On The DL

Kevin Jennings

by Drew Lazor

Wed., Sept. 27, 5:30 p.m., Giovanni's Room, 345 S. 12th St., 215-923-2960, www.giovannisroom.com

Growing up gay in North Carolina, Kevin Jennings had it tough. But the celebrated educator and Harvard scholar knows that discrimination isn't limited to a single region.

Jennings, founder of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), will visit Giovanni's Room to read from Mama's Son, Preacher's Boy (Beacon Press), a memoir about living as a homosexual in the deeply Christian South. The work tackles Jennings' rise from poverty and tragedy to success in the Ivy League.

As a proudly "progressive" town, Philly ostensibly exists as a liberal foil to the red states. But Jennings believes geography and ideology are incompatible variables.

"No city, state or region has a monopoly on tolerance, nor on bigotry," he says. "I think it is inaccurate … to posit places as 'good' and 'bad,' as it can lead to complacency in 'good' places where there is still much work to be done."

By the "work," he means upholding GLSEN's mission: protecting LGBT youth from all forms of prejudice. "I am the product of a particular time and place, and that affects my story," he adds. "But in a country where three out of four LGBT students are routinely verbally, physically or sexually harassed at school, we've got work to do everywhere."