Entertainment Weekly, and other national media.

“Kevin Jennings’s story brought me to tears again and again.” —Martin Moran, author of The Tricky Part: One Boy’s Fall from Trespass into Grace

“Kevin Jennings’s moving story takes us from the trailer parks of North Carolina to the halls of Harvard and meetings in the White House—and yet it is the most personal moments he dares to share that speak to our souls and teach the power of education.” —Bob Chase, president emeritus, National Education Association

A selection of the InsightOut Book Club

Kevin Jennings is the founder and executive director of GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, a national education organization working to make schools places where young people learn to value and respect everyone, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. He lives in New York with his partner.

“Horatio Alger meets Dorothy Allison in this debut memoir about growing up and coming out . . . Generous and illuminating.”



Kirkus Reviews, Starred

Kevin Jennings taught high school in New England after graduating from Harvard and is best known for his work creating safe schools for LGBT students. In 1988, Jennings helped establish the nation's first Gay-Straight Alliance for students, and in 1990 he founded GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network, to bring together teachers, parents, students, and community members to end anti-LGBT bias in schools. Mr. Jennings led GLSEN to success in making Massachusetts the first state in the nation to outlaw discrimination against public school students on the basis of sexual orientation, and he helped establish the Safe Schools Program for Gay & Lesbian Students. Under Jennings's guidance, GLSEN has become a national education and civil rights organization with a presence in all fifty states. Newsweek named him one of a hundred people to watch in the new century. Jennings tours extensively and makes frequent media appearances as an advocate and spokesperson for LGBT youth. The author of One Teacher in Ten and Always My Child: A Parent's Guide to Understanding Your Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender or Questioning Son or Daughter, Jennings also wrote and produced the historical documentary Out of the Past, which won the 1998 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary.

Publisher: Beacon
Imprint: Beacon Press
Distributor: Houghton Mifflin Company
Publication Date: 06-15-2007
Measurements: 0.85lb