53 House Republicans have signed on to a letter written by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) calling on President Obama to remove openly gay appointee Kevin Jennings from his post in the Department of Education.  Jennings currently serves as Assistant Deputy Secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools.

The letter states Jennings “lacks the appropriate qualifications and ethical standards” deemed necessary by King and the other co-signers.  Citing Jennings’ involvement as founder of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, an organization that works to protect students from bullying and harassment by advancing comprehensive safe schools laws and policies, the letter claims that Jennings advocacy work promotes the “homosexual agenda” and undermines traditional American values.

Here’s a segment of the letter:

As the founder of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), Mr. Jennings has played an integral role in promoting homosexuality and pushing a pro-homosexual agenda in America’s schools-an agenda that runs counter to the values that many parents desire to instill in their children. As evidence of this, Mr. Jennings wrote the foreword for a book titled Queering Elementary Education: Advancing the Dialogue About Sexualities and Schooling. Throughout his career, Mr. Jennings has made it his mission to establish special protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered students to the exclusion of all other students. The totality of Mr. Jennings’ career has been to advocate for public affirmation of homosexuality. There is more to safe and drug free schools than can be accomplished from the narrow view of Mr. Jennings who has, for more than 20 years, almost exclusively focused on promoting the homosexual agenda.

The full letter can be read here.