Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son—A Memoir of Growing Up, Coming Out and Changing America

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.