Have you called your high school yet to ask the principal if there will be a homosexual propaganda assault -- deceptively named the "Day of Silence" -- this Wednesday, April 26? And if there will be, why hasn't he informed parents of this event which promotes homosexuality, bisexuality, and transgenderism? Massachusetts law (Ch. 71, Sec. 32A) requires parental notification, and ability to opt out their children when human sexuality issues are brought up in the schools.
The principals will surely tell you that it's a student-run event and not part of the curriculum. This is a lie. The event is run by the radical, national GLBT advocacy group GLSEN, and supported by school administrations. (See quote below -- from the horse's mouth.) If you wonder about this claim, ask yourself if Operation Rescue would be allowed to have day of civil disobedience promoting the pro-life cause.
We've published the list of high schools with gay clubs ("Gay-Straight Alliances"), based on GLSEN's list from last year, newspaper accounts, and our own first-hand knowledge, and GLSEN's national website posts a list of Massachusetts high school clubs. The Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth will not answer our request for an up-to-date list, and the Mass. Dept. of Education Safe Schools office plays ignorant. The Governor's office said they'd help us get this list two weeks ago, but we've still not received anything.
According to Bay Windows, "[I]n 2001 ... GLSEN took charge of the event. Under GLSEN’s leadership the Day of Silence quickly expanded to thousands of high schools across the country and became GLSEN’s signature event. ... Sean Haley, executive director of GLSEN Boston, said he expects students at between 125-150 schools in the state to take part in the event this year. He said schools in the Boston area have been honoring the Day of Silence since GLSEN first took over planning the event in 2001. [emphasis added]
Monday, April 24, 2006
Sunday, April 23, 2006
False Report in Bay Windows Corrected
Bay Windows tried to make MassResistance/Article 8 appear ineffectual, publishing a "news story" that a protest against the concert by the Boston Gay Men's Chorus at the Concord-Carlisle High School "fizzled". Well, MassResistance/Article 8 never called for a demonstration! Bay Windows did run our correction in their "Letters to the Editor" column this week:
How not to celebrate Palm Sunday
The headline (see “Article 8 Protest of Boston Gay Men’s Chorus Fizzles,” April 13) states that Article 8 called for a protest of the BGMC concert at Concord-Carlisle HS on Sunday, April 9.
They did no such thing.
Article 8 supporters would not turn out for a protest on Palm Sunday. The idea of that concert on that day was so repugnant that no one would go anywhere near it! We were simply getting the news out that the event was on the calendar. Many people then contacted the school administrators.
Please correct your misleading headline and story.
Charles Liung, MassResistance
[Bay Windows] Editor’s note: Bay Windows would never presume to understand how the members of a group like Article 8/MassResistance celebrate religious holidays like Palm Sunday.
How not to celebrate Palm Sunday
The headline (see “Article 8 Protest of Boston Gay Men’s Chorus Fizzles,” April 13) states that Article 8 called for a protest of the BGMC concert at Concord-Carlisle HS on Sunday, April 9.
They did no such thing.
Article 8 supporters would not turn out for a protest on Palm Sunday. The idea of that concert on that day was so repugnant that no one would go anywhere near it! We were simply getting the news out that the event was on the calendar. Many people then contacted the school administrators.
Please correct your misleading headline and story.
Charles Liung, MassResistance
[Bay Windows] Editor’s note: Bay Windows would never presume to understand how the members of a group like Article 8/MassResistance celebrate religious holidays like Palm Sunday.
Saturday, April 22, 2006
"Surrender with Dignity" Conservatives
MassResistance just received a letter from "Focus on the Family Action" center, wherein we're urged to participate in VoteOnMarriage's lobbying push for its flawed amendment (prior to the anticipated May 10 Constitutional Convention). If you've been following this blog, you'll know we have grave reservations about this proposed amendment.
If you're still in doubt about this, read the latest from John Haskins (below). And in case you missed it, check out Haskins' WorldNetDaily article (Dec. 2005) revealing the truth on how homosexual "marriage" actually came about in Massachusetts: Conservative Romney Buckles and Blunders."
Are the "Surrender with Dignity" Conservatives leading us over a cliff?
By John Haskins
The colossal resources being put into ratifying a new Massachusetts marriage amendment are based on a complete misunderstanding of the void legal and constitutional status of Governor Romney's homosexual "marriages". This proposed amendment faces possibly insurmountable obstacles. If it fails, it will break the spirit of many grassroots activists who are sacrificing much in the desperate hope that this amendment would restore moral sanity and legal order to Massachusetts.
This amendment -- if it somehow gets past a politically and morally debauched legislature -- would ignore the phony homosexual "marriages" that now violate the laws of Massachusetts. This is largely unknown to many of the pro-family activists who have been asked to sacrifice time and money in order to roll the wrong boulder up the wrong hill. This amendment would enshrine the principle that our laws and our state Constitution are subject to judges and governors striking them down, when they have the Boston Globe -- and the obsessively pro-establishment pro-family groups -- "Vichy Christians" (as one national pro-family political consultant has called them) -- handling the cover-up for a supposed "conservative" governor. This governor, Mitt Romney, has sponsored a gay youth pride parade, has called pro-family activists "right-wing religious bigots", and tried to banish the anti-homosexuality Boy Scouts from the Winter Olympics in 2002.
All of the major players in this Massachusetts fraud know that Gov. Romney's homosexual "marriages" are illegal. Gov. Romney knows it. His advisors know it. Much of the state legislature knows it. Many homosexual activists know it. The homosexual activists editing the Boston Globe know it. The four judges who tried to trick the legislature into legalizing homosexual "marriage" know it.
So -- almost everyone understands the fraud -- except the "Vichy Christians." They seem to believe that if a governor is handsome enough and clean-cut enough and looks pro-family, then he must be on "our side" -- even if he ordered state officials to either violate their oaths to uphold the law (which remains one-man, one-woman) or resign. For some bizarre reason, "Matinee Mitt" just couldn't wait to see if the Legislature would agree with the four judges and change the law to legalize homosexual "marriages." "Our side" signed an unconditional surrender when they accepted the legality of Gov. Romney's illegal homosexual "marriage" licenses.
Gov. Romney's order violated the laws of the Commonwealth and the people's Constitution. If the Governor had had the constitutional authority to act, the four Supreme Judicial Court justices would have told him to! They did not. They told the legislature to change the law, which as the judges knew, is the only way that homosexual "marriage" could gain any measure of legality. They legislature did not change the law! [In fact, there is a bill pending, sponsored by the homosexual lobby, to do just that, proving they know it's still not legal! -MR]
So Gov. Romney solved the problem: He ordered state officials to violate the law. If Mike Dukakis or another Democrat governor had done this, he never could have gotten away with it. If Gov. Weld, Cellucci, or Swift had done this, they could never have gotten away with it. But because a handsome, churchy-looking governor did it, all the while protesting that he really, really, really hated doing it [but "had to uphold the law" -MR], most of our side signed up for the fox's campaign to keep the wolves out of the chicken house.
A further note: One of the most prominent pro-family leaders behind this amendment told me three months ago, "You're right. We need a strategy." [Admitting: "And we don't have one." -MR] This was already several years into the battle. But do you really need a battle strategy after you've surrendered the whole war?
Again, please read the article on WorldNetDaily [from this past December].
MassResistance note: Strategies were initiated by Article 8 Alliance which would have attacked the core of the problem -- judicial tyranny, as well as targeting the Governor's proposed actions on issuance of "marriage" certificates. Why did the "Vichy Christians" refuse to join that effort to remove the judges, as well as pressure the Governor to withhold "marriage" licenses?
If you're still in doubt about this, read the latest from John Haskins (below). And in case you missed it, check out Haskins' WorldNetDaily article (Dec. 2005) revealing the truth on how homosexual "marriage" actually came about in Massachusetts: Conservative Romney Buckles and Blunders."
Are the "Surrender with Dignity" Conservatives leading us over a cliff?
By John Haskins
The colossal resources being put into ratifying a new Massachusetts marriage amendment are based on a complete misunderstanding of the void legal and constitutional status of Governor Romney's homosexual "marriages". This proposed amendment faces possibly insurmountable obstacles. If it fails, it will break the spirit of many grassroots activists who are sacrificing much in the desperate hope that this amendment would restore moral sanity and legal order to Massachusetts.
This amendment -- if it somehow gets past a politically and morally debauched legislature -- would ignore the phony homosexual "marriages" that now violate the laws of Massachusetts. This is largely unknown to many of the pro-family activists who have been asked to sacrifice time and money in order to roll the wrong boulder up the wrong hill. This amendment would enshrine the principle that our laws and our state Constitution are subject to judges and governors striking them down, when they have the Boston Globe -- and the obsessively pro-establishment pro-family groups -- "Vichy Christians" (as one national pro-family political consultant has called them) -- handling the cover-up for a supposed "conservative" governor. This governor, Mitt Romney, has sponsored a gay youth pride parade, has called pro-family activists "right-wing religious bigots", and tried to banish the anti-homosexuality Boy Scouts from the Winter Olympics in 2002.
All of the major players in this Massachusetts fraud know that Gov. Romney's homosexual "marriages" are illegal. Gov. Romney knows it. His advisors know it. Much of the state legislature knows it. Many homosexual activists know it. The homosexual activists editing the Boston Globe know it. The four judges who tried to trick the legislature into legalizing homosexual "marriage" know it.
So -- almost everyone understands the fraud -- except the "Vichy Christians." They seem to believe that if a governor is handsome enough and clean-cut enough and looks pro-family, then he must be on "our side" -- even if he ordered state officials to either violate their oaths to uphold the law (which remains one-man, one-woman) or resign. For some bizarre reason, "Matinee Mitt" just couldn't wait to see if the Legislature would agree with the four judges and change the law to legalize homosexual "marriages." "Our side" signed an unconditional surrender when they accepted the legality of Gov. Romney's illegal homosexual "marriage" licenses.
Gov. Romney's order violated the laws of the Commonwealth and the people's Constitution. If the Governor had had the constitutional authority to act, the four Supreme Judicial Court justices would have told him to! They did not. They told the legislature to change the law, which as the judges knew, is the only way that homosexual "marriage" could gain any measure of legality. They legislature did not change the law! [In fact, there is a bill pending, sponsored by the homosexual lobby, to do just that, proving they know it's still not legal! -MR]
So Gov. Romney solved the problem: He ordered state officials to violate the law. If Mike Dukakis or another Democrat governor had done this, he never could have gotten away with it. If Gov. Weld, Cellucci, or Swift had done this, they could never have gotten away with it. But because a handsome, churchy-looking governor did it, all the while protesting that he really, really, really hated doing it [but "had to uphold the law" -MR], most of our side signed up for the fox's campaign to keep the wolves out of the chicken house.
A further note: One of the most prominent pro-family leaders behind this amendment told me three months ago, "You're right. We need a strategy." [Admitting: "And we don't have one." -MR] This was already several years into the battle. But do you really need a battle strategy after you've surrendered the whole war?
Again, please read the article on WorldNetDaily [from this past December].
MassResistance note: Strategies were initiated by Article 8 Alliance which would have attacked the core of the problem -- judicial tyranny, as well as targeting the Governor's proposed actions on issuance of "marriage" certificates. Why did the "Vichy Christians" refuse to join that effort to remove the judges, as well as pressure the Governor to withhold "marriage" licenses?
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Spring Vacation
Spring Vacation week at MassResistance blog. But as you can see from the MassResistance website, we're still resisting!
Monday, April 17, 2006
MFI: Politeness Is the Chief Virtue
Bay Windows reports that Mass. Family Institute (MFI) thinks we're rude (!) and they're "distancing" themselves from the likes of us. (Yes, they appear to have spoken with Bay Windows! Why?)
It seems MFI sent a letter to all the Massachusetts state legislators begging them not to confuse them (MFI) with Article 8/MassResistance or the Pawlicks (Mass. Citizens for Marriage).
MFI is the group behind the current horribly flawed marriage amendment. Tight with Dr. James Dobson's Focus on the Family, they like to be polite. They seem not to realize that the barbarians are at the gates. They don't think it's polite to reveal the unpleasant truth about homosexuality, or speak passionately to our representatives.
MFI believes it's a good political strategy to redefine "family" to include the new "families" made since same-sex "marriages" began in May 2004. And it's a REALLY good idea to send openly gay, activist legislators VERY POLITE postcards asking them to PLEASE "Let the people vote!" -- to confirm this ghastly redefinition of the family. An example of very polite testimony from MFI for their amendment:
The amendment is quite limited, as it only relates to "marriage" as such and says nothing one way or the other about benefits, civil unions, domestic partnerships-which are left to legislative rather than constitutional determination. It also only operates prospectively, and will not undo existing same-sex marriages that have been entered into under the authority of the Goodridge decision. ... Only the union of male and female can beget offspring, and only wives and husbands can provide children with a married mother and a father, which is the ideal arrangement for raising children. Obviously other parenting arrangements are possible, and they are allowed by law; but these should not be allowed to undermine the sense that children being raised by a married mother and father is optimal. Preserving the traditional definition of marriage is the least that can be done to make that point.
And MFI wants to distance itself from Brian Camenker (Brian -- who is brave enough to expose things like "Fistgate" and the "Little Black Book"), and the Pawlicks (who were behind the clean marriage amendment of a few years back). Now what did we do to earn the reputation of being "rude"? We suggested to citizens that it's OK to contact legislators at home if they can't reach them at their offices. (Reps did choose to run for public office, after all; and they must have caller ID and voice mail; and can choose not to answer their phones if they're eating dinner!) Or to demand that our reps preserve parental rights. Or that it's OK for citizens to be angry that there are bills filed by Mass. legislators advocating the de-criminalization of bestiality.
No, says MFI, don't be angry -- remain polite and calm. Beg -- but with poise -- for your voting rights. Everything will be OK. And don't be distracted by Article 8/MassResistance's alerts identifying those dangerous bills! (Reminds us of the videos of captured Westerners begging for their lives as the terrorists are about to shoot them in the head, or decapitate them. Weak and hopeless.)
It seems MFI sent a letter to all the Massachusetts state legislators begging them not to confuse them (MFI) with Article 8/MassResistance or the Pawlicks (Mass. Citizens for Marriage).
MFI is the group behind the current horribly flawed marriage amendment. Tight with Dr. James Dobson's Focus on the Family, they like to be polite. They seem not to realize that the barbarians are at the gates. They don't think it's polite to reveal the unpleasant truth about homosexuality, or speak passionately to our representatives.
MFI believes it's a good political strategy to redefine "family" to include the new "families" made since same-sex "marriages" began in May 2004. And it's a REALLY good idea to send openly gay, activist legislators VERY POLITE postcards asking them to PLEASE "Let the people vote!" -- to confirm this ghastly redefinition of the family. An example of very polite testimony from MFI for their amendment:
The amendment is quite limited, as it only relates to "marriage" as such and says nothing one way or the other about benefits, civil unions, domestic partnerships-which are left to legislative rather than constitutional determination. It also only operates prospectively, and will not undo existing same-sex marriages that have been entered into under the authority of the Goodridge decision. ... Only the union of male and female can beget offspring, and only wives and husbands can provide children with a married mother and a father, which is the ideal arrangement for raising children. Obviously other parenting arrangements are possible, and they are allowed by law; but these should not be allowed to undermine the sense that children being raised by a married mother and father is optimal. Preserving the traditional definition of marriage is the least that can be done to make that point.
And MFI wants to distance itself from Brian Camenker (Brian -- who is brave enough to expose things like "Fistgate" and the "Little Black Book"), and the Pawlicks (who were behind the clean marriage amendment of a few years back). Now what did we do to earn the reputation of being "rude"? We suggested to citizens that it's OK to contact legislators at home if they can't reach them at their offices. (Reps did choose to run for public office, after all; and they must have caller ID and voice mail; and can choose not to answer their phones if they're eating dinner!) Or to demand that our reps preserve parental rights. Or that it's OK for citizens to be angry that there are bills filed by Mass. legislators advocating the de-criminalization of bestiality.
No, says MFI, don't be angry -- remain polite and calm. Beg -- but with poise -- for your voting rights. Everything will be OK. And don't be distracted by Article 8/MassResistance's alerts identifying those dangerous bills! (Reminds us of the videos of captured Westerners begging for their lives as the terrorists are about to shoot them in the head, or decapitate them. Weak and hopeless.)
Princeton Professor & "Celebrated Writer" Rents Boys
More truth on the homosexual "lifestyle". (In case you missed it, check out the article from the New Oxford Review which we recently highlighted.)
Time Out New York (TONY) magazine interviews Princeton professor Edmund White on his autobiography, My Lives in this week's issue (April 13-19): "The naughty professor: Celebrated gay writer and Princetonian Edmund White gets graphic in his memoir." He proudly describes his "gay" perversions, including his love of S&M and hustlers. From the TONY interview:
There's ... plenty of explicit sex, from his childhood seductions of neighborhood boys in Cincinnati to a rather recent, very complicated S&M affair with a much younger man. ...
TONY: Does it embarrass you at all to write so candidly about your sexual encounters?
EW: ... I love being very honest in my writing. To me, it’s like a sacred obligation, but I’m actually rather reserved in real life.
TONY: You write that you’re a masochist who doesn’t like pain. How does that jibe?
EW: The appeal for me is more about the rituals and the humiliation, which is mostly verbal. It’s a game, I suppose, but a serious game that touches many deep feelings. People who genuinely like receiving or inflicting real pain are very much in the minority, even among the S&M crowd.
TONY: One of the chapters in your book is called “My Hustlers.” Do rent boys play an important part in your life?
EW: I’ve always liked them, and they are very convenient in some ways. If you want to make yourself stay home and write, you just order somebody to come up at midnight. And they’re usually cheaper than what it costs to go out on a date.
It's not surprising that White had horrible relations with his parents. The Princeton WeeklBulletin writes:
As a writer on the vanguard of the gay rights movement, White felt the book needed “a lot more about relationships and sex and probably a little less about the professional details of my career.” There are some graphic scenes depicting White’s sex life, but the most compelling parts of the book are his characterizations of his parents: his mother, a squat, overdressed Texan whose “egotism and incessant chatter could be truly punishing;” and his father, a tyrannical, reclusive misanthrope whose son failed to interest him.
“I tried to portray them as honestly as I could, but it was painful going back into all that stuff, especially the chapter on my father. I never really let myself think that much about it,” said White, whose parents died more than a decade ago. He worried about his sister’s reaction to the book, but “after she read it, she said, ‘Oh God, you let our parents off so lightly. They were much more monstrous than that.’ ” [emphasis added]
Time Out New York (TONY) magazine interviews Princeton professor Edmund White on his autobiography, My Lives in this week's issue (April 13-19): "The naughty professor: Celebrated gay writer and Princetonian Edmund White gets graphic in his memoir." He proudly describes his "gay" perversions, including his love of S&M and hustlers. From the TONY interview:
There's ... plenty of explicit sex, from his childhood seductions of neighborhood boys in Cincinnati to a rather recent, very complicated S&M affair with a much younger man. ...
TONY: Does it embarrass you at all to write so candidly about your sexual encounters?
EW: ... I love being very honest in my writing. To me, it’s like a sacred obligation, but I’m actually rather reserved in real life.
TONY: You write that you’re a masochist who doesn’t like pain. How does that jibe?
EW: The appeal for me is more about the rituals and the humiliation, which is mostly verbal. It’s a game, I suppose, but a serious game that touches many deep feelings. People who genuinely like receiving or inflicting real pain are very much in the minority, even among the S&M crowd.
TONY: One of the chapters in your book is called “My Hustlers.” Do rent boys play an important part in your life?
EW: I’ve always liked them, and they are very convenient in some ways. If you want to make yourself stay home and write, you just order somebody to come up at midnight. And they’re usually cheaper than what it costs to go out on a date.
It's not surprising that White had horrible relations with his parents. The Princeton WeeklBulletin writes:
As a writer on the vanguard of the gay rights movement, White felt the book needed “a lot more about relationships and sex and probably a little less about the professional details of my career.” There are some graphic scenes depicting White’s sex life, but the most compelling parts of the book are his characterizations of his parents: his mother, a squat, overdressed Texan whose “egotism and incessant chatter could be truly punishing;” and his father, a tyrannical, reclusive misanthrope whose son failed to interest him.
“I tried to portray them as honestly as I could, but it was painful going back into all that stuff, especially the chapter on my father. I never really let myself think that much about it,” said White, whose parents died more than a decade ago. He worried about his sister’s reaction to the book, but “after she read it, she said, ‘Oh God, you let our parents off so lightly. They were much more monstrous than that.’ ” [emphasis added]
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Palm Sunday Event in Concord Haunts Easter Celebrations
The American Family Association's news, Agape Press, is following the homosexual propaganda fundraiser concert at the Concord-Carlisle High School last week. The horrible event on Palm Sunday certainly soured many of our Easter celebrations!
"PFLAG's Palm Sunday Fundraiser Gets Attention of Massachusetts Activist."
"PFLAG's Palm Sunday Fundraiser Gets Attention of Massachusetts Activist."
Saturday, April 15, 2006
"Wicked" Author Struts His "Gay" Parenting
Last week's Judiciary Committee hearing on VoteOnMarriage's proposed amendment brought out many of the older, well-dressed "alternative families" and poised professional same-sex couples, pleading that their "marriages" and "families" not be disrupted. (It's only hateful people who would argue that thousands of years of cross-cultural traditions and the Bible are correct in defining marriage as a man and a woman!) Noticeably absent were college-age or younger rabble-rousers. Clearly, the strategy was to present same-sex headed households as "your best neighbors", the professional or author next door, the stable parents who are just as good as you heteronormative parents -- if not better, because they won't bring their child up with hateful prejudices!
Notable was the celebrity appearance by the author of Wicked ("The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West"), now a hit Broadway musical. With a his sleeping adopted Asian son on his shoulder and "husband" standing nearby, Gregory Maguire (a Mass. resident) explained how, as a "gay", he was able to conceive the character of the horribly wronged green witch.
Elphaba, "the little-green skinned girl ... [was] a smart, prickly, and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil." She was terribly discriminated against, because through no fault of her own she was born green. And of course, she wasn't really wicked. It was just a big conspiracy by the nasty society she lived in. And in the end, that horrible Dorothy killed her, though she had done nothing wrong!
Any time you hear of some new hit novel or musical dealing with discrimination, there's a good chance it's really all about discrimination against homosexuals, and how evil traditional society is. (New York Newsday calls Wicked a "political cautionary tale".) Homosexuals are just like the green witch: they were born that way. So accept them as they are! Stop discriminating!
Notable was the celebrity appearance by the author of Wicked ("The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West"), now a hit Broadway musical. With a his sleeping adopted Asian son on his shoulder and "husband" standing nearby, Gregory Maguire (a Mass. resident) explained how, as a "gay", he was able to conceive the character of the horribly wronged green witch.
Elphaba, "the little-green skinned girl ... [was] a smart, prickly, and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil." She was terribly discriminated against, because through no fault of her own she was born green. And of course, she wasn't really wicked. It was just a big conspiracy by the nasty society she lived in. And in the end, that horrible Dorothy killed her, though she had done nothing wrong!
Any time you hear of some new hit novel or musical dealing with discrimination, there's a good chance it's really all about discrimination against homosexuals, and how evil traditional society is. (New York Newsday calls Wicked a "political cautionary tale".) Homosexuals are just like the green witch: they were born that way. So accept them as they are! Stop discriminating!
Friday, April 14, 2006
A Good Day to Speak the Truth
A good day to speak the truth: There is no compromising with evil.
We remember being asked if pro-lifers could find any compromise position with the pro-abortion crowd. How ridiculous. Maybe we could agree to only half of the requested abortions each year? Or maybe we could agree to let Planned Parenthood instruct our high school girls where to go to get abortions, as long as we have equal time to instruct them on the humanity of the developing baby? We don't think so! The only morally correct -- and politically effective -- position is to say all abortions are murder. And say NO altogether to Planned Parenthood having any access to children in the schools!
Similarly, why is it that some traditionalists think we can find some common ground with GLSEN? That we can let GLSEN preach their poison in our schools, and then try to counteract it with a "Day of Truth"? How much poison is too much? Put that effort into getting GLSEN out of the schools altogether, we say.
Another example: Why do some in the pro-family movement in our state think they can placate homosexual extremists by letting them keep some of their "marriages", by offering them benefits packages, and by promising not to ban civil unions? Why should the state sanction any alternative domestic arrangement as a "family"? How much state-sanctioned perversion is too much?
There can be no compromise with evil.
We remember being asked if pro-lifers could find any compromise position with the pro-abortion crowd. How ridiculous. Maybe we could agree to only half of the requested abortions each year? Or maybe we could agree to let Planned Parenthood instruct our high school girls where to go to get abortions, as long as we have equal time to instruct them on the humanity of the developing baby? We don't think so! The only morally correct -- and politically effective -- position is to say all abortions are murder. And say NO altogether to Planned Parenthood having any access to children in the schools!
Similarly, why is it that some traditionalists think we can find some common ground with GLSEN? That we can let GLSEN preach their poison in our schools, and then try to counteract it with a "Day of Truth"? How much poison is too much? Put that effort into getting GLSEN out of the schools altogether, we say.
Another example: Why do some in the pro-family movement in our state think they can placate homosexual extremists by letting them keep some of their "marriages", by offering them benefits packages, and by promising not to ban civil unions? Why should the state sanction any alternative domestic arrangement as a "family"? How much state-sanctioned perversion is too much?
There can be no compromise with evil.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Lesson at Concord-Carlisle High School
Here's what they're teaching at Concord Carlisle High School. Or was it preaching? It was on Palm Sunday, after all, that the Boston Gay Men's Chorus performed a fundraiser there for an extremist homosexual political activist group (PFLAG).
Lyrics to a song on the program:
Everything Possible by Fred Small
You can be anybody you want to be.
You can love whomever you will.
You can travel any country where your heart leads
And know I will love you still.
You can live by yourself, you can gather friends around.
You can choose one special one
And the only measure of your words and your deeds
Will be the love you leave behind when you're done.
There are girls who grow up strong and bold.
There are boys quiet and kind.
Some race on ahead, some follow behind.
Some go in their own way and time.
Some women love women, some men love men.
Some raise children, some never do.
You can dream all the day never reaching the end
Of everything possible for you.
Don't be rattled by names, by taunts, by games
But seek out spirits true.
If you give your friends the best part of yourself
They will give the same back to you.
Also on the program was a take-off on the Shakespeare song, "It was a lover and his lass" (in As You Like It), revised as "It was a lover and his lad." From the recent Article 8 Alliance/MassResistance email alert:
Public school officials in Massachusetts seem to be looking for creative ways to push the homosexual agenda in the most offensive ways possible. This Sunday -- Palm Sunday -- the Concord-Carlisle High School (CCHS) in Concord, MA, has invited the Boston Gay Men's Chorus to give a homosexual-oriented concert as a fundraiser for the Boston chapter of "Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays" (PFLAG), one of the most aggressive homosexual groups in the country.
PFLAG is second only to the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN) in homosexual activism in the public schools. They are heavily represented in schools in Massachusetts and around the country. Their primary focus is to organize various "allies", such as left-wing churches, individuals, and liberal community groups, as a united front to persuade children that homosexuality is normal and natural and that kids will get their support if they choose to engage in homosexual behavior....
This week one local resident, a mother of kids who had gone through CCHS, was outraged. She called the principal, Mr. Arthur DuLong. She asked him who made the decision to allow this group in the school. "I made the decision," he told her. She started to tell him how offensive it was to people in the community that such a thing should be celebrated in their school on Palm Sunday. The principal replied to her, "Your statements are outrageous. I'm going to end this conversation." And he hung up the phone.
Lyrics to a song on the program:
Everything Possible by Fred Small
You can be anybody you want to be.
You can love whomever you will.
You can travel any country where your heart leads
And know I will love you still.
You can live by yourself, you can gather friends around.
You can choose one special one
And the only measure of your words and your deeds
Will be the love you leave behind when you're done.
There are girls who grow up strong and bold.
There are boys quiet and kind.
Some race on ahead, some follow behind.
Some go in their own way and time.
Some women love women, some men love men.
Some raise children, some never do.
You can dream all the day never reaching the end
Of everything possible for you.
Don't be rattled by names, by taunts, by games
But seek out spirits true.
If you give your friends the best part of yourself
They will give the same back to you.
Also on the program was a take-off on the Shakespeare song, "It was a lover and his lass" (in As You Like It), revised as "It was a lover and his lad." From the recent Article 8 Alliance/MassResistance email alert:
Public school officials in Massachusetts seem to be looking for creative ways to push the homosexual agenda in the most offensive ways possible. This Sunday -- Palm Sunday -- the Concord-Carlisle High School (CCHS) in Concord, MA, has invited the Boston Gay Men's Chorus to give a homosexual-oriented concert as a fundraiser for the Boston chapter of "Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays" (PFLAG), one of the most aggressive homosexual groups in the country.
PFLAG is second only to the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN) in homosexual activism in the public schools. They are heavily represented in schools in Massachusetts and around the country. Their primary focus is to organize various "allies", such as left-wing churches, individuals, and liberal community groups, as a united front to persuade children that homosexuality is normal and natural and that kids will get their support if they choose to engage in homosexual behavior....
This week one local resident, a mother of kids who had gone through CCHS, was outraged. She called the principal, Mr. Arthur DuLong. She asked him who made the decision to allow this group in the school. "I made the decision," he told her. She started to tell him how offensive it was to people in the community that such a thing should be celebrated in their school on Palm Sunday. The principal replied to her, "Your statements are outrageous. I'm going to end this conversation." And he hung up the phone.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Queer Confusion at Tufts Conference
A "Safe Colleges" conference was recently held at Tufts. Why are these people's ideas taken seriously? Just read this sampling of seminars from that event, and you'll see their confusion. They don't know what to call themselves; whether or not their "sexual orientation" is inborn ("Does bisexuality even exist?" they ask); what role trauma plays in their development; what the difference is between sexuality and sexual identity; etc. But we must give them everything they want, even when they can't define who they are or what they want.
Bisexuality 101: Myths and Realities. What is bisexuality? Is there no such thing as bisexuality or is everyone really bisexual? Or is it more complicated than that? In this workshop we will examine these questions as well as biphobia in lesbian, gay and heterosexual communities with the goal of better understanding bisexuality and bisexual identities -- and identities in general. People of all sexual orientations are welcome to attend.
Robyn Ochs is a long-time activist, and the editor of the Bisexual Resource Guide and the new anthology Getting Bi: Voices of Bisexuals Around the World. She has taught courses in Tufts' Experimental College on topics including GLBT history & politics in the United States, the politics of sexual orientation, and the experiences of those of us who transgress the binary categories of gay/straight, masculine/feminine, black/white and/or male/female. Her writings have been published in numerous bisexual, women's studies, multicultural, and GLBT anthologies. She lives in Massachusetts, and on May 17th, 2004—on the first day it was legal—she married Peg Preble, her long-time partner. She is a professional speaker and workshop leader.
Choosing to Label: What's in a Name. Bi, lesbian, gay, straight, queer, questioning, choose-not-to-label. How do you decide what words to use to describe yourself? What are the advantages of choosing a label? What are the disadvantages? Why do other people care so much what you call yourself? This will be a participatory workshop, and all are welcome.
Robyn Ochs
Tools for Building Trans-inclusive College Communities. All too often, the “T” in LGBT is merely an afterthought. However, a growing number of college students are embracing transgender labels. Join us for a discussion of the many ways to make schools more welcoming for transgender and genderqueer students, faculty and staff....Led by members of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition ...
Queer Theory, Queer Sex, Queer Politics. In this workshop, students will have the opportunity to investigate some of the concepts and arguments fundamental to current developments in queer theory. We will explore, in particular, a recent debate in queer studies about the idea of "queer love" as a political practice. What is the relationship between sex and politics? Theory and sex? Politics and theory? Is a politics of love viable for queers? What if "Love Won Out," after all?
A graduate student in the Tufts University English Department, Ashley Shelden specializes in queer theory, film, and 20th Century British Literature.
Sexual Identity and Trauma: Navigating Both, Understanding Each. This workshop will explore sexual identity in the context of growing up in a less-than-perfect home environment. We will discuss how trauma and abuse can shape our sexuality and not our identities and, why there is limited research in this area compared to our heterosexual counterparts. The emphasis here is not on sharing details or memories but rather on discussing/understanding how the multiple identities of being queer and a survivor, in addition to our race and class identities, affect us in the present.
Kathy Girod is the Coordinator of the Rainbow Lounge at MIT where she runs groups on coming-out and healthy/un-healthy relationships. She also facilitates a coming-out group for LBT women at the Women's Center in Cambridge and, sits on the board of The Network/La Red, an organization that works to end abuse in the Queer Community. She is a Master's candidate at Simmons College of Social Work and graduates in May.
Bisexuality 101: Myths and Realities. What is bisexuality? Is there no such thing as bisexuality or is everyone really bisexual? Or is it more complicated than that? In this workshop we will examine these questions as well as biphobia in lesbian, gay and heterosexual communities with the goal of better understanding bisexuality and bisexual identities -- and identities in general. People of all sexual orientations are welcome to attend.
Robyn Ochs is a long-time activist, and the editor of the Bisexual Resource Guide and the new anthology Getting Bi: Voices of Bisexuals Around the World. She has taught courses in Tufts' Experimental College on topics including GLBT history & politics in the United States, the politics of sexual orientation, and the experiences of those of us who transgress the binary categories of gay/straight, masculine/feminine, black/white and/or male/female. Her writings have been published in numerous bisexual, women's studies, multicultural, and GLBT anthologies. She lives in Massachusetts, and on May 17th, 2004—on the first day it was legal—she married Peg Preble, her long-time partner. She is a professional speaker and workshop leader.
Choosing to Label: What's in a Name. Bi, lesbian, gay, straight, queer, questioning, choose-not-to-label. How do you decide what words to use to describe yourself? What are the advantages of choosing a label? What are the disadvantages? Why do other people care so much what you call yourself? This will be a participatory workshop, and all are welcome.
Robyn Ochs
Tools for Building Trans-inclusive College Communities. All too often, the “T” in LGBT is merely an afterthought. However, a growing number of college students are embracing transgender labels. Join us for a discussion of the many ways to make schools more welcoming for transgender and genderqueer students, faculty and staff....Led by members of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition ...
Queer Theory, Queer Sex, Queer Politics. In this workshop, students will have the opportunity to investigate some of the concepts and arguments fundamental to current developments in queer theory. We will explore, in particular, a recent debate in queer studies about the idea of "queer love" as a political practice. What is the relationship between sex and politics? Theory and sex? Politics and theory? Is a politics of love viable for queers? What if "Love Won Out," after all?
A graduate student in the Tufts University English Department, Ashley Shelden specializes in queer theory, film, and 20th Century British Literature.
Sexual Identity and Trauma: Navigating Both, Understanding Each. This workshop will explore sexual identity in the context of growing up in a less-than-perfect home environment. We will discuss how trauma and abuse can shape our sexuality and not our identities and, why there is limited research in this area compared to our heterosexual counterparts. The emphasis here is not on sharing details or memories but rather on discussing/understanding how the multiple identities of being queer and a survivor, in addition to our race and class identities, affect us in the present.
Kathy Girod is the Coordinator of the Rainbow Lounge at MIT where she runs groups on coming-out and healthy/un-healthy relationships. She also facilitates a coming-out group for LBT women at the Women's Center in Cambridge and, sits on the board of The Network/La Red, an organization that works to end abuse in the Queer Community. She is a Master's candidate at Simmons College of Social Work and graduates in May.
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Cancel "Day of Silence" Say Lexington Citizens
Citizens for Freedom
P.O. Box 471
Lexington, MA 02420
citizensforfreedom@verizon.net
An Important Message about the “Day of Silence”
To Our Friends and Supporters in Lexington:
For many parents and residents of Lexington, it is not acceptable to have the public schools taking sides, or even appearing to take sides, in the contentious political and cultural battles that mark the so-called “culture wars.” Last year the town gained national notoriety after a parent was arrested while protesting the schools’ unwillingness to accommodate his request to be notified so that he could withdraw his young son from classroom programs that teach issues of human sexuality from a perspective contrary to his personal values.
Many of these programs may appear harmless individually. But taken as a whole, they could reasonably be construed to present a political position on the part of the Lexington school administration. Students get the message that there is a right way to look at these issues (represented by the schools’ point of view) and a wrong way, represented by reactionary or bigoted parents. The divisive results of this policy were seen last year, and will be seen again this year.
A central aspect of the controversy is the normalization of homosexual relationships. Since the Supreme Court of Massachusetts ruled in the Goodridge decision that homosexuals could not be denied the right to marry, many believe the matter has been settled and there is no longer any reasonable ground for debate within the community. They believe that homosexual relationships are fully equal to heterosexual relationships, both before the law, and in terms of societal value. Thus they believe the teachings in the schools must reflect and encourage the acceptance of this change.
The reality, however, is quite different. Nothing approaching a consensus on this issue exists anywhere in the country. The entire issue remains a contentious and emotional one.
It is even more difficult when children are brought into the picture at a young age. Clearly, it is much easier to influence the opinions of the next generation if you are the first to teach them, while their minds are still immature and impressionable. The problem is that even in a town as liberal as Lexington, many parents do not wish their children to be taught that homosexuality is the equal of heterosexuality as a lifestyle choice. This has nothing to do with the fact that all people regardless of personal background are entitled to the protection of the laws on an equal basis.
The matter is only made worse when parents who do object are branded as bigots or haters, and when the school administrators refuse to listen; and when virtually the entire town government lines up at a demonstration disparaging the legitimate rights of residents who object to their children being used as pawns in a cultural battle.
CFF believes there is a constitutional requirement for the schools to remain strictly neutral with respect to religious, political or cultural particularities. As an example, students in the local schools come from a variety of religious backgrounds, including no religion. No one is suggesting that the schools must assert that all these religions, including atheism, are equally good and valid positions. No one is suggesting such an approach is necessary in order for children from these differing backgrounds to feel equally accepted in the school environment, or that the failure to do so constitutes some kind of discrimination.
Schools must be places where children from various backgrounds can feel at home without the pressures to conform to one or the other side in contentious political or religious disputes. We believe the schools can be made safe and welcoming places without involving students in the issues that divide and inflame their parents. To the contrary, the very introduction of these disputes makes the schools more divided, less safe, and less welcoming for all.
There are many ways in which mutual respect and tolerance can be taught in the schools. The coerced acceptance of non-traditional sexuality is not one of them.
What follows is an Open Letter to Dr. Paul Ash and the Lexington School Committee, which asks them to disassociate the schools from the upcoming Day of Silence and from the organizations that promote it. ... It will be sent to Dr. Ash and the members of the School Committee, and published in a local paper. ...
If you are a Lexington resident we strongly urge you to endorse this letter. Email your response to citizensforfreedom@verizon.net and say, I endorse the Open Letter, The schools, the students, and the town as a whole will be better off when the schools are returned to neutrality around this and other divisive issues.
Posted by John Moriarty and Jed Snyder
_____________________________________________________________
An Open Letter to Dr. Paul Ash and the Lexington School Committee
April, 2006
We the undersigned members of the Lexington Community call upon Superintendent Paul Ash and the Lexington School Committee to disassociate the schools from the annual Day of Silence scheduled for this month. By endorsing this event, the school administration is needlessly dividing the community and putting the town at the risk of eventual litigation over constitutional violations.
Whatever positive results were supposed to come from this staged event, they have not materialized. To the contrary, the Day of Silence has resulted in a more divided community, with students demonstrating less tolerance, and more stress and name-calling on both sides. Last year this intolerance culminated in a physical assault on a student who peacefully dissented from this activity. Programs that purport to teach respect and tolerance should not result in physical assaults on peaceful students simply because they hold to a different set of values from those being promoted by the schools.
Moreover, it is not the business of the public schools to challenge students’ core beliefs and values by applying pressure, subtle or otherwise, to get them to conform their thinking to a particular political or cultural viewpoint. The considerable persuasive power of teachers as role models should be used to encourage those values the entire community can unite in embracing, not to choose sides in contentious cultural issues.
For students, there is no reasonable way to opt-out of the Day of Silence. It is a school wide, day long event. By endorsing this event, the school leadership is sending a strong message to all those who do not share the views of the event’s organizers that they are unwelcome in the schools when the Day of Silence and related programs are taking place.
Welcoming children and adults from a variety of backgrounds is a worthy goal we can support as a community. But we cannot all support the Day of Silence, or the views and actions of its organizers. Practicing toleration and respect does not mean we must endorse others’ lifestyle choices any more than it means we must endorse others’ religious choices. It does not mean that the gay community must be upheld year after year as history’s most prominent victims. Respect does not come through coercion, whether subtle or blunt.
The public schools belong to all the citizens of Lexington, not just those who subscribe to one favored point of view. The school administration has already demonstrated that it is incapable of guaranteeing the physical safety of students who do not wish to participate in this divisive annual ritual. This year, we urge you to take the first step in returning the public schools to the practice of political neutrality, where students, parents and teachers from a variety of backgrounds and beliefs can feel equally safe, welcomed and at home. Cancel the Day of Silence.
P.O. Box 471
Lexington, MA 02420
citizensforfreedom@verizon.net
An Important Message about the “Day of Silence”
To Our Friends and Supporters in Lexington:
For many parents and residents of Lexington, it is not acceptable to have the public schools taking sides, or even appearing to take sides, in the contentious political and cultural battles that mark the so-called “culture wars.” Last year the town gained national notoriety after a parent was arrested while protesting the schools’ unwillingness to accommodate his request to be notified so that he could withdraw his young son from classroom programs that teach issues of human sexuality from a perspective contrary to his personal values.
Many of these programs may appear harmless individually. But taken as a whole, they could reasonably be construed to present a political position on the part of the Lexington school administration. Students get the message that there is a right way to look at these issues (represented by the schools’ point of view) and a wrong way, represented by reactionary or bigoted parents. The divisive results of this policy were seen last year, and will be seen again this year.
A central aspect of the controversy is the normalization of homosexual relationships. Since the Supreme Court of Massachusetts ruled in the Goodridge decision that homosexuals could not be denied the right to marry, many believe the matter has been settled and there is no longer any reasonable ground for debate within the community. They believe that homosexual relationships are fully equal to heterosexual relationships, both before the law, and in terms of societal value. Thus they believe the teachings in the schools must reflect and encourage the acceptance of this change.
The reality, however, is quite different. Nothing approaching a consensus on this issue exists anywhere in the country. The entire issue remains a contentious and emotional one.
It is even more difficult when children are brought into the picture at a young age. Clearly, it is much easier to influence the opinions of the next generation if you are the first to teach them, while their minds are still immature and impressionable. The problem is that even in a town as liberal as Lexington, many parents do not wish their children to be taught that homosexuality is the equal of heterosexuality as a lifestyle choice. This has nothing to do with the fact that all people regardless of personal background are entitled to the protection of the laws on an equal basis.
The matter is only made worse when parents who do object are branded as bigots or haters, and when the school administrators refuse to listen; and when virtually the entire town government lines up at a demonstration disparaging the legitimate rights of residents who object to their children being used as pawns in a cultural battle.
CFF believes there is a constitutional requirement for the schools to remain strictly neutral with respect to religious, political or cultural particularities. As an example, students in the local schools come from a variety of religious backgrounds, including no religion. No one is suggesting that the schools must assert that all these religions, including atheism, are equally good and valid positions. No one is suggesting such an approach is necessary in order for children from these differing backgrounds to feel equally accepted in the school environment, or that the failure to do so constitutes some kind of discrimination.
Schools must be places where children from various backgrounds can feel at home without the pressures to conform to one or the other side in contentious political or religious disputes. We believe the schools can be made safe and welcoming places without involving students in the issues that divide and inflame their parents. To the contrary, the very introduction of these disputes makes the schools more divided, less safe, and less welcoming for all.
There are many ways in which mutual respect and tolerance can be taught in the schools. The coerced acceptance of non-traditional sexuality is not one of them.
What follows is an Open Letter to Dr. Paul Ash and the Lexington School Committee, which asks them to disassociate the schools from the upcoming Day of Silence and from the organizations that promote it. ... It will be sent to Dr. Ash and the members of the School Committee, and published in a local paper. ...
If you are a Lexington resident we strongly urge you to endorse this letter. Email your response to citizensforfreedom@verizon.net and say, I endorse the Open Letter, The schools, the students, and the town as a whole will be better off when the schools are returned to neutrality around this and other divisive issues.
Posted by John Moriarty and Jed Snyder
_____________________________________________________________
An Open Letter to Dr. Paul Ash and the Lexington School Committee
April, 2006
We the undersigned members of the Lexington Community call upon Superintendent Paul Ash and the Lexington School Committee to disassociate the schools from the annual Day of Silence scheduled for this month. By endorsing this event, the school administration is needlessly dividing the community and putting the town at the risk of eventual litigation over constitutional violations.
Whatever positive results were supposed to come from this staged event, they have not materialized. To the contrary, the Day of Silence has resulted in a more divided community, with students demonstrating less tolerance, and more stress and name-calling on both sides. Last year this intolerance culminated in a physical assault on a student who peacefully dissented from this activity. Programs that purport to teach respect and tolerance should not result in physical assaults on peaceful students simply because they hold to a different set of values from those being promoted by the schools.
Moreover, it is not the business of the public schools to challenge students’ core beliefs and values by applying pressure, subtle or otherwise, to get them to conform their thinking to a particular political or cultural viewpoint. The considerable persuasive power of teachers as role models should be used to encourage those values the entire community can unite in embracing, not to choose sides in contentious cultural issues.
For students, there is no reasonable way to opt-out of the Day of Silence. It is a school wide, day long event. By endorsing this event, the school leadership is sending a strong message to all those who do not share the views of the event’s organizers that they are unwelcome in the schools when the Day of Silence and related programs are taking place.
Welcoming children and adults from a variety of backgrounds is a worthy goal we can support as a community. But we cannot all support the Day of Silence, or the views and actions of its organizers. Practicing toleration and respect does not mean we must endorse others’ lifestyle choices any more than it means we must endorse others’ religious choices. It does not mean that the gay community must be upheld year after year as history’s most prominent victims. Respect does not come through coercion, whether subtle or blunt.
The public schools belong to all the citizens of Lexington, not just those who subscribe to one favored point of view. The school administration has already demonstrated that it is incapable of guaranteeing the physical safety of students who do not wish to participate in this divisive annual ritual. This year, we urge you to take the first step in returning the public schools to the practice of political neutrality, where students, parents and teachers from a variety of backgrounds and beliefs can feel equally safe, welcomed and at home. Cancel the Day of Silence.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
GLSEN Seminar: It Is All About "Queer Sex"
Don't miss this gem from the original article on the GLSEN/Fistgate conference in 2000. According to the queer activist (Margot Abels) currently suing Brian Camenker, Scott Whiteman, and Parents' Rights Coalition for exposing her hideous workshop (in March 2000): YES, IT IS ALL ABOUT QUEER SEX!
Tired of denying it: Margot Abels opened by telling the room full of teachers (and two high school students), "We always feel like we are fighting against people who deny publicly, who say privately, that being queer is not at all about sex... We believe otherwise. We think that sex is central to every single one of us and particularly queer youth."
So let's see, the queer activism in question would include: The story book about "different kinds of families" given to David Parker's kindergartner in Lexington. [Remember: Lexington activist Meg Soens, who got the book into the school, gave a seminar at that same GLSEN conference in 2000 on incorporating gay & lesbian issues in the elementary curriculum!]. The "Day of Silence". The Gay-Straight Alliance clubs in the high schools. Diversity Days. Ally Days. GLBT "rights" however you name them. It's all about queer sex.
Tired of denying it: Margot Abels opened by telling the room full of teachers (and two high school students), "We always feel like we are fighting against people who deny publicly, who say privately, that being queer is not at all about sex... We believe otherwise. We think that sex is central to every single one of us and particularly queer youth."
So let's see, the queer activism in question would include: The story book about "different kinds of families" given to David Parker's kindergartner in Lexington. [Remember: Lexington activist Meg Soens, who got the book into the school, gave a seminar at that same GLSEN conference in 2000 on incorporating gay & lesbian issues in the elementary curriculum!]. The "Day of Silence". The Gay-Straight Alliance clubs in the high schools. Diversity Days. Ally Days. GLBT "rights" however you name them. It's all about queer sex.
Degradation at Weston HS - "Urinetown" a "Family-Friendly" Musical?
MassResistance is revolted once again. Why would any high school choose to produce Urinetown, a crass and degrading satirical musical with anti-corporate, environmentalist overtones? [This according to reviews - needless to say, we haven't seen it!]
Driving through beautiful Weston today, we saw signs advertising the upcoming production of Urinetown by the high school drama club. And sure enough, the local newspaper confirmed this appalling lack of decency in that most wealthy of Massachusetts towns. What sort of sick people are running our high schools? Has anyone in Weston spoken up? [From the Weston newspaper review:]
The plot deals with a dark vision of the future, when water is so scarce that people must pay to pee. Corporations grow fat off of the misery of the poor as they sing "Rich folks get the good life/Poor folks get the woe/In the end, it’s nothing you don’t know."
One day the fees are raised and a young man, after seeing his father taken off to "Urinetown" for free peeing, decides to lead a rebellion against "Urine Good Company," the oppressive monopoly which controls the water. His rebellion stirs the poor, as he cries in the obligatory Act One finale, "We’re suffering now such lives of sorrow - don’t give us tomorrow, just give us today!"
"Urinetown" mocks its own absurdity and pulls the audience in for two hours of nonstop laughs while simultaneously asking them to think about pressing environmental issues. Hailed as the freshest, edgiest theater to hit Broadway in years, this family-friendly and hilarious show is a guaranteed hit with all ages.
Driving through beautiful Weston today, we saw signs advertising the upcoming production of Urinetown by the high school drama club. And sure enough, the local newspaper confirmed this appalling lack of decency in that most wealthy of Massachusetts towns. What sort of sick people are running our high schools? Has anyone in Weston spoken up? [From the Weston newspaper review:]
The plot deals with a dark vision of the future, when water is so scarce that people must pay to pee. Corporations grow fat off of the misery of the poor as they sing "Rich folks get the good life/Poor folks get the woe/In the end, it’s nothing you don’t know."
One day the fees are raised and a young man, after seeing his father taken off to "Urinetown" for free peeing, decides to lead a rebellion against "Urine Good Company," the oppressive monopoly which controls the water. His rebellion stirs the poor, as he cries in the obligatory Act One finale, "We’re suffering now such lives of sorrow - don’t give us tomorrow, just give us today!"
"Urinetown" mocks its own absurdity and pulls the audience in for two hours of nonstop laughs while simultaneously asking them to think about pressing environmental issues. Hailed as the freshest, edgiest theater to hit Broadway in years, this family-friendly and hilarious show is a guaranteed hit with all ages.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Rep. Gohmert on "Hate Crimes" & "Sexual Orientation"
One of the more entertaining and fearless people we heard at the Vision America conference in D.C. last week was Rep. Louie Gohmert, a former judge in Texas, elected U.S. Representative in 2004. We picked up a copy of one of his speeches, arguing against "hate crimes" legislation. Gohmert gets it: The very concept of "hate crimes" is irrational, and since the phrase "sexual orientation" is nowhere defined, it opens up the door to anything imaginable.
In the [Texas] dragging death case, I personally might support punishment by allowing the victim's despondent family to choose the rope or chain and the terrain over which to drag the heartless defendant to inflict the death penalty. But the hate crime laws do not offer a more painful form of capital punishment. The one yesterday [9-14-05] certainly does not, so it would have had absolutely no effect on the very cases its proponents often herald as poster examples.
What was done yesterday created a vague, ambiguous Federal offense which sends a message that random, senseless acts of violence are far more preferable in our society than such acts with a motive. Never mind that sociopaths or antisocial personalities who commit random, senseless acts of violence are unlikely to be rehabilitated. They will not get punished under this new law passed out of this House yesterday.
This new hate crimes bill that passed yesterday, this body said to the world that "sexual orientation" and not just "gender," which should be respected, but "gender identity," whatever that is, are in the same category as those unfortunate individuals who have suffered because of the color of their skin or their religious preference.
Have the Members ever stopped to think about the words "sexual orientation"? Regardless of what definition they may give those words, when we pass laws, the words used create an exceptional chance that at some point down the road someone is going to say the words mean exactly what they say. In the case of "sexual orientation," someday someone can look at those words and say they have the very meaning they state: That includes those who are sexually oriented towards animals, those who are sexually oriented towards corpses, those who are sexually oriented towards children. That is abominable. But someday those words could be cited by some appellate court as having their very plain meaning, not just the meaning that is socially or culturally accepted at the time they were passed.
There is another aspect that is not discussed or debated but is coming some day through this new law. It is true that the law addresses crimes of violence or attempted crimes of violence. However, under Article 18 U.S. Code 2(a) of the Federal Criminal Code, "whoever aids, abets, counsels, commands, induces, or procures' a crime's commission is punishable just as if he is the principal."
Do the Members understand what that means? Let me ask my colleagues if a Christian, Jewish, or Muslim religious leader teaches and preaches that homosexuality is wrong or is a sin and someone in the leader's flock commits a crime against a person who chooses to practice such acts, has the religious leader counseled or induced such an act through his or her teaching? Someday someone will say so, and ministers will be arrested for their preaching. They will be said to have incited such conduct through hateful teaching. As a matter of fact, some people already blame religious leaders for acts of violence in such cases, and I do not defend any minister who encourages such conduct. That should be punished.
They are wrong. But having harshly sentenced people who have committed crimes of hate, and also those who have committed crimes at random, cold-blooded, heartless thugs, I can tell my colleagues that the victims and their loved ones in all of these cases are all traumatized and distraught and deserving of sympathy and compassion.
So what is the message our great hate crime legislation sends? Apparently, through hate crime legislation, we are simply saying to the world, if you are really going to hurt me, please, please do not hate me. Instead, make it a random, cold-blooded, senseless act of violence. That is what we prefer in this country, according to this bill.
[Emphasis added.]
In the [Texas] dragging death case, I personally might support punishment by allowing the victim's despondent family to choose the rope or chain and the terrain over which to drag the heartless defendant to inflict the death penalty. But the hate crime laws do not offer a more painful form of capital punishment. The one yesterday [9-14-05] certainly does not, so it would have had absolutely no effect on the very cases its proponents often herald as poster examples.
What was done yesterday created a vague, ambiguous Federal offense which sends a message that random, senseless acts of violence are far more preferable in our society than such acts with a motive. Never mind that sociopaths or antisocial personalities who commit random, senseless acts of violence are unlikely to be rehabilitated. They will not get punished under this new law passed out of this House yesterday.
This new hate crimes bill that passed yesterday, this body said to the world that "sexual orientation" and not just "gender," which should be respected, but "gender identity," whatever that is, are in the same category as those unfortunate individuals who have suffered because of the color of their skin or their religious preference.
Have the Members ever stopped to think about the words "sexual orientation"? Regardless of what definition they may give those words, when we pass laws, the words used create an exceptional chance that at some point down the road someone is going to say the words mean exactly what they say. In the case of "sexual orientation," someday someone can look at those words and say they have the very meaning they state: That includes those who are sexually oriented towards animals, those who are sexually oriented towards corpses, those who are sexually oriented towards children. That is abominable. But someday those words could be cited by some appellate court as having their very plain meaning, not just the meaning that is socially or culturally accepted at the time they were passed.
There is another aspect that is not discussed or debated but is coming some day through this new law. It is true that the law addresses crimes of violence or attempted crimes of violence. However, under Article 18 U.S. Code 2(a) of the Federal Criminal Code, "whoever aids, abets, counsels, commands, induces, or procures' a crime's commission is punishable just as if he is the principal."
Do the Members understand what that means? Let me ask my colleagues if a Christian, Jewish, or Muslim religious leader teaches and preaches that homosexuality is wrong or is a sin and someone in the leader's flock commits a crime against a person who chooses to practice such acts, has the religious leader counseled or induced such an act through his or her teaching? Someday someone will say so, and ministers will be arrested for their preaching. They will be said to have incited such conduct through hateful teaching. As a matter of fact, some people already blame religious leaders for acts of violence in such cases, and I do not defend any minister who encourages such conduct. That should be punished.
They are wrong. But having harshly sentenced people who have committed crimes of hate, and also those who have committed crimes at random, cold-blooded, heartless thugs, I can tell my colleagues that the victims and their loved ones in all of these cases are all traumatized and distraught and deserving of sympathy and compassion.
So what is the message our great hate crime legislation sends? Apparently, through hate crime legislation, we are simply saying to the world, if you are really going to hurt me, please, please do not hate me. Instead, make it a random, cold-blooded, senseless act of violence. That is what we prefer in this country, according to this bill.
[Emphasis added.]
Monday, April 03, 2006
Canadian Tyranny a Warning to U.S.
Rev. Tristan Emmanuel, of the ECP Centre in Canada ("Equipping Christians for the Public Square"), was the dynamic speaker at our recent MassResistance/Article 8 Alliance banquet.
Describing the tyranny in Canada concerning any opposition to the extremist homosexual agenda, Rev. Emmanuel made it all too clear that we're traveling down that same road in America, with "hate crimes" legislation, laws and regulations protecting any imaginable "sexual orientation" (never defined in law!), etc. What Emmanuel calls "Christophobia" is really an attempt to silence the Christian Gospel, first on issues of homosexuality, then on other moral teachings.
Here's a report from Agape Press by Gail Besse, who attended the banquet. Excerpts:
Christians are being humiliated, intimidated, and stopped from expressing their beliefs in public, Rev. Tristan Emmanuel recently told a gathering concerned about judicial activism and the erosion of free speech in Massachusetts. He outlined the situation in Canada, where same-sex "marriage" is legal and a 2004 law criminalized the criticism of homosexuality as a hate crime. America is headed the same way unless people of faith stop apologizing for their sincerely held beliefs, said Emmanuel...
Emmanuel stressed the danger involved when a legislative body defers to a judicial one ... In Canada, he said, human rights tribunals started out as watchdog groups but became empowered by Parliament with police powers. The tribunals investigate what they consider to be human rights violations, "educate" people with mandatory sensitivity training, then prosecute and judge on grounds of guilty until proven innocent, according to the pastor. One case involved a Toronto printer who refused to print material on lesbianism. The ensuing court battle -- which the printer lost -- lasted nine years and cost the printer $170,000....
Describing the tyranny in Canada concerning any opposition to the extremist homosexual agenda, Rev. Emmanuel made it all too clear that we're traveling down that same road in America, with "hate crimes" legislation, laws and regulations protecting any imaginable "sexual orientation" (never defined in law!), etc. What Emmanuel calls "Christophobia" is really an attempt to silence the Christian Gospel, first on issues of homosexuality, then on other moral teachings.
Here's a report from Agape Press by Gail Besse, who attended the banquet. Excerpts:
Christians are being humiliated, intimidated, and stopped from expressing their beliefs in public, Rev. Tristan Emmanuel recently told a gathering concerned about judicial activism and the erosion of free speech in Massachusetts. He outlined the situation in Canada, where same-sex "marriage" is legal and a 2004 law criminalized the criticism of homosexuality as a hate crime. America is headed the same way unless people of faith stop apologizing for their sincerely held beliefs, said Emmanuel...
Emmanuel stressed the danger involved when a legislative body defers to a judicial one ... In Canada, he said, human rights tribunals started out as watchdog groups but became empowered by Parliament with police powers. The tribunals investigate what they consider to be human rights violations, "educate" people with mandatory sensitivity training, then prosecute and judge on grounds of guilty until proven innocent, according to the pastor. One case involved a Toronto printer who refused to print material on lesbianism. The ensuing court battle -- which the printer lost -- lasted nine years and cost the printer $170,000....
Saturday, April 01, 2006
The War on Christians: We're Fighting Back!
We recently attended a great conference in D.C. on the war on Christian values here in the U.S. You know who is behind the assault: the activist judiciary, the ACLU, assorted "progressive" liberal politicians, the abortion lobby, the homosexual lobby, Unitarians and other assorted secular humanists, etc.
The conference was sponsored by Vision America. They've worked with some of the best conservative thinkers in America to draw up their" contract with Congress" to promote an "American Renewal." The ten points [not exact quotes]:
1. Affirm the national relationship with God in our places of worship, schools, mottos, and public spaces.
2. Secure our national interest in the institutions of marriage and family.
3. Secure our fundamental right as parents to the care, custody, and control of our children.
4. Secure our God-gifted right to life [vs. abortion, human cloning, human embryo research].
5. Protect religious freedom [including blocking "hate crime" legislation].
6. Protect property rights.
7. Pass legislation to restrict obscenity and pornography [and against its inclusion as a First Amendment right].
8. Secure just taxes through tax reform.
9. Secure our national borders.
10. Call for judicial restraint and an end to judicial activism.
Read their declaration of principles at ValuesVoter.org. The largest, boldest print in the text is reserved for their call for "Judicial Restraint and and end to Judicial Activism" -- which makes us very happy! And they're developing a website focused on stopping activist judges.
The conference was sponsored by Vision America. They've worked with some of the best conservative thinkers in America to draw up their" contract with Congress" to promote an "American Renewal." The ten points [not exact quotes]:
1. Affirm the national relationship with God in our places of worship, schools, mottos, and public spaces.
2. Secure our national interest in the institutions of marriage and family.
3. Secure our fundamental right as parents to the care, custody, and control of our children.
4. Secure our God-gifted right to life [vs. abortion, human cloning, human embryo research].
5. Protect religious freedom [including blocking "hate crime" legislation].
6. Protect property rights.
7. Pass legislation to restrict obscenity and pornography [and against its inclusion as a First Amendment right].
8. Secure just taxes through tax reform.
9. Secure our national borders.
10. Call for judicial restraint and an end to judicial activism.
Read their declaration of principles at ValuesVoter.org. The largest, boldest print in the text is reserved for their call for "Judicial Restraint and and end to Judicial Activism" -- which makes us very happy! And they're developing a website focused on stopping activist judges.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Friday, March 24, 2006
More "Hate Speech" Accusations: Howie Carr, John DePetro, Alain's Newsletter !!
Bay Windows, Boston's GLBT newspaper, is reporting that WRKO 680AM is being hit hard by a sponsor, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, for the station's supposedly "gay-bashing" talk-show hosts -- Howie Carr and John DePetro. What sort of a weird world are we living in? A major health care provider, HPHC, is promoting sexual practices which entail serious physical and mental health risks, while trying to silence reasonable, common-sense talk about the perversion that's taken hold in Massachusetts. (We must admit we enjoy Howie's sound effects whenever referencing "gays".)
[From Bay Windows:]
“We’ve expressed our concerns about the topics recently discussed at WRKO to the station management,” said Harvard Pilgrim Health Care spokeswoman Sharon Torgerson in an interview Tuesday. Togerson added that the concerns were raised following the publication of a column in Bay Windows March 9 calling for a boycott of WRKO advertisers. Torgerson said that WRKO station management said that comments documented in the column had been made by callers. Those comments included Depetro’s having talked about the arrest of State Police Sgt. O’Hare who has been accused of soliciting sex over the Internet from a 14-year-old boy, who in reality was an undercover FBI agent. It was Depetro — and not a caller — who said that gay men have a propensity to molest boys and the entire gay community now wears O’Hare’s alleged crime around its “neck.”
... WRKO’s on-air gay bashing by talks show hosts, particularly Carr and former WRKO host Michael Savage, has long been documented in the local media. Former Boston Phoenix media critic Dan Kennedy has written extensively about their on-air antics. In an open letter to former WRKO program director Mike Elder, published in the Phoenix July 11, 2003, Kennedy noted that Carr “has made seventh-grade-level tee-hee gay-bashing a staple of his program.” The Harvard Pilgrim ads on WRKO have become a common feature on the AM station. The advertisements feature Harvard Pilgrim CEO Charles Baker, a former cabinet member in the William F. Weld administration who recently considered a bid for the G.O.P. nomination for governor. Baker is generally considered progressive on social issues.
Also along these lines, Alain's Newsletter ("conservative, Christian, and politically active"), is being blocked by Google from its news engine. Alain explains this is censorship -- based on Google's opinion that the content of his newsletter is "Hate Speech". Alain writes:
... [Nowhere] on this site are I, or any of my contributing columnists, advocating violence against [gays] or anyone else. We argue in the political and spiritual arenas. People who stoop to physical violence against people are in my opinion the lowest of the low.
I am speaking from experience here. A few years ago I was attacked by two homosexual men in Pasadena California. I have a two inch scar on my right arm from the knife they cut me with.
I also have had my home broken into, walls punched full of holes, furniture shredded and loving messages about what homosexuals were going to do to me, and my son (two years old at that time) spray painted throughout the interior of almost every room in the house.
This site is not about violence, this site is about reform, protecting our children from what we view as dangerous immorality, and the direction of our country in general. I know something about real hate ... and this site is not it.
... They disagree with the viewpoint of my newsletter, so they will censor it under the guise of "Hate Speech", even though there is nothing hatefull about it.... I never claimed to be a news site. My site is an opinion editorial site. Other such sites are included in google news, as anyone who uses it can attest. If they happily include leftist sites, why is mine singled out as Hate Speech? As stated by you above, they disagree with my point of view. So they block the public from being exposed to my point of view. The public never gets to form their own opinions. It is not googles place to decide what is right and what is wrong. This even goes against their number four point in google philosphy ["Democracy on the web works"] .
Gary Kelly writes in Alain's Newsletter:
The real "hate crime" violators are bigots that hate Christians and Scriptures, because Christians shed light into the darkness (John 3:19-21) advanced by those with " reprobate minds" (Romans 1:18-31) and teaching our children that that "which goes against nature" as being “normal.”
Hate-crime legislation is NOT about anti-violence. It is a deception being used to legitimize homosexuality and discriminate against Judeo-Christian Scriptural traditional family and marriage values.
The real hate crime is Outlawing the Bible, as they did prayer, and the Ten Commandments.
[From Bay Windows:]
“We’ve expressed our concerns about the topics recently discussed at WRKO to the station management,” said Harvard Pilgrim Health Care spokeswoman Sharon Torgerson in an interview Tuesday. Togerson added that the concerns were raised following the publication of a column in Bay Windows March 9 calling for a boycott of WRKO advertisers. Torgerson said that WRKO station management said that comments documented in the column had been made by callers. Those comments included Depetro’s having talked about the arrest of State Police Sgt. O’Hare who has been accused of soliciting sex over the Internet from a 14-year-old boy, who in reality was an undercover FBI agent. It was Depetro — and not a caller — who said that gay men have a propensity to molest boys and the entire gay community now wears O’Hare’s alleged crime around its “neck.”
... WRKO’s on-air gay bashing by talks show hosts, particularly Carr and former WRKO host Michael Savage, has long been documented in the local media. Former Boston Phoenix media critic Dan Kennedy has written extensively about their on-air antics. In an open letter to former WRKO program director Mike Elder, published in the Phoenix July 11, 2003, Kennedy noted that Carr “has made seventh-grade-level tee-hee gay-bashing a staple of his program.” The Harvard Pilgrim ads on WRKO have become a common feature on the AM station. The advertisements feature Harvard Pilgrim CEO Charles Baker, a former cabinet member in the William F. Weld administration who recently considered a bid for the G.O.P. nomination for governor. Baker is generally considered progressive on social issues.
Also along these lines, Alain's Newsletter ("conservative, Christian, and politically active"), is being blocked by Google from its news engine. Alain explains this is censorship -- based on Google's opinion that the content of his newsletter is "Hate Speech". Alain writes:
... [Nowhere] on this site are I, or any of my contributing columnists, advocating violence against [gays] or anyone else. We argue in the political and spiritual arenas. People who stoop to physical violence against people are in my opinion the lowest of the low.
I am speaking from experience here. A few years ago I was attacked by two homosexual men in Pasadena California. I have a two inch scar on my right arm from the knife they cut me with.
I also have had my home broken into, walls punched full of holes, furniture shredded and loving messages about what homosexuals were going to do to me, and my son (two years old at that time) spray painted throughout the interior of almost every room in the house.
This site is not about violence, this site is about reform, protecting our children from what we view as dangerous immorality, and the direction of our country in general. I know something about real hate ... and this site is not it.
... They disagree with the viewpoint of my newsletter, so they will censor it under the guise of "Hate Speech", even though there is nothing hatefull about it.... I never claimed to be a news site. My site is an opinion editorial site. Other such sites are included in google news, as anyone who uses it can attest. If they happily include leftist sites, why is mine singled out as Hate Speech? As stated by you above, they disagree with my point of view. So they block the public from being exposed to my point of view. The public never gets to form their own opinions. It is not googles place to decide what is right and what is wrong. This even goes against their number four point in google philosphy ["Democracy on the web works"] .
Gary Kelly writes in Alain's Newsletter:
The real "hate crime" violators are bigots that hate Christians and Scriptures, because Christians shed light into the darkness (John 3:19-21) advanced by those with " reprobate minds" (Romans 1:18-31) and teaching our children that that "which goes against nature" as being “normal.”
Hate-crime legislation is NOT about anti-violence. It is a deception being used to legitimize homosexuality and discriminate against Judeo-Christian Scriptural traditional family and marriage values.
The real hate crime is Outlawing the Bible, as they did prayer, and the Ten Commandments.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Massachusetts Law: "Sexual Orientation" Includes Pederasty! -- Sexual Orientation Defined, Part III
In our continuing search for a definition of "sexual orientation" in the law, we made this shocking discovery: Massachusetts law actually declares PEDOPHILIA* &/or PEDERASTY** a "sexual orientation" !
Don't believe us? Read Ch. 272, Sec. 92A for yourself:
CHAPTER 272. CRIMES AGAINST CHASTITY, MORALITY, DECENCY AND GOOD ORDER
Chapter 272: Section 92A. Advertisement, book, notice or sign relative to discrimination; definition of place of public accommodation, resort or amusement
Section 92A. No owner, lessee, proprietor, manager, superintendent, agent or employee of any place of public accommodation, resort or amusement shall, directly or indirectly, by himself or another, publish, issue, circulate, distribute or display, or cause to be published, issued, circulated, distributed or displayed, in any way, any advertisement, circular, folder, book, pamphlet, written or painted or printed notice or sign, of any kind or description, intended to discriminate against or actually discriminating against persons of any religious sect, creed, class, race, color, denomination, sex, sexual orientation, which shall not include persons whose sexual orientation involves minor children as the sex object, nationality, or because of deafness or blindness, or any physical or mental disability, in the full enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facilities or privileges offered to the general public by such places of public accommodation, resort or amusement.
[Emphasis added.]
*pedophilia
noun: sexual perversion in which children are the preferred sexual object
Source: Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
**pederasty
noun: sexual relations between a man and a boy (usually anal intercourse with the boy as a passive partner)
Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University
[See Part I and Part II of our series on "sexual orientation" defined.]
Well, that really clarifies things, doesn't it? And note that, in seeming contradiction, Ch. 272 (of Massachusetts General Laws) purportedly addresses "CRIMES AGAINST CHASTITY, MORALITY, DECENCY AND GOOD ORDER."Don't believe us? Read Ch. 272, Sec. 92A for yourself:
CHAPTER 272. CRIMES AGAINST CHASTITY, MORALITY, DECENCY AND GOOD ORDER
Chapter 272: Section 92A. Advertisement, book, notice or sign relative to discrimination; definition of place of public accommodation, resort or amusement
Section 92A. No owner, lessee, proprietor, manager, superintendent, agent or employee of any place of public accommodation, resort or amusement shall, directly or indirectly, by himself or another, publish, issue, circulate, distribute or display, or cause to be published, issued, circulated, distributed or displayed, in any way, any advertisement, circular, folder, book, pamphlet, written or painted or printed notice or sign, of any kind or description, intended to discriminate against or actually discriminating against persons of any religious sect, creed, class, race, color, denomination, sex, sexual orientation, which shall not include persons whose sexual orientation involves minor children as the sex object, nationality, or because of deafness or blindness, or any physical or mental disability, in the full enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facilities or privileges offered to the general public by such places of public accommodation, resort or amusement.
[Emphasis added.]
*pedophilia
noun: sexual perversion in which children are the preferred sexual object
Source: Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
**pederasty
noun: sexual relations between a man and a boy (usually anal intercourse with the boy as a passive partner)
Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Sexual Orientation Defined, Part II
We're continuing our discussion of the linguistic, conceptual, and legal confusion being sown by homosexual activists regarding the meaning of "sexual orientation." (See Part I.) In recent years, they've added a new qualifier to what may not be discriminated against: so-called "gender identity and expression", and then they further add "actual or perceived". This will cover any conceivable weirdness and public displays you can imagine, plus allow incredible latitude for litigation. Who will determine one's "identity" (presumably, only that individual), or what is included in "expression", or what the perceiver "perceived"?
We've read in Bay Windows that Rep. Carl Sciortino will be pushing a bill including these phrases in the state legislataure. And U.S. Rep. Barney Frank is doing the same at the federal level.
In Maine, a new law including such language was passed in 2005. It goes farther than any other in the country. The Christian Civic Leage of Maine (which led the fight to stop it) explained: "The law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, housing, public accommodations, credit and education. It defines sexual orientation as 'a person's actual or perceived heterosexuality, bisexuality, homosexuality or gender identity or expression.' "
And now there's a bill in Vermont proposing essentially the same thing. Kevin Blier of Vermont Renewal writes that House Bill 478:
... is intended to add "gender identity and expression" to the list of protected classes in housing, real-estate purchases, employment and membership in employee organizations, such as labor unions. This bill targets a small minority of people for a set of special protections. ... It creates a classification that does not have clearly defined characteristics. This makes it difficult to predict the consequences of the bill if it is passed.
[While...] Gender Identity Disorder is a defined and treatable psychosexual dysfunction according to the American Psychiatric Association, it isn't clear that people will need to prove the presence of GID in order to qualify for the special protections.
What is also unclear is that since the bill protects gender "expression", cross-dressers and transvestites may also receive protections despite the problems such behavior could cause at a place of business or in a classroom.
While it would be unfair to discriminate against someone who is trying to decide a gender that nature had failed to define, such as in the case of hermaphrodites [an extremely rare circumstance], someone whose sex is clearly defined should not be entitled to play "sexual identity bingo" as retribution against an employer or as a tool to initiate frivolous litigation.
... Just because someone has strange or unusual sexual proclivities doesn't mean they are entitled to special protection under the law.... After all, couldn't a sadomasochist make the same argument? A polygamist?" ...
[Vermont Renewal newsletter, "A Closer Look" Jan/Feb 2006]
We've read in Bay Windows that Rep. Carl Sciortino will be pushing a bill including these phrases in the state legislataure. And U.S. Rep. Barney Frank is doing the same at the federal level.
In Maine, a new law including such language was passed in 2005. It goes farther than any other in the country. The Christian Civic Leage of Maine (which led the fight to stop it) explained: "The law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, housing, public accommodations, credit and education. It defines sexual orientation as 'a person's actual or perceived heterosexuality, bisexuality, homosexuality or gender identity or expression.' "
And now there's a bill in Vermont proposing essentially the same thing. Kevin Blier of Vermont Renewal writes that House Bill 478:
... is intended to add "gender identity and expression" to the list of protected classes in housing, real-estate purchases, employment and membership in employee organizations, such as labor unions. This bill targets a small minority of people for a set of special protections. ... It creates a classification that does not have clearly defined characteristics. This makes it difficult to predict the consequences of the bill if it is passed.
[While...] Gender Identity Disorder is a defined and treatable psychosexual dysfunction according to the American Psychiatric Association, it isn't clear that people will need to prove the presence of GID in order to qualify for the special protections.
What is also unclear is that since the bill protects gender "expression", cross-dressers and transvestites may also receive protections despite the problems such behavior could cause at a place of business or in a classroom.
While it would be unfair to discriminate against someone who is trying to decide a gender that nature had failed to define, such as in the case of hermaphrodites [an extremely rare circumstance], someone whose sex is clearly defined should not be entitled to play "sexual identity bingo" as retribution against an employer or as a tool to initiate frivolous litigation.
... Just because someone has strange or unusual sexual proclivities doesn't mean they are entitled to special protection under the law.... After all, couldn't a sadomasochist make the same argument? A polygamist?" ...
[Vermont Renewal newsletter, "A Closer Look" Jan/Feb 2006]
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Sexual Orientation Defined, Part I
The term "sexual orientation" is never defined. Not in public discourse, not in law. Yet there is law banning discrimination on the basis of "sexual orientation" -- whatever that is. How absurd.
Even the participants in the GLBT counterculture don't agree on definitions, or even terminology. New vocabulary is added monthly, it seems, and definitions are changed constantly. For instance, look at these newly-minted definitions in GLSEN's "Day of Silence" organizing manual, being disseminated to young people across the country. (GLSEN = Gay, Lesbian, & Straight Education Network.)
So you thought you knew what "gay" or "lesbian" meant? Check again. Note that, according to GLSEN, the concept of reality-based or biologically-based gender is obsolete. Gender confusion is the new order! And note the new "spiritual" component claimed for GLBT sexuality. (Interestingly, whether these sexualities are inborn or learned is sidestepped in these definitions.)
Sexual orientation - The preferred term used when referring to an individual's physical, emotional, romantic, and/or spiritual attraction to another person.
Gay - A term used to describe one who identifies as a man and who is attracted to other male-identified people.
Lesbian - Refers to a woman-identified person who is attracted to other women-identified persons.
Bisexual - A term used in describing an individual who expresses attraction for males and females. [Is bisexuality inborn? Did they mean to say the attraction is to "male- and female-identifying people"?]
Queer - Terms [sic] used to describe persons who are not heterosexual [or heterosexual identifying?] because of its gender-neutrality and its implication of social non-conformity.
Transgender - This term loosely [sic] refers to people who do not identify with the gender roles assigned to them by society based on the [sic] biological sex. Transgender is also used as an umbrella term for all those who do not conform to "traditional" notions of gender expression and includes people who identify as transsexual, or as a drag queen/king.
Even the participants in the GLBT counterculture don't agree on definitions, or even terminology. New vocabulary is added monthly, it seems, and definitions are changed constantly. For instance, look at these newly-minted definitions in GLSEN's "Day of Silence" organizing manual, being disseminated to young people across the country. (GLSEN = Gay, Lesbian, & Straight Education Network.)
So you thought you knew what "gay" or "lesbian" meant? Check again. Note that, according to GLSEN, the concept of reality-based or biologically-based gender is obsolete. Gender confusion is the new order! And note the new "spiritual" component claimed for GLBT sexuality. (Interestingly, whether these sexualities are inborn or learned is sidestepped in these definitions.)
Sexual orientation - The preferred term used when referring to an individual's physical, emotional, romantic, and/or spiritual attraction to another person.
Gay - A term used to describe one who identifies as a man and who is attracted to other male-identified people.
Lesbian - Refers to a woman-identified person who is attracted to other women-identified persons.
Bisexual - A term used in describing an individual who expresses attraction for males and females. [Is bisexuality inborn? Did they mean to say the attraction is to "male- and female-identifying people"?]
Queer - Terms [sic] used to describe persons who are not heterosexual [or heterosexual identifying?] because of its gender-neutrality and its implication of social non-conformity.
Transgender - This term loosely [sic] refers to people who do not identify with the gender roles assigned to them by society based on the [sic] biological sex. Transgender is also used as an umbrella term for all those who do not conform to "traditional" notions of gender expression and includes people who identify as transsexual, or as a drag queen/king.
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Massachusetts' Most Dangerous Legislators, IV
Homosexual PAC Endorsements for Mass. Legislature, 2004 election
Part IV in our series. [See Part I, II, and III.]
Here's the list of Massachusetts legislators who received formal, public endorsements from homosexual PACs (political action committees) before the 2004 election. In many cases, these candidates got help in the form of campaign workers, consultants, and district-wide-mailings. Some of the groups also state that there are others they helped, but who were not identified publicly.
Our count shows 22 Senators and 65 Representatives who have sold out to the homosexual lobby. This is out of 87 out of 200 legislators in the combined Mass. Senate and House. [Note that Senator Shannon, now deceased, was replaced by Rep. Jehlen; who was replaced by a newly elected Rep. who fully supports the homosexual agenda. So the count stays the same.]
Note that two legislators recently in the MassResistance /Article 8 news, Senator Cynthia Creem (sponsor of a bill lessening penalties for bestiality) and Rep. Patricia Haddad (House Chair of Education Committee, who headed up the recent hearing on H1641 and earlier on our opt-in bill H1050) are on this list.
The endorsing groups include: MassEquality, SupportEquality, Mass. Gay & Lesbian Political Caucus, Freedom to Marry Coalition, Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, LGBT of Western Mass., Bay State Stonewal Democrats, Religious Coalition for Freedom to Marry, Cambridge Lavender Alliance, OutSomerville. (Also, those receiving praise from Bay Windows.)
SENATORS
Antonioni, Robert
Augustus, Edward
Baddour, Steven
Barrios, Jarrett
Chandler, Harriette
Creem, Cynthia
Fargo, Susan
Havern, Robert
Joyce, Brian
McGee, Thomas
Montigny, Mark
Nuciforo, Andrea
O'Leary, Robert
Resor, Pamela
Rosenberg, Stanley
Shannon, Charles [deceased; replaced by Rep Jehlen]
Spilka, Karen
Tisei, Richard
Tolman, Steven
Tucker, Susan
Walsh, Marian
Wilkerson, Dianne
REPRESENTATIVES
Atkins, Cory
Balser, Ruth
Blumer, Deborah
Bosley, Daniel
Canessa, Stephen
Costello, Michael
Donelan, Christopher
Eldridge, James
Fallon, Christopher
Falzone, Mark
Festa, Michael
Finegold, Barry
Forry, Linda Dorcena
Fox, Gloria
Galvin, William
Grant, Mary
Guyer, Denis
Haddad, Patricia
Honan, Kevin
Jehlen, Patricia [now Senator]
Kaprielian, Rachel
Kaufman, Jay
Keenan, John
Khan, Kay
Kocot, Peter
Kulik, Stephen
Linsky, David
L'Italien, Barbara
Malia, Liz
Marzilli, J. James
Murphy, Charles
Patrick, Matthew
Paulsen, Anne
Peisch, Alice
Petersen, Douglas
Pignatelli, Smitty
Reinstein, Kathi-Anne
Rivera, Cheryl
Rushing, Byron
Sannicandro, Tom
Scibak, John
Sciortino, Carl
Smizik, Frank
Speliotis, Theodore
Spellane, Robert
Stanley, Thomas
St. Fleur, Marie
Story, Ellen
Swan, Benjamin
Teahan, Kathleen
Toomey, Timothy
Torrisi, David
Turner, Cleon
Walsh, Martin
Walsh, Steven
Walz, Mary
Wolf, Alice
In addition to these legislators, MassEquality posted a list of "Voices of Equality" incumbents after the 2004 election. Here are names that didn't appear on the pre-election list. (Does this mean they took the homosexual PACs' help, but didn't want it known before the election?)
REPRESENTATIVES
Cabral, Antonia
DiMasi, Sal (Speaker of the House)
Harkins, Lida
Koutoujian, Peter
Mariano, Richard
Sanchez, Jeffrey
Stanley, Harriet
Sullivan, David
Part IV in our series. [See Part I, II, and III.]
Here's the list of Massachusetts legislators who received formal, public endorsements from homosexual PACs (political action committees) before the 2004 election. In many cases, these candidates got help in the form of campaign workers, consultants, and district-wide-mailings. Some of the groups also state that there are others they helped, but who were not identified publicly.
Our count shows 22 Senators and 65 Representatives who have sold out to the homosexual lobby. This is out of 87 out of 200 legislators in the combined Mass. Senate and House. [Note that Senator Shannon, now deceased, was replaced by Rep. Jehlen; who was replaced by a newly elected Rep. who fully supports the homosexual agenda. So the count stays the same.]
Note that two legislators recently in the MassResistance /Article 8 news, Senator Cynthia Creem (sponsor of a bill lessening penalties for bestiality) and Rep. Patricia Haddad (House Chair of Education Committee, who headed up the recent hearing on H1641 and earlier on our opt-in bill H1050) are on this list.
The endorsing groups include: MassEquality, SupportEquality, Mass. Gay & Lesbian Political Caucus, Freedom to Marry Coalition, Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, LGBT of Western Mass., Bay State Stonewal Democrats, Religious Coalition for Freedom to Marry, Cambridge Lavender Alliance, OutSomerville. (Also, those receiving praise from Bay Windows.)
SENATORS
Antonioni, Robert
Augustus, Edward
Baddour, Steven
Barrios, Jarrett
Chandler, Harriette
Creem, Cynthia
Fargo, Susan
Havern, Robert
Joyce, Brian
McGee, Thomas
Montigny, Mark
Nuciforo, Andrea
O'Leary, Robert
Resor, Pamela
Rosenberg, Stanley
Shannon, Charles [deceased; replaced by Rep Jehlen]
Spilka, Karen
Tisei, Richard
Tolman, Steven
Tucker, Susan
Walsh, Marian
Wilkerson, Dianne
REPRESENTATIVES
Atkins, Cory
Balser, Ruth
Blumer, Deborah
Bosley, Daniel
Canessa, Stephen
Costello, Michael
Donelan, Christopher
Eldridge, James
Fallon, Christopher
Falzone, Mark
Festa, Michael
Finegold, Barry
Forry, Linda Dorcena
Fox, Gloria
Galvin, William
Grant, Mary
Guyer, Denis
Haddad, Patricia
Honan, Kevin
Jehlen, Patricia [now Senator]
Kaprielian, Rachel
Kaufman, Jay
Keenan, John
Khan, Kay
Kocot, Peter
Kulik, Stephen
Linsky, David
L'Italien, Barbara
Malia, Liz
Marzilli, J. James
Murphy, Charles
Patrick, Matthew
Paulsen, Anne
Peisch, Alice
Petersen, Douglas
Pignatelli, Smitty
Reinstein, Kathi-Anne
Rivera, Cheryl
Rushing, Byron
Sannicandro, Tom
Scibak, John
Sciortino, Carl
Smizik, Frank
Speliotis, Theodore
Spellane, Robert
Stanley, Thomas
St. Fleur, Marie
Story, Ellen
Swan, Benjamin
Teahan, Kathleen
Toomey, Timothy
Torrisi, David
Turner, Cleon
Walsh, Martin
Walsh, Steven
Walz, Mary
Wolf, Alice
In addition to these legislators, MassEquality posted a list of "Voices of Equality" incumbents after the 2004 election. Here are names that didn't appear on the pre-election list. (Does this mean they took the homosexual PACs' help, but didn't want it known before the election?)
REPRESENTATIVES
Cabral, Antonia
DiMasi, Sal (Speaker of the House)
Harkins, Lida
Koutoujian, Peter
Mariano, Richard
Sanchez, Jeffrey
Stanley, Harriet
Sullivan, David
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Lt. Gov. Healey Wants to Remove Bad Judges!
Wow! Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey thinks bad judges should be removed! It's good she's focusing on judges who let off rapists and murderers.
But we wish she'd also address judges who defy the Constitution and contribute to the destruction American society!
[From the Boston Herald, "Healey Pushes Judge Review," 3-14-06.]
Citing several high-profile cases involving questionable sentences, Healey wants a “thumbs up, thumbs down” panel to review all the state’s judges every seven years.
Her proposal, which would require majority support from the Legislature and the approval of voters, would create a clear-cut removal process for judges for the first time in state history.
“Every year or so one of these cases comes up and you say, ‘Why don’t we have more evaluation of our judges?’ ” said Healey, who is running for governor. “Massachusetts is nearly isolated in having lifetime tenure for their judges. I think that results in a judicial culture that is unaccountable.”
Many states have elected judges. Massachusetts is one of just three - along with New Hampshire and Rhode Island - where judges are given lifetime appointments, Healey said....
She unveiled the proposal to create an appointed Judicial Evaluation Commission a day after the Herald reported that Winchendon serial child rapist Glen Wheeler was put back on probation with an electronic monitoring bracelet March 3 despite repeated probation violations and fleeing to Florida....
[Retired state Judge Rudolph] Kass also argued that there are already systems in place to evaluate judges. The Judicial Conduct Commission handles complaints against judges, while the Massachusetts Bar Association and the Supreme Judicial Court have recently begun issuing “report cards” on justices....
There is also a provision in the state constitution for removing judges, through the Bill of Address, requiring a majority of the Legislature with approval of the Governor and the Governor's Council.
But we wish she'd also address judges who defy the Constitution and contribute to the destruction American society!
[From the Boston Herald, "Healey Pushes Judge Review," 3-14-06.]
Citing several high-profile cases involving questionable sentences, Healey wants a “thumbs up, thumbs down” panel to review all the state’s judges every seven years.
Her proposal, which would require majority support from the Legislature and the approval of voters, would create a clear-cut removal process for judges for the first time in state history.
“Every year or so one of these cases comes up and you say, ‘Why don’t we have more evaluation of our judges?’ ” said Healey, who is running for governor. “Massachusetts is nearly isolated in having lifetime tenure for their judges. I think that results in a judicial culture that is unaccountable.”
Many states have elected judges. Massachusetts is one of just three - along with New Hampshire and Rhode Island - where judges are given lifetime appointments, Healey said....
She unveiled the proposal to create an appointed Judicial Evaluation Commission a day after the Herald reported that Winchendon serial child rapist Glen Wheeler was put back on probation with an electronic monitoring bracelet March 3 despite repeated probation violations and fleeing to Florida....
[Retired state Judge Rudolph] Kass also argued that there are already systems in place to evaluate judges. The Judicial Conduct Commission handles complaints against judges, while the Massachusetts Bar Association and the Supreme Judicial Court have recently begun issuing “report cards” on justices....
There is also a provision in the state constitution for removing judges, through the Bill of Address, requiring a majority of the Legislature with approval of the Governor and the Governor's Council.
Monday, March 13, 2006
Sen. Creem Protecting Cats & Chickens from Rapists!
State Senator Cynthia Creem is not pleased with our analysis of her bill lessening the penalities for bestiality, S938. We never said she wanted to decriminalize it, just lessen the penalties. She says she wants to protect cats and chickens from human rapists! Her Legal Counsel asked us to publish his response explaining their reasoning (below).
(Now we wonder if Rep. David Linsky will come back with a response on our posting on his bill, H819, saying it was a simple error by his secretary when she filed it, and he didn't really mean to decriminalize bestiality?)
Here's what the law in question currently states: "Whoever commits the abominable and detestable crime against nature, either with mankind or with a beast, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than twenty years." (Ch. 272, Sec. 34.)
And here's how Sen. Creem's bill (S938) would change it: [First it removes human-to-human sodomy altogether and reads ...] Whoever commits a sexual act on an animal shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than 20 years or in a house of correction for not more than 2 ½ years, or by a fine of not more than $5,000, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
You don't have to be a lawyer to see that one of the proposed penalties is just a fine with no prison time. And that fine could be as low as $1. That looks like "lessening the penalty" compared to some prison time as required in current law!
To MassResistance:
I read your inaccurate portrayal of Senator Creem's bill to revise the bestiality statute on your web site. Unfortunately, there has been a great deal of misinformation about the bill posted on the internet without any attempt at fact checking. To help explain the purposes and the need for the bill, I have attached a letter I sent one of our constituents several months ago. Since your posting has generated several calls to our office, I would appreciate it if you would post a retraction.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Sean Kealy, Legal Counsel
Office of Senator Cynthia Stone Creem
[He attached an earlier letter to Brian Camenker at Article 8 Alliance:]
Thank you for the opportunity to give you some accurate information about Senator Creem’s proposal to repeal several archaic crimes and to revise and update the bestiality statute. Since you are a constituent of Senator Creem’s, I am surprised that you did not contact us for clarification or explanation for one of her bills. It seems as though you have received bad information from your sources within the State House. Clearly they, like Mr. McMorrow from Weekly Dig, are neither trained in criminal law nor familiar with the drafting of criminal statutes. If they had researched this issue, you would not be so misinformed.
Your internet postings create the impression that Senator Creem is trying to legalize bestiality. This seems to be a poor attempt to give credence to Senator Rick Santorum’s ridiculous and hyperbolic statements that the legalization of gay marriage in Massachusetts would naturally lead to the legalization of bestiality. This accusation is absolutely baseless—especially since we are taking pains to not only retain the bestiality statute, but also make it more effective.
Secondly, the substitution of the word “animal” for the word beast will absolutely expand the reach of the bestiality statute. You may not be aware of people in Massachusetts having sex acts with ‘dogs, cats or fowl,’ but it is an unfortunate and deviant behavior that occurs throughout the world. In fact, the Humane Society of the United States reported that,
“Cases of sexual abuse of animals include many species, both domestic and wild. Dogs and horses are the most frequently mentioned targets. Their availability and status as companions may make them likely victims. Dogs may be acquired from free-to good home advertisements, pet shops, breeders, animal shelters or as strays. Animals who are kept outside, such as dogs, horses, cows sheep, chickens, may be abused by “fence-jumpers” who trespass to gain access to animal victims. Wildlife in captivity, such as those in roadside zoos, may also be vulnerable to abusers.” (“Animal Sexual Abuse” Report of The Humane Society of the United States, January, 1999).
The Humane Society Report goes on to report 11 cases of charged bestiality with dogs and cats in Florida, Montana, South Carolina, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Tennessee and Ohio.
Furthermore, you may not be aware of the problem in Massachusetts because the statute is ineffective and such people are not being charged appropriately. In support of my contention, I would offer Boston Police Officer John Sacco’s “Police Beat” column from the June 18, 1998 edition of South End News (page 9). Officer Sacco reported that:
“[T]he residents of a local elderly building became upset when a 47 –year-old male resident started having sex with his female dog in plain view in the common areas. People complained that on one occasion, in the elevator, ‘He lifted the dog by the hind legs and performed oral sex.’ When asked why he was doing that, he said, ‘The dog was in heat.’ On another occasion he was having digital sex with the dog while saying, ‘You love it.’ The outrage by residents was heard loud and clear. He had to be charged. A research of law revealed that the crime of bestiality, sex with an animal, referred only to ‘hoofed beasts.’ Our law is based on the old English common law. Our forefathers saw sex with a horse, donkey, sheep, etc. as an abomination. Sex with a web-footed animal such as a duck or a pawed animal like a dog or cat was okay.…A court of law will decide the fate of the dog lover—soon, we hope.”
Part of the problem is that the term “beast” is itself archaic within a legal context. The term is not even included in the 8th or 6th editions of Black’s Law Dictionary. Using the 4th edition of Black’s, however, defendants have been able to argue that the term beasts are limited to horses, cows pigs and livestock. See eg. People v. McKnight, 302 N.W.2d 241, 243 (Michigan App. Ct., 1981). Absent a current legally accepted definition, a court might rely upon a common usage dictionary definition. The American Heritage Dictionary defines a beast as a “large four footed mammal.” Even this definition, which does not rely upon the hoofed/pawed/webbed foot distinction, would seemingly exclude a small dog, a cat, or a bird. Some state courts, such as the Appellate Court of Indiana, have judicially expanded the definition of “beast” to encompass all animals, but only through some legal sleight of hand. See e.g. Gates v. Petri, 143 N.E.2d 293 (1957) (finding that defendant’s sex act with a chicken was covered by the Indiana bestiality statute). The Massachusetts appellate courts have not made such a ruling to date, leaving prosecutors and police confused. Changing the word to “animal” would at least remove confusion and at best expand the reach of the statute.
Thirdly, your flippant comment that the courts are “not clogged up with grand jury investigations on bestiality” misses the point. It is a common practice today to give the prosecutor the flexibility to charge and prosecute even serious crimes in the District Court. As a former prosecutor, I can report that there may be many reasons for this decision including: the particular facts of a case, the criminal record of the offender, a multi-defendant strategy (e.g. prosecuting a minor player in a criminal conspiracy at the district court level to elicit a cooperation agreement against a major player), or if the underlying crime was not completed and the only available charge is an attempt or a conspiracy. It should be noted that the maximum sentence would only be 2 ½ years if the prosecutor chose to bring the charges in the District Court. While the District Court did not exist when the bestiality statute was first enacted, this option is very common statutory device today. Such an option is available to prosecutors when charging other extremely serious felonies. Each of the following have a maximum prison sentence of 20 years in prison but also include a District Court option with a 2 ½ year house of correction sentence: Voluntary Manslaughter, Mayhem, Attempted Murder and Armed Carjacking.
Fourthly, the penalties contained in this bill would continue to be the most severe in the United States with a maximum penalty of 20 years. Twenty-eight states have no statutes against bestiality. Only 11 states make this crime a felony, with Massachusetts and Rhode Island penalizing the crime with potential 20 year sentences; Oklahoma, Montana, Mississippi and Maryland penalizing the crime with maximum 10 year sentences, and Louisiana punishes the crime with a maximum of 5 years. Bestiality is only a misdemeanor in the other 17 states.
Finally, you accuse me of being dishonest about the real motivation of this bill, which is to satisfy a legislative goal of the “homosexual movement.” This bill does not seek to repeal the sodomy portion of the “Crime Against Nature” to advance any movement, but because that portion of the statute is truly archaic—charges will not be brought by a state prosecutor and even if they were, no court would allow the case to go forward. This state of affairs is the result of two recent court cases. In 2002, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court unanimously ruled that consensual conduct in private between adults is not prohibited by G.L. ch 272 § 34. Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders v. Attorney General, 436 Mass. 132 (2002). This ruling in accord with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Lawrence v. Texas, 123 S.Ct. 2472 (2003), which struck down the Texas sodomy statute. Even if the State and Federal courts had not ruled, the Mass. Attorney General’s Office and the District Attorneys for Middlesex and Suffolk Counties (comprising 43% of the state by population) stipulated in GLAD v. Attorney General that their offices will not prosecute anyone under the Crime Against Nature for sodomy unless the prohibited conduct occurred either in public or without consent. Either of those two situations would be better charged as Lewd and Lascivious Conduct or Rape. Therefore, the sodomy portion of the “Crime Against Nature” is not needed. An unnecessary crime that has been ruled unconstitutional by two Supreme Courts is archaic and may safely be removed from the books.
Thank you for your attention to this important issue. I hope this has been helpful.
Sincerely,
Sean J. Kealy, Legal Counsel
Senator Cynthia Stone Creem’s Office
(Now we wonder if Rep. David Linsky will come back with a response on our posting on his bill, H819, saying it was a simple error by his secretary when she filed it, and he didn't really mean to decriminalize bestiality?)
Here's what the law in question currently states: "Whoever commits the abominable and detestable crime against nature, either with mankind or with a beast, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than twenty years." (Ch. 272, Sec. 34.)
And here's how Sen. Creem's bill (S938) would change it: [First it removes human-to-human sodomy altogether and reads ...] Whoever commits a sexual act on an animal shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than 20 years or in a house of correction for not more than 2 ½ years, or by a fine of not more than $5,000, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
You don't have to be a lawyer to see that one of the proposed penalties is just a fine with no prison time. And that fine could be as low as $1. That looks like "lessening the penalty" compared to some prison time as required in current law!
To MassResistance:
I read your inaccurate portrayal of Senator Creem's bill to revise the bestiality statute on your web site. Unfortunately, there has been a great deal of misinformation about the bill posted on the internet without any attempt at fact checking. To help explain the purposes and the need for the bill, I have attached a letter I sent one of our constituents several months ago. Since your posting has generated several calls to our office, I would appreciate it if you would post a retraction.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Sean Kealy, Legal Counsel
Office of Senator Cynthia Stone Creem
[He attached an earlier letter to Brian Camenker at Article 8 Alliance:]
Thank you for the opportunity to give you some accurate information about Senator Creem’s proposal to repeal several archaic crimes and to revise and update the bestiality statute. Since you are a constituent of Senator Creem’s, I am surprised that you did not contact us for clarification or explanation for one of her bills. It seems as though you have received bad information from your sources within the State House. Clearly they, like Mr. McMorrow from Weekly Dig, are neither trained in criminal law nor familiar with the drafting of criminal statutes. If they had researched this issue, you would not be so misinformed.
Your internet postings create the impression that Senator Creem is trying to legalize bestiality. This seems to be a poor attempt to give credence to Senator Rick Santorum’s ridiculous and hyperbolic statements that the legalization of gay marriage in Massachusetts would naturally lead to the legalization of bestiality. This accusation is absolutely baseless—especially since we are taking pains to not only retain the bestiality statute, but also make it more effective.
Secondly, the substitution of the word “animal” for the word beast will absolutely expand the reach of the bestiality statute. You may not be aware of people in Massachusetts having sex acts with ‘dogs, cats or fowl,’ but it is an unfortunate and deviant behavior that occurs throughout the world. In fact, the Humane Society of the United States reported that,
“Cases of sexual abuse of animals include many species, both domestic and wild. Dogs and horses are the most frequently mentioned targets. Their availability and status as companions may make them likely victims. Dogs may be acquired from free-to good home advertisements, pet shops, breeders, animal shelters or as strays. Animals who are kept outside, such as dogs, horses, cows sheep, chickens, may be abused by “fence-jumpers” who trespass to gain access to animal victims. Wildlife in captivity, such as those in roadside zoos, may also be vulnerable to abusers.” (“Animal Sexual Abuse” Report of The Humane Society of the United States, January, 1999).
The Humane Society Report goes on to report 11 cases of charged bestiality with dogs and cats in Florida, Montana, South Carolina, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Tennessee and Ohio.
Furthermore, you may not be aware of the problem in Massachusetts because the statute is ineffective and such people are not being charged appropriately. In support of my contention, I would offer Boston Police Officer John Sacco’s “Police Beat” column from the June 18, 1998 edition of South End News (page 9). Officer Sacco reported that:
“[T]he residents of a local elderly building became upset when a 47 –year-old male resident started having sex with his female dog in plain view in the common areas. People complained that on one occasion, in the elevator, ‘He lifted the dog by the hind legs and performed oral sex.’ When asked why he was doing that, he said, ‘The dog was in heat.’ On another occasion he was having digital sex with the dog while saying, ‘You love it.’ The outrage by residents was heard loud and clear. He had to be charged. A research of law revealed that the crime of bestiality, sex with an animal, referred only to ‘hoofed beasts.’ Our law is based on the old English common law. Our forefathers saw sex with a horse, donkey, sheep, etc. as an abomination. Sex with a web-footed animal such as a duck or a pawed animal like a dog or cat was okay.…A court of law will decide the fate of the dog lover—soon, we hope.”
Part of the problem is that the term “beast” is itself archaic within a legal context. The term is not even included in the 8th or 6th editions of Black’s Law Dictionary. Using the 4th edition of Black’s, however, defendants have been able to argue that the term beasts are limited to horses, cows pigs and livestock. See eg. People v. McKnight, 302 N.W.2d 241, 243 (Michigan App. Ct., 1981). Absent a current legally accepted definition, a court might rely upon a common usage dictionary definition. The American Heritage Dictionary defines a beast as a “large four footed mammal.” Even this definition, which does not rely upon the hoofed/pawed/webbed foot distinction, would seemingly exclude a small dog, a cat, or a bird. Some state courts, such as the Appellate Court of Indiana, have judicially expanded the definition of “beast” to encompass all animals, but only through some legal sleight of hand. See e.g. Gates v. Petri, 143 N.E.2d 293 (1957) (finding that defendant’s sex act with a chicken was covered by the Indiana bestiality statute). The Massachusetts appellate courts have not made such a ruling to date, leaving prosecutors and police confused. Changing the word to “animal” would at least remove confusion and at best expand the reach of the statute.
Thirdly, your flippant comment that the courts are “not clogged up with grand jury investigations on bestiality” misses the point. It is a common practice today to give the prosecutor the flexibility to charge and prosecute even serious crimes in the District Court. As a former prosecutor, I can report that there may be many reasons for this decision including: the particular facts of a case, the criminal record of the offender, a multi-defendant strategy (e.g. prosecuting a minor player in a criminal conspiracy at the district court level to elicit a cooperation agreement against a major player), or if the underlying crime was not completed and the only available charge is an attempt or a conspiracy. It should be noted that the maximum sentence would only be 2 ½ years if the prosecutor chose to bring the charges in the District Court. While the District Court did not exist when the bestiality statute was first enacted, this option is very common statutory device today. Such an option is available to prosecutors when charging other extremely serious felonies. Each of the following have a maximum prison sentence of 20 years in prison but also include a District Court option with a 2 ½ year house of correction sentence: Voluntary Manslaughter, Mayhem, Attempted Murder and Armed Carjacking.
Fourthly, the penalties contained in this bill would continue to be the most severe in the United States with a maximum penalty of 20 years. Twenty-eight states have no statutes against bestiality. Only 11 states make this crime a felony, with Massachusetts and Rhode Island penalizing the crime with potential 20 year sentences; Oklahoma, Montana, Mississippi and Maryland penalizing the crime with maximum 10 year sentences, and Louisiana punishes the crime with a maximum of 5 years. Bestiality is only a misdemeanor in the other 17 states.
Finally, you accuse me of being dishonest about the real motivation of this bill, which is to satisfy a legislative goal of the “homosexual movement.” This bill does not seek to repeal the sodomy portion of the “Crime Against Nature” to advance any movement, but because that portion of the statute is truly archaic—charges will not be brought by a state prosecutor and even if they were, no court would allow the case to go forward. This state of affairs is the result of two recent court cases. In 2002, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court unanimously ruled that consensual conduct in private between adults is not prohibited by G.L. ch 272 § 34. Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders v. Attorney General, 436 Mass. 132 (2002). This ruling in accord with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Lawrence v. Texas, 123 S.Ct. 2472 (2003), which struck down the Texas sodomy statute. Even if the State and Federal courts had not ruled, the Mass. Attorney General’s Office and the District Attorneys for Middlesex and Suffolk Counties (comprising 43% of the state by population) stipulated in GLAD v. Attorney General that their offices will not prosecute anyone under the Crime Against Nature for sodomy unless the prohibited conduct occurred either in public or without consent. Either of those two situations would be better charged as Lewd and Lascivious Conduct or Rape. Therefore, the sodomy portion of the “Crime Against Nature” is not needed. An unnecessary crime that has been ruled unconstitutional by two Supreme Courts is archaic and may safely be removed from the books.
Thank you for your attention to this important issue. I hope this has been helpful.
Sincerely,
Sean J. Kealy, Legal Counsel
Senator Cynthia Stone Creem’s Office
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