Jennifer Kerns was hired last month to the position of Communications Director for the Yes on 8 campaign, the folks behind the California initiative to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry.
Five short years ago, Jennifer Kerns was Vice President of External Affairs for the Orange County Young Republicans. What follows is the tale of two rallies, told in photos from two events that Ms. Kerns organized back in the days before gay marriage had emerged as the primary threat to our republic.
Yes, that is a photo of Ms. Kerns – demonstrating that she can name the five branches of the US military: Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and … SWAT? Or maybe she’s just sporting her club’s official cap: Single White Angry Tools.
The photo is from March 15, 2003, presumably sometime between noon and 2 pm.
Jennifer and her crew braved the bad weather together. If the rain was pouring that day, let it be noted that the Young Republican creative juices were absolutely flowing …
I’ll see your Sean Penn and raise you a love-it-or-leave-it …
Note the partially obscured “Don’t be a useful idiot” sign …
And thus an otherwise wonderful (if wet) Saturday afternoon was spent at the corner of Bristol and Anton.
In fact, such a good time was had by all that Ms. Kerns decided to go for broke and schedule back-to-back weekends of calling Costa Mesa to repentance for its well-known lack of patriotic fervor.
As always, let’s start with Jennifer’s contribution. Here she is one week later …
America = freedom. Unless you’re gay. And want to get married. Anyway, thank God that’s no concern of mine. Me, I’d just appreciate a little more attention to spelling …
Cue ‘snickering Beavis and Butthead’ audio …
Exposing what Bush really meant by ‘Axis of Evil’: Apparently Democrats are next once the Grim Reaper gets done ‘coming’ for Saddam …
‘Honk if you Hate’ …
Peace protesters are EVIL …
I wonder what’s stopping this angry couple from just enlisting already ? …
The return of ‘Don’t be a useful Idiot’ …
I happen to agree with the “don’t be a useful idiot” sign, and only wish that Jennifer could’ve taken that admonition to heart five years ago. If she had, she might not have become the tool of a hateful, angry, mean-spirited campaign like Yes on 8 that attempts to vilify and marginalize other Americans.
I regret if the narrow focus here on Jennifer comes off as a bit harsh, but she was already thirty-something when she organized these rallies – plenty grown-up enough to be held to account for allowing such hateful messaging. Sadly, I suspect that, more than anything, these rallies represented an exercise in credibility-building for Ms. Kerns – just a couple more points of reference in her portfolio of ‘aggressive communication’ in the service of her party’s agenda …
Anti-gay politics continue to drive Don Wildmon’s American Family Association
“Jennifer is a valuable asset to the Yes on Proposition 8 team, whose experience with high-profile media efforts will be instrumental in the campaign to protect marriage,” said Jeff Flint, Co-Campaign Manager for the Initiative. “Her skills as an aggressive communicator, combined with her track record with the press, will be a tremendous addition to the team.”
Fair enough, Jeff, but is Jennifer even married?
Does she have children?
You’ve made Jennifer the lead spokeswoman for a campaign to deny the benefits of marriage to real parents raising real kids. I’m straight, married, and like to think my wife and I are raising a couple of great kids. If you’re going to convince me to deny the benefits of marriage to gay parents, I’d hope you could find – not only an ‘aggressive communicator’ – but someone who also brings some personal experience with caring for a family of their own.
In other words, how about Jennifer leaving the business of “protecting marriage” to those of us who’ve actually chosen marriage?
