Romney's Gift to Deval: More Judges for New Gov. to Appoint!

So - how many of you still think Gov. Romney is devoted to conservative principles? If he really cared about the future of this state, he'd use every opportunity before leaving office to appoint solid judges while he can. But no, he gaily announced last week that he wouldn't burden his Governor's Council with having to approve a "flurry of lame-duck appointments" to the bench.

From the Boston Globe, "Romney pledges no flurry of lame-duck appointments," 11-2-06:

Romney, who made four appointments yesterday and a total of 13 judicial appointments since the September primary election, will leave at least a dozen judgeships and clerk magistrate vacancies for his successor to fill, said spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom. "My plans are to have all nominees who have made it through the process on your desks next Wednesday," Romney told governor's councilors at their regular meeting yesterday. "I don't intend to bring you a lengthy list of nominees. . . . I won't overtax you with a huge slate." Fehrnstrom described Romney's action as "fairly unprecedented." ...

"It's really unusual," said Christopher Iannella, a governor's councilor who has served during the Dukakis, Weld, Cellucci, Swift, and Romney administrations. "Generally speaking, the governor fills just about every position there is to fill. A lot of these positions have been hanging around for a while and should have been filled before now. On the other hand, he's giving the new governor an opportunity." ...

David Yas, editor of Lawyers Weekly, said Romney is "bucking tradition" by resisting the urge to fill all remaining judgeships. "It is a tradition for governors to use that power to appoint judges aggressively in the waning moments of their administration," Yas said.

It's not bad enough that Romney's totally destroyed the Mass. Republican Party. He also has to give this gift to soft-on-crime Deval? And you thought Judge Maria Lopez was bad? Just wait.

Please remind us why we voted for Romney? And now we're supposed to vote for Healey???

Same-Sex "Marriage" & Abortion: Ignore the Physical Realities?

In a recent discussion, we heard about a local high school freshman history class debate over "same-sex marriage." Our friend -- also conservative -- was somewhat surprised when we said we thought this was inappropriate subject matter for 9th graders.

(We realize that kids can vote at 18. Too early! This is a problem. Maybe only those risking their lives for our freedoms should have voting rights before 21?)

Anyhow, we don't think 14-year-olds should discuss "same-sex marriage" because it's not really about "civil rights" (homosexuality not being innate, as is race) or politics. It is about abnormal sexual behaviors becoming a basis for a "marital" relationship. Yet any mention of the physical reality behind the "rights" argument has been silenced. Why have we allowed this to happen -- even in our adult discussions?

Yet you can be sure the kids in that class are thinking about the sex acts involved in "same-sex marriage" (just as any child has thoughts about how they were conceived by their parents)! At the same time they're absorbing the message that they can't talk about this distinguishing feature between normal, real marriage and homosexual "marriage." We've been taught to avert our eyes from the sexual aspect, and everyone pretends it's about "rights." But really it's about accepting, normalizing, and government sanctioning of perverted and unhealthy physical acts (and relationships notorious for high levels of "domestic abuse"). Do we want 9th graders having a discussion so biased at the outset?

Because of this underlying though unspoken fact -- the sex involved -- emotions run very high for the kids, some who come home very shaken and in tears -- partly because they are being forced to repress their gut reaction to what they know is wrong. The conservative kids are being called names that they know are unfair, because they are engaging their consciences and moral training, not just aping "progressive" rights talk.

There's an analogy with the abortion "discussion." Why was it that pro-lifers allowed the pro-aborts to silence them way back in the beginning of the abortion "debate" on the physical reality of abortion: the ripping apart of a human baby? Why did many accept that they can't show pictures, or talk about the actual procedure and what it does to both the baby and the mother? How come many pro-lifers accepted that confronting this physical reality was "in bad taste" or "extreme"? The other side was allowed to frame the argument, just as in the case of "same-sex marriage rights."

Where's the First Amendment at WRKO?

Keep John DePetro. Uphold the First Amendment. What's the problem?

So what if he called gov. candidate Grace Ross a "fat lesbian"! It's political speech, and it must be protected.

Ross is openly lesbian. Her sexual identity is part of her POLITICAL identity. And she is obviously fat. People call others overweight, portly, or fat all the time.

The GLBT activists turned sexual identity into a political issue, DePetro didn't. Isn't Ross PROUD of her sexual orientation? She herself said, “I think he was indeed being nasty. It’s not news to anybody that I’m a lesbian."

So was it only the "fat" part that bothers everyone? There are even "fat" activists out there who've made obesity a political issue.

If he called someone a wacky fundamentalist Christian, would he be fired for that? If he said someone had thinning hair, would he be fired for that?

Marriage AmendmentS at Nov. 9 ConCon

The Boston Globe's article on Tuesday (10-31-06) on the Massachusetts Catholic Bishops pushing for a vote on the VoteOnMarriage amendment seemed to be an excuse to post a list of "religious" institutions favoring sodomy "marriage". It mentions worries that a walkout by legislators will scuttle the amendment.

But why does the press never mention the OTHER marriage amendment, #19 on the Nov. 9 ConCon calendar? It offers a purer definition of marriage: one man/one woman, with a ban on civil unions.

Will the ConCon adjourn without the required vote on the VoteOnMarriage referendum amendment (#20 on the calendar), as happened a few years ago? Here's a possible scenario, that makes use of that other marriage amendment:

We filed #19 as a bill (H653) to define marriage in statute, but homosexual activist State Senator Jarrett Barrios mysteriously turned it into a constitutional amendment proposal. Why? He's certainly against it in principle. But he must have had some use for it up his sleeve...

It would require a 50%+ vote to pass (rather than the 25% for the VoteOnMarriage citizens' petition). Knowing there aren't that many who would vote for #19 now, maybe the intention is to give cover to legislators worried about their record on marriage. They could safely vote for #19, knowing it will fail. Then the ConCon can adjourn before taking up #20, the VoteOnMarriage amendment. And the worried legislators can still tell their constituents they voted for traditional marriage at the Nov. 9 ConCon!

Is Home Schooling the Answer?

Our comments on home schooling (at end of our 10-26-06 posting) have generated some negative responses. It's definitely a controversial and emotional issue. Here's one:

I'd actually like to make a short response to your opinion of homeschooling. I'm sorry it was such a negative experience that you have decided it's not the way for parents to fix the situation we find ourselves in as a society. You're right, it does demand too much sacrifice, but that's because the state still makes it too difficult with punitive taxes. What we ought to do is demand the state make it easier for us to homeschool, not shoot down homeschooling in favor of improving the public schools. It is a pipedream that they ever will be improved. Let's face it - God has been totally kicked out, and He will never be brought back. Therefore the devil has filled the vacuum.

What is needed to persuade the state to make it easier to homeschool is a massive no-confidence vote in the public schools, manifested by pulling our children out of them. We need to make homeschooling a reality they must deal with, instead of a mere threatening possibility that they will eventually overtly try to head off. Also, aside from the issue that the state has evil intentions concerning our children, the fact is that it is not the state's job to educate our kids. It is the job of the parents to do that. If we try to avoid that God-given responsibility by shifting it off to the state, we have no right to complain about the results. It is not about how 'happy' we are or our children are while we homeschool - it is whether we are doing our duty. I am not saying I don't understand the terrible pressures that homeschooling can create. I just think we should take the fight in the right direction - let's fight for the relief of the state-created pressures.

To Vote, or NOT to Vote, for Kerry Healey?

We print this letter (with permission from its author) circulating among pro-lifers in Massachusetts. See our earlier posting on Kerry Healey's appearance as keynote speaker, along with her running mate Reed Hillman, in a Planned Parenthood sponsored pro-abortion party at the end of the state Republican Convention! And we've noted their pro civil unions stance. From a supporter of the Mass. State Constitution Party write-in candidate, Rev. Michael Carl:

Subject: Vote Your Conscience

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I would like to take the time here and urge you to vote a week from today. But I am not asking you to vote Democratic or Republican. I am asking you to vote your conscience.

I don't know about you, but I have been greatly dissatisfied with this year's crop of gubernatorial candidates. For years I have voted straight down the GOP ticket, but conscience tells me this year I just can't do it. The Massachusetts State Republican Party has nominated a woman who is pro-abortion, pro-embryonic stem cell research, pro-civil unions and pro legalized gambling. I cannot in good conscience cast my vote for such a candidate, not any more.

The argument in favour of voting for the GOP candidate basically boils down to the lesser of two evils idea. Because Kerry Healey is more conservative than anyone else on the ballot, a win for her would make things not as bad as they could potentially be should another candidate win. May I remind everyone that a lesser of two evils is still evil? We will never get what we want if we vote for candidates who oppose our desires and wishes. Simple logic tells us that.

I understand that the real change this state needs does not come from the State House but from God's house. Only the Word of God can change lives for eternity. I am a preacher, not a politician. Yet, as a preacher, how can I continue to preach one message from the pulpit and support an opposing message in the ballot box? My conscience will not allow me to do this any longer. I must earnestly contend for the faith once delivered. It is about time that we as Christians voted as Christians.

I am not calling for a national movement or the setup of another religious political action committee. I am simply urging you to vote for candidates not based on perceived success, but based on conscience. Do the right thing. If we continue to ignore candidates we agree with simply because we don't think they have a chance of winning, they never will have a chance of winning! We don't do what is right because we think it will be successful. We would never promote that idea in our churches, so why promote that idea in the ballot box? In this election, I am supporting the Massachusetts State Constitution Party write-in candidacy of Michael Carl. I would urge you to do the same.

Write in Michael Carl, 109 Eutaw Ave., Lynn, MA 01902 (the address must be written in as well) for governor.

You read more of my endorsement of Mr. Carl by logging on to my blog posting.

Because of Grace,
Kevin Thompson
Asst. Pastor, North Baptist Church
Brockton, MA

Time to Reread Prof. Hadley Arkes on Romney's Failure to Follow Constitution

TIME TO REREAD Prof. Hadley Arkes' article in National Review, "The Missing Governor" (May 17, 2004):

Arkes is Professor of Jurisprudence at Amherst College. Here are excerpts, with commentary by John Haskins below.

On what Romney could have done:
…if the constitutional authority was really with the governor, to act for himself and the legislature, then it made the most profound difference that the governor flex that authority now himself: He could invoke his powers under the constitution; cite the error of the court in seizing jurisdiction wrongfully for itself; and order all licenses of marriage to be sent on to Boston, to his office, until the legislature, in the fullness of time, settled its policy on marriage…. But this argument over the error of the court, or the wrongful taking of jurisdiction, does not expire on May 17. That argument is still open, which means that it could be plausible for the governor to make that move at any time. But why should he make that move when receding has now become his signature tune?

On "conservative" lawyers: Romney could have pointed out here that the Supreme Judicial Court had actually violated the constitution by taking jurisdiction in a class of cases that the constitution had explicitly withheld from the courts. But as Romney contemplated his moves here, he could feel the drag even on the part of conservative lawyers. Lincoln's argument, they thought, was no longer widely understood, and any challenge to the court in this way was likely to set off tremors, even in their own circles. In that moment of holding back, it became clear that even conservative lawyers had come to incorporate, and accept, the premises that gave to the courts a position of supremacy in our constitutional schemes.

The conservative lawyers argued that new plaintiffs would form a class and seek an injunction from the court to enforce the holding in the Goodridge case. But they seemed to forget that the legislature has the authority to shape and define the power to issue injunctions.

John Haskins comments:
Exceptional conservative honesty! This reveals why we're losing. This is not only 'must reading." It's also must thinking.

All who are troubled by where America is heading MUST read Professor Arkes' NR column -- again if they have read it before. They must send this quote and the link to Arkes' article to anyone who needs to understand not only what is actually, all pretenses aside, an unconditional "pro-family" and conservative surrender of constitutional law, not only in here Massachusetts, but in case after case after case around the country. Vermont, California, New Jersey...

We are not just losing, we are surrendering. Most of our prominent "conservative" attorneys and law professors are not constitutionalists in any meaningful sense. Professor Arkes' article, now two-and-a-half years old, but still as fresh and urgent as the day he wrote it, hints at this. There are piles of irrefutable evidence to support this charge. And it indicts many of what I call "paycheck conservatives" -- including some who are running around soaking up tax-deductible donations and admiration playing the role of pro-family hero.

But many have long histories of endlessly and compulsively trying to find the middle ground and compromising the Constitution itself, while mocking and undermining behind the scenes all attorneys and pro-family leaders who try to hold the line. The result is a gradual collapse of constitutional democracy, parental rights, and the sanctity of childhood and the natural human family. In terms of jurisprudence, many of our "pro-family" lawyers and law professors are on the other side. We could name some of those directly responsible for covering up Mitt Romney's illegal imposition of homosexual marriage. The essential point is to understand that their surrender is at the spiritual and subconscious level. They believe themselves to be "pro-family", pro-constitution heroes. Their results over the years and their constant undermining of fundamental constitutional principles prove otherwise.

Professor Arkes, widely respected and head and shoulders above these other lawyers and professors as a constitutional scholar, names no names and understates his description of them in the most gentlemanly way. But read between the lines. This has been and continues to be a step-by-step surrender, negotiated case-by-case by our own "conservative" lawyers, law professors and pro-family leadership.

We can be silent no longer.

Dangers of Undefined Term "Sexual Orientation"

We've said before that the lack of definition for the term "sexual orientation" leads us to dangerous places. Now we read in LifeSiteNews about a college course in the "Sexual Diversity Studies Program" at the University Toronoto which explores...

sadomasochism, bondage and domination as part of an “academic” approach to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues.... graduating student Robbie Morgan [said,] “We’ll talk about whips and chains in a political, social, cultural, religious context of sexuality and how that sexuality affects those institutions." ... "Visiting lecturers will address technical aspects of flogging, restraint, and role-play,” the University’s website course description explains. “Students will ‘research’ questions (e.g. what constitutes coercion? Consent? Control? Submission? Can sexual practices transform our understanding of power?) by the optional performance of selected scenes.”

Sexual “diversity” has become an increasingly central emphasis of the University of Toronto’s social policy over the past decade. In 2003, then-president Robert Birgeneau wrote in the Toronto Star that the University had made “great progress” in ensuring the comfort level of “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered or queer” students.

Here in Massachusetts, we pointed out that the New England Leather Alliance (NELA) -- whose logo is a whip -- was scheduled to march in Boston Pride last June, though our photographer didn't see them in the final line-up. Even leading hotels in Boston, such as the Sheraton and the Park Plaza Hotel, have hosted their BDSM (bondage, domination, sadism, masochism) conventions. That's because they couldn't discriminate on the basis of "sexual orientation," we assume.

The Boston Globe recently reported on their upcoming BDSM convention having to move: "Adult event hits the road in permit flap." So this January, the BDSM Convention will be in Danvers at the Sheraton Ferncroft Resort. In 2005, the Boston Herald thought it was OK to report on their “Fetish Fair” event at the Boston Center for the Arts in 2005: "Leather abounded, of course, but plenty of other kinks were on display: latex, saddles, corsets, paddles, whips, adult diapers, S&M videos and several women and men dressed as women being led around the market in chains.” (8-7-05)

Believe it or not, NELA is a 501(c)3 organization and has given "charitable donations" to "Masters and Slaves Together," the Boston Dyke March, and the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom.

Accept all of this, or you're guilty of unlawful discrimination on the basis of "sexual orientation."

Margaret Marshall's Ethical Violations Covered Up by Boston Globe

Chief Justice Margaret Marshall was keynote speaker at

the Mass. Lesbian & Gay Bar Association fundraising dinner in 1999,

where she advocated for extension of homosexual "rights."

Back in April 2004, the Boston Globe refused to report MassResistance/Article 8 Alliance's revelation at a State House press conference that Chief Justice Margaret Marshall had uniquely violated the Code of Judicial Conduct in her open advocacy for extension of homosexual "rights," and should be removed from office on that basis alone. Marshall appeared as keynote speaker (not allowed for judges) at the Mass. Lesbian & Gay Bar Association fundraiser in 1999, and later ruled on the same-sex marriage case where she had a clear, publicly expressed bias. A Globe reporter was at our April 2004 press conference, but no story ever ran in the Globe, the Herald, or on the TV stations also present.

But today, the Globe ran an AP story which is much less significant, "Judge defends attendance at '02 lesbian rite" ["lesbian rite"?!], on Sen. Brownback of Kansas blocking a federal judicial nominee's appointment. At issue is the nominee's attendance in 2002 at a "lesbian commitment ceremony" of a friend in Massachusetts.

While we think that Sen. Brownback is right to question how the nominee's attendance at that event "might shape her judicial views," we also know the Globe's intention is to discredit Brownback. But clearly, Marshall's unquestionable ethics violation was, and still is, a bigger story. It's never too late for the Globe to address this issue.

What's a Parent To Do? Exit the Public Schools?

John Haskins comments on this piece in WorldNetDaily,
"Baptist 'exit strategy' means get kids out of public schools; Groundswell of support building in 16 million member group for homeschooling" (10-20-06) :

It is one of the most tragic and far-reaching failures of the Family Research Council/Alliance Defense Fund/Massachusetts Family Institute - type "conservatism" in America that they have totally failed to acknowledge the desperate need to pressure politicians intensely for a fundamental change in our education system so that "vouchers" or somesuch thing will allow all parents to find the private (or public) school that best suits their own children.

On issue after issue, it takes twenty or thirty years for pro-family leaders to see that we are actually heading where groups like MassResistance are telling them we are heading. There are many who have concluded that the pro-family leaders at the state and national level, in their blind addiction to moderate, non-controversial "solutions," have waited too long and it is simply too late to save America for our children.

I am of the firm opinion that we must roughly push aside those "pro-family leaders" who have lured us down the path of surrender with false assurances and have played on our deep desire to see things as less dangerous than they are. The only alternative will be continued acquiescence to the tightening fist of tyranny. I understand that most pro-family people sitting at home watching the boob tube are not yet ready to open their eyes and see where this is leading. But more and more people seem to be getting angry as they realize what kind of people have been responsible for the total strategic incompetence of the pro-family and conservative leadership.

It is a major, long-term success -- partly due to the work of the the former Parents' Rights Coalition (now MassResistance) -- that the Southern Baptists and many others are finally understanding that schools are intent on destroying the moral character of our children. But they and other "pro-family conservatives" have wasted precious years debating this issue and trusting in George Bush, political "messiah for hire," and his party.

MassResistance comments on the idea of "exiting" the public schools:

We're very frustrated by the call to home school. Been there, done that. It's not the solution for most people. Kids are miserable, mother is not as happy as she pretends, etc. We suspect most of the articles pushing home schooling are written by the fathers who aren't stuck in the home, doing the "schooling"!

And why do people with traditional values have to be punished by this level of sacrifice (and we're speaking just as much of the hardship on the children as the parents!). We pay taxes too, and we deserve schooling benefits. Why throw in the towel and let the leftists totally control government-funded education? Why give them that victory?

We believe that new private schools -- whether religious or secular -- are the answer, and vouchers play an important role in making these happen. Sadly, we're almost all trapped in the public schools for the time being, but need to be working for the next generation's children: the little ones, born or not yet born; neighbors, great-nephews, granddaughters ...

New Jersey Marriage Ruling: 180 Days...till WHAT?

TRENTON, N.J. - Oct. 25, 2006 (AP)
New Jersey's Supreme Court opened the door to gay marriage Wednesday, ruling that homosexuals are entitled to the same rights as heterosexuals, but leaving it to lawmakers to legalize same-sex unions. The high court gave lawmakers 180 days to rewrite marriage laws to either include same-sex couples or create a new system of civil unions for them.

Or else ... what ?? Will the justices throw a hissy fit? Or will some weenie governor tell his Dept. of Public Health to print new Party A/Party B/Party C (so they don't have to bother reprinting them in a few years) marriage licenses? The old "180 days trick" worked in Massachusetts; maybe it will work in New Jersey.

Garden State Equality, New Jersey's main gay and lesbian political organization quickly announced Wednesday that three lawmakers would introduce a bill in the Legislature to get full marriage rights to same-sex couples.

Apparently, New Jersey homosexual activists are openly admitting they need to get a bill passed by the legislature. In Massachusetts, that still hasn't happened, though there were bills filed this past session which were not acted on (H977/S967). So, as we've been pointing out for over two years, same-sex "marriage" is still not legal in Massachusetts. And the GLBT leadership is hoping no one will notice.

TransWorcester

This weekend, Oct. 27-29, Worcester’s DCU Center "will host a gathering of transsexuals, bisexuals, genderqueers, intersexuals, polysexuals, transgenders and others for the fifth Transcending Boundaries conference." Their website says, "We'll take over DCU Center to foster community, educate ourselves, and overcome societal sex, gender, and sexuality boundaries!" Also participating in the conference is PFLAG, which along with GLSEN and Planned Parenthood, has hopped on the trans bandwagon and is actively pushing all things trans in the public square and public schools. Sponsors include the YWCA of Central Mass. the Worcester Hilton Garden Hotel, AIDS Project Worcester, and Planned Parenthood of Connecticut (the group that gave the "trans" workshop at the GLSEN Boston conference last year).

PFLAG is "Parents, Friends, Families of Lesbians and Gays" ... and Bisexuals and Transgenders and genderqueers and intersexuals and polysexuals and ... Someone pointed out that these are really parents and families who are wondering where they went wrong, but burying their unease, sorrow, and/or guilt by "celebrating diversity".

Everywhere we go we're having "trans" madness forced on us. Men dressed as women invading women's restrooms. That absurd movie Transamerica. (No, we have no plans to see it.) The transgender "anti-bullying curriculum" about to go into all our middle schools. Little children coming to school dressed as the opposite sex. Workers "transitioning" on the job -- even teachers at schools, with no opt-out for their young students. The pro-GLBT "Human Rights Campaign" giving its 100% rating only to companies that offer "health" benefits to "transitioning" employees.

Once you allow homosexuality and bisexuality to go mainstream, how can you not allow transsexuality? If there's no "normal" any more, who's to object? One strategy seems to be to de-sensitize people to transgenderism/transsexuality, so "straightforward" homosexuality will seem downright tame. Of course, this will be considered transphobic hate speech in just a few years -- but for now, we can still ask: What on earth is the Worcester DCU Center thinking? (Ask them: 508-755-6800.)

Bay Windows has been hyping this event for some time now:
"She’s all here" (Bay Windows, 10-19-06):
Don’t fit into the mainstream LGBT mold? Not to worry. Later this month, from Oct. 27-29, Worcester’s DCU Center will host a gathering of transsexuals, bisexuals, genderqueers, intersexuals, polysexuals, transgenders and others for the fifth Transcending Boundaries conference. The event is geared toward bringing together people who are often considered on the margins of the LGBT community. The event will feature workshops, speakers and entertainment, including a Halloween party, and in a first for the event, the conference has merged with the Northeast regional conference for Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG).

BAGLY & Our Children: Dangerous Liaisons

Photos: Halloween partygoers at Gay Men's Domestic Violence Project (from their web site).

BAGLY, the "Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth," is a member of the new Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, and a favorite resource for gay/straight alliance high school clubs.

BAGLY's resource page has changed recently. If anything, the danger BAGLY poses for our children is now even clearer. There are links to groups focusing on GLBT "domestic violence," including the Gay Men's Domestic Violence Project, where kids can learn about their Halloween Party (photos above). Then there are the links to the "gay" newspapers, where kids can surf on sex orgies around the world (called "circuit parties"). Now would this information "prevent suicide" or contribute to suicide in troubled youth?

After we drew attention to BAGLY's link to to the Transgendercare.com web site (with sex change information and links to perverted personal web pages), BAGLY took it down. (Apparently the weirdness of that site was just too obvious.) Now BAGLY refers "youth" to all the sites below. What do links on abuse, violence, disease, suicide tell you about the GLBT "lifestyle" they are leading our children into? Why does our state government support this BAGLY, and recommend it to teens around the state?

[BAGLY's Resource Page:]

Local LGBT News & Community Guides
Bay Windows
InNewsWeekly
EdgeBoston

Legal & Support Resources
Know Your Rights as a Youth: LAMDA Legal provides an online resource. You'll learn how to form a Gay Straight Alliance at your school. What to do if you are harassed. And more!
GLSEN: Making Schools Safer
GLAD: (617.426.1350) This law firm offers legal guidance for LGBT related issues.

Crisis Support & Hotlines
Rape Crisis Services (1-800-542-5212)
LGBT HelpLine (1-888-340-4528): Get referrals to the services you need. Healthcare, Housing, Violence Recovery, HIV/AIDS, etc.
Peer Listening Line (1-800-399-PEER): Need someone to talk to?
Network LA RED: Domestic violence resources for lesbian and bisexual women and transgendered people.
Gay Men's Domestic Violence Project

Health Care
Sidney Borum Jr. Health Center offers free and anonymous HIV testing, Hep C and other STD screenings, mental health counseling. Trans friendly. Free services available for people without healthcare. 617.457.8140
Fenway Community Health Center offers health care for the LGBT community.

No STD Testing for "Gay" Men "Marrying" with Skyrocketing HIV Rates

Let's see. No more blood tests for STDs are required before getting married in Massachusetts...

Meanwhile, The Advocate (a national homosexual magazine) reported on anticipated skyrocketing HIV rates among homosexual males as they age over the next decade: 1 in 4 homosexuals now 20 years old are expected to be HIV-positive by age 30 (though only about half of that group are HIV+ now). "Prevention" is mentioned as the pressing need, but not discussed. (The blog comments on QueerToday are enlightening; see below.)

From The Advocate:
Study: Succeeding generations of gays will have higher HIV rates
According to the results of a new study released at the international AIDS conference in Toronto on Thursday, HIV prevalence is set to skyrocket among Western gay men as they age. The University of Pittsburgh report, a review of papers published in journals, indicates that the number of new cases of HIV has been rising by about 1.9% each year since 2001, which means that as gay men as a group get older, more and more of them will become HIV-positive, Agence-France Presse reports."Ongoing incidence rates at this level will yield very high HIV prevalence rates within each generation of gay men," University of Pittsburgh researcher Ron Stall told AFP.

Although only one in 12 gay men at age 20 were infected with HIV in North America and Europe in 2001, Stall and other researchers project that the rate could rise to one in four by the time they turn 30. At age 60, the projections suggest that 58% of the men could be infected.

The numbers are more dire for gay men of color: 4% of them between the ages of 15 and 22 are currently infected, while 15% between the ages of 23 and 29 are infected. At an average annual rate of increase in new infections of 4%, three quarters of black gay men in the latter age category will be infected with HIV at age 50. "It's not a new story; it has been repeated time and again in the literature in the past...an almost unbelievable incidence rate," Stall said to AFP. "African-American men who have sex with men suffer among the highest HIV prevalence rates of any risk group in the world."

The report's findings only underscore the need for better ways of preventing HIV infection, instead of just treating its effects. "HIV is still an incurable disease," Ronald Valdiserri, deputy director of the National Center for HIV at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told AFP. "In the United States, 5% [of the budget for HIV] is spent on prevention." He added: "America is more interested on treating this disease than preventing it. We can't treat our way out of this epidemic, even as a rich country."

QueerToday's comments:
In 2006, twenty-five years after the AIDS epidemic first made its appearance, I still hear things like: "Can you get it from kissing?" or "Can you get it because some cum got on my chest?" or "you look healthy so you don't have to use a condom with me." After hearing comments like these, I have to conclude that a major part of the problem is widespread mis-education.

It is often said that "this isn't the '70s" and so we have to just accept that the sexual landscape has changed. We can no longer have "carefree" sex anymore, some say. Use a condom everytime, HIV prevention specialists say. And they are right--indeed, the sexual landscape has changed and if you are going to have anal sex, USE A CONDOM.

But what HIV prevention specialists also have to take seriously is that this is also not the late '80s and early '90s. Since 1996, anti-retroviral drugs have significantly prolonged the lives of people who are HIV+. Furthermore, the antibody tests have become far more sensitive and now, with the fourth generation antibody tests you can actually know whether or not you are positive only six weeks after a risky encounter! The CDC still recommends three months, but in the state of Massachusetts, six weeks is considered definitive.

With the window period for testing getting smaller, the antiretroviral drugs getting more effective and side-effects becoming more manageable, we may be seeing more incidents of unprotected sex because people are becoming more relaxed and experimenting with new ways to keep themselves safer--e.g. serosorting. People are using "trial and error" to negotiate the changing effects of HIV. But unfortunately, with a lot of "trial" comes a lot of "error" and the rate of new infections continue to rise.

Bettnet.com discussion: Romney Started Same-Sex Marriage

There's a good discussion going on Bettnet.com about Romney's unconstitutional actions which began the fraudulent same-sex "marriages" in Massachusetts. (See MassResistance for more on this.) Check out Bettnet.com. Here's just a small excerpt (from 10/20/06):

Robert,
One simple question, since you are telling us who support the [VoteOnMarriage] amendment that it is unnecessary. Who is going to rule on your case? - Sean

Robert Paine, Esq. replies:
Honest judges and if they are not honest or they are biased, we need to have the intestinal fortitude to use the other parts of the Mass Constitution which foresaw such illegal conduct and remove any public official who is unfit for office. Let’s say the SJC wants to involve itself in a cause concerning marriage. Let’s not acquiesce in their blatant violation of the plain words of the constitution: Article V. All causes of marriage, divorce, and alimony, and all appeals from the judges of probate shall be heard and determined by the governor and council, until the legislature shall, by law, make other provision.
The SJC therefore has no subject matter jurisdiction over that cause of action and thus has no legal authority to decide anything regarding that case.
Let’s say that Judge Margaret Marshall wants to sit on a case regarding same-sex “rights.” Her previous decision to engage in that battle as a partisan (accepting awards from the GLBT legal community), makes her unfit to be an unbiased judge on that case. She should have the honesty to recuse herself. We should have the courage to call her on her dishonesty if she does not willingly recuse herself.
It is fine for her to hold whatever beliefs she holds. It is not fine to claim to be unbiased when the overwhelming evidence is that she is very biased on this issue.
Let’s say the Governor had not been ordered by the SJC to do anything regarding marriage licenses. Let’s say he swore to uphold the Constitution and laws of Massachusetts. Lets say the marriage law does not permit same-sex marriage (read Goodridge). Let’s say that the SJC never struck the marriage law and thus it continues to prohibit same-sex “marriage.” Lets say that the Constitution explicitly says that the citizens of the Commonwealth are bound by no law other than one passed by the legislature. Lets say that the legislature never changed the marriage law. Let’s say that neither the SJC nor the legislature could change the meaning of the word marriage by statute or fiat because that word exists in the Constitution and only the citizens of the Commonwealth have the legal authority to amend (change the meaning of) the Constitution through constitutional amendment procedures well laid out in the constitution. Lets say that despite all of this Governor Romney took it upon himself to violate the marriage statute which does not permit same-sex marriage by ordering town clerks and JP’s to violate the marriage statute and certify and solemnize marriages not permitted by the statute. What would you do?
No . . . it is actually a null and void act because it was done without authority AND additionally it is an impeachable act.
It is unacceptable to permit all three branches of government to ignore the plain meaning of the words in the Constitution.
Sean is there any case in which you could imagine where the actions of either the Judiciary, the Governor, or the Legislature are without actual legal authority? If so, what would you do in that situation? Simply accept it and move on? Hope it doesn’t happen again? What is the remedy? What is your solution. Like it or not that is the situation we are in right now and it is frightening.
The practical reason why the judges who will “hear our case” have the nerve to blatantly outright violate the constitution is because they know that most people are like you sean; too afraid to stand up and defend themselves.
-Robert Paine, Esq.

Good News: Boston Globe In a Nosedive

The Wall Street Journal story on the Boston Globe's nosedive made us happy. ("Boston Globe Doesn't Deliver For the Times," 10-19-06.) The Globe will experience "its first unprofitable year in recent history." Circulation has fallen in recent years, due primarily to "digital migration" given that "Boston has the third highest penetration of broadband of any city in the United States." Advertising revenue has dropped dramatically. Since the the New York Times acquired the Globe in 1993, the Sunday Globe's circulation has dropped 25%, from 800,000 to 611,000.

We're sure that's all true. But we also happen to know what people are saying on the ground. Of course everyone's turning to the Internet for news. But one reason for that is that they're SICK of the managed news (a.k.a. propaganda) that the Globe provides.

You can't even open up the Globe's Sunday Magazine any more without gagging on some whiny male "wife" going on about his "husband's" driving. Or the real estate section featuring huge photos of a butchy tattooed lesbian putting up dry wall in her and her "wife's" new home. People can only take so much of this.

It's BACK! Trans Impersonator of Healey

QueerToday trans impersonator of Kerry Healey (far left) with Deval Patrick. Deval supports anything these "trans" activists want. (See his statement at the Harvard GLBT forum.)

We first posted on this hideous example of queer extremist politics -- a YouTube entry -- a week ago, but got so many complaints over its vile content that we took it down. But now, as we continue to watch Deval's campaign, we decided to repost it ... as an illustration of the sort of GLBT activism Patrick has no problem with. Remember Deval's appearance at the Harvard GLBT candidate forum in September. We are certain Deval would also support the "Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth," its "Friends" group (which headlined the maker of this video at its fundraiser as its "youth" speaker), and the queer activist's employer BAGLY. Here's our original posting from October 12:

An example of political speech by a person given great deference at the State House: Watch this short video by QueerToday and BAGLY operative Mark -- doing Kerry Healey in drag. Calling Healey (Repub candidate for Gov) a "raging bull Dyke"!? This mockery comes from a leading figure in the queer (his word) activist movement in Massachusetts.

The suicide prevention funding voted by our Legislature helps support Mark's work as office manager at BAGLY, the Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth.

Mark will be heading up a demonstration against the Focus on the Family/Family Research Council "Liberty Sunday" event this Sunday evening, Oct. 15 at the Tremont Temple Baptist Church in Boston, to be broadcast live around the country. We wonder how he'll dress for that occasion. It was his group QueerToday that orchestrated the riot in front of Focus's "Love Won Out" ex-gay conference there last October. (Then, he had the assistance of the anti-war demonstrators who happened to be Boston that day.)

P.S. to Mark: Your video masterpiece has been preserved for posterity, so don't bother to take it down!

Homosexual Activist Behind State's New "Anti-Bullying" Curriculum

Who is Don Gorton? He is the author of the "anti-bullying curriculum" about to be distributed to all public middle schools in Massachusetts. We smelled a rat last week as we saw long articles in both GLBT newspapers, Bay Windows and InNewsWeekly on this arcane subject and Mr. Gorton's complaints about the wheels of state turning too slowly on his project.

The Bay Windows article referred to "activists" working to push his anti-bullying curriculum (and that's all you need to know about this curriculum!). Turns out Gorton is a homosexual activist par excellence. Google him and you'll see he goes back quite a few years in the Massachusetts activist community.

Mr. Gorton, an attorney and co-chairman of the Governor's Task Force On Hate Crimes, authored an article on "The origins of anti-sodomy laws" (Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review, 1998). His reviews on Amazon.com are revealing. Here's on of his favorite books, as described on its author's web site:

Mark Roeder manages again to capture the thoughts and dreams of a young gay man. But this time, he goes even further. He deals with ways in which older gay men can be mentors and role models. Plus he captures the essence of ignorance behind the anti-gay agenda of some misguided Christians.... This book as well as the first two would make excellent materials in a high school course designed to treat the subject of gay and lesbian youth in a positive manner. It is a shame that so few schools are ready to offer such a course. [That surely will change once the "anti-bullying curriculum" is in place.]

As a middle-aged man, he apparently is captivated by stories about teen boys coming out ... and politics. And it looks like he has an axe to grind against the Romney administration, as he was recently let go as a commissioner on the Appellate Tax Board:

"Romney's move to ax gay tax judge questioned; Romney fires another gay," Bay Windows, 7/19/06. Gorton, a Harvard Law School graduate who served as tax counsel at the state’s Department of Revenue from 1991 to 1997. Gorton said he was not given a reason for his termination. The Romney administration didn’t give a reason, Gorton added, because “they don’t really have a good reason.”...[He's received] honors from groups like the Gay Officers Action League of New England....Gorton also points out that the national political strategy among right-wing Republicans is the vilification of “activist judges,” and that Romney has been courting religious conservatives as he prepares for a likely 2008 presidential bid. “I am a gay activist and a judge,” said Gorton. “... he could basically say that he is tough on activist judges and he has taken action to remove them in Massachusetts. So it gives him a feather in his cap when he’s courting homophobes.”

"Don Gorton, others, allege Mass. gov's moves are suspect, based on timing, history, homophobia and qualifications of expected replacement", InNewsWeekly, 7/19/06.
During the debacle of the Big Dig falling from the sky and last Wednesday's contentious con-con, Governor Romney had time to move to displace a well-qualified commissioner at the Appellate Tax Board (ATB). The commissioner, Don Gorton, is a gay man who believes he is being removed because of Romney's presidential desires and general homophobia. If Romney has his way, Gorton will be replaced by Tom Mulhern, a real estate appraiser with limited expertise in state tax cases. The Governor's Council will most likely hear the case for the new appointee on Wednesday, July 26, and vote the following week. Out of the eight Governor's councilmen, five would need to affirm the new appointee to make it legit. In matters of a tie, Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey would cast the breaking vote. ... There are currently 50 pending cases before judge Gorton. If he were to be replaced, all of those cases would have to be retried, wasting a ton of taxpayer money [We gather he's a fiscal conservative?] and revealing the litigious strategy to the adversary.... Gorton served as the chair of the Greater Boston Lesbian/Gay Political Alliance between 1988 and 1994 and as the co-chair for the Governor's Task Force on Hate Crimes from 1991 to the present. He has written several papers for GLBT publications; his most recent entitled, "Gay Rights in the Clash of Civilizations" for the January 2002 issue of the "Gay and Lesbian Review."

Back to Gorton's writings. You can see his reviews on Amazon.com of a book on the Stonewall riots, American politics, and a novel, "Someone Is Killing the Gay Boys of Verona". He recently added "Gay Crusaders" to his Amazon wish list, and he's published a review of another "coming of age" story in The Gay & Lesbian Review.

From his review of "Someone is killing the Boys of Verona":
Enchanting Tale of the Gay and Supernatural (Sept.19, 2005) ... romantic fiction focused on gay youth coming of age. This book, one of the Gay Youth Chronicles, concocts a fast-paced action thriller out of a frothy brew of supernatural elements, imaginative and engaging characters, and a core message of gay pride and affirmation. ... presenting an appealing gay teen protagonist who struggles with the forces of homophobia, clearly presented as evil.... [set in] a 100-room 19th century mansion filled with secret passageways... Roeder's books are oriented, though not exclusively, to gay youth growing up away from the big urban gay concentrations, frequently in relative isolation. The stories offer a sense of hope, optimism, and inner strength to youth awakening to issues of sexual orientation. Roeder invariably conveys the need for and liberating effect of coming out....

Bullying Prevention Where There's No Need

The town of Ayer is starting a bullying prevention program in its public schools, according to the Boston Globe ("Ayer making it clear that bullies won't be tolerated," Boston Globe Northwest, 10-15-06). It's the first district-wide program in the state in this system with 1,350 students. They are probably eagerly anticipating the free middle-school anti-bullying curriculum being prepared by our state government.

We've noticed that the definition of "bullying" continues to expand to anything that makes a kid feel bad. In the Mass. Youth Behavior Risk Survey 2005, bullying is defined in question #21: "During the past 12 months, how many times have you been bullied at school? (Being bullied includes being repeatedly teased, threatened, hit, kicked, or excluded by another student or group of students.)" [emphasis added] That would just about include everyone! So this opens up victimhood status to anyone the school administrators choose to focus on... You get the idea.

The Ayer school authorities don't claim there's any recent spike in bullying. So ... why the program? Obviously, it's a means of introducing discussions of so-called GLBT children and families. It's about "making sure that all kids feel safe." (Where have we heard that line before?)

The consultant who will work with the Ayer schools published his book (“Schools Where Everyone Belongs”) with the Research Press, which specializes in "Books and videos in School Counseling, Special Education, Psychology, Counseling and Therapy, Parenting, Death and Dying, and Developmental Disabilities." In other words, our schools are becoming just therapeutic centers, and our children are all in need of special services!

From the local Harvard Hillside paper:
The model of bullying intervention is an innovative program based on the research of Dr. Dan Olweus of Norway. Previous approaches to bullying involve attempting to change the behavior of the target or victim of bullying, but these new approaches involve a restructuring of the school environment.

From the Boston Globe:
Bullying, or unacceptable behavior typically characterized by name-calling and physical threats, "has been a long-term concern of ours," Ayer School Superintendent Lore A. Nielsen said. However, it wasn't an unusual number of incidents that triggered this program, she emphasized. "Rather, we saw a need for linking up all the schools" to deal with the issue, she said....

Nielsen said the system has no data available on the number of bullying incidents it has handled. Jayne Garrett, a guidance counselor at Page Hilltop School, which has pupils from kindergarten through fourth grade, said the new program "is more about being pro active than it is about responding to a number of incidents. "We want to make sure that all kids feel safe," she said.

The nonprofit Ayer Education Foundation Inc. is funding the program with grants and donations of more than $10,000 ...

Sudbury Elementary School and "Gay Rights"

We recently heard about a kids' magazine given out to 4th-graders at the Loring Elementary School in Sudbury. Called Kidz Magazine, it included a section devoted to "gay rights". Sounds like this town may be going the way of Lexington, Newton, Brookline, Bedford, etc. (Sudbury did just hire Ms. Joni Jay at another of its schools. She was formerly principal of Estabrook School in Lexington -- where she held her ground against David Parker's parental rights on this same issue.)

In the October issue of Kidz, p. 5 discusses "election 2006," and asks little 9-year-olds to vote on these big issues which "are going to appear on many state ballots":

• Educational Funding (3 questions)
• Minimum Wage (1 question)
• Eminent Domain (1)
• Gay Rights (2)
• Illegal Immigrants (2)
• Alternative Energy (1)

So, out of 10 questions, two are on "gay rights"! (Also interesting that three are on school funding -- making sure the little ones grow up with the teachers' unions view that there is never enough money for the schools!) This is all about getting the littlest kids to question basic concepts like marriage and moral standards as early as possible!

Now imagine the classroom discussion opportunities these questions open up. Where does the teacher lead the discussion? Are there questions about what it means to be "gay"? The parents will never know what is said! This discussion is not part of the formal curriculum, after all! Here's the section on "gay rights":

--Colorado's ballot will include a vote to authorize domestic partnerships. Domestic partnerships would give gay couples most of the legal rights of a marriage. Do you think gay couples should be allowed the rights of marriage? (yes/no)
--At least seven states are letting voters decide if marriage should be defined in our constitution [state constitutions?] as a partnership between a man and a woman , making traditional marriage illegal for gay couples. Do you think marriage should be defined specifically as a partnership between a man and a woman? (yes/no) [Wow -- that's sneaky: defining real marriage down to a "partnership" -- just like "domestic partnerships"?]

Middle School Transgender Bullying?

Bullying of "transgender children" in middle school?! This is a serious threat, according to Kathleen Henry, head of the new independent Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth (soon to add Bisexual and Transgender to its name). A new curriculum guide on middle school bullying now in the works in our state government will be the new indoctrination tool in the public schools. Soon 6th-8th graders will learn that some boys must wear skirts and fingernail polish to express their true inborn identities, and cannot be made fun of.

"Romney administration delays anti-bullying guide" (Bay Windows, 10-10-06) points us to the 170-page curriculum guide on bullying, edited by -- we're not kidding -- the head of "the now largely inactive Governor’s Commission on Hate Crimes." In other words, if a kid is overheard saying, "Yuck, that boy's wearing a dress!," it's bullying -- or worse, a "hate crime". Do you see where this is headed?

Apparently, the outrage over the "Youth Pride" event last May (after MassResistance exposed its excesses to the Governor's office) had some lasting effect -- even though Romney eventually chickened out and didn't disband his Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth. The activists behind this curriculum guide are convinced that their work is being more closely scrutinized now. As a Dept. of Public Health publication, their inclusion of transgender youth has raised eyebrows.

[We also suspect that the Little Black Book (also exposed by MassResistance) -- the pornographic guide to homosexual sex parading as a "safer sex" manual -- triggered greater vigilance in the Governor's office. The LBB acknowledged support from the DPH.] From the Bay Windows report:

...Yet as of last June the project [middle-school bullying curriculum guide] has been awaiting approval at DPH, and the activists working on the guide have received no word about whether that approval is forthcoming. They worry that the guide has been intentionally delayed because of its LGBT content, including a discussion on bullying directed at LGBT youth.

“Something decidedly changed over the fallout from the controversy of the gay and lesbian youth commission,” said Don Gorton, editor of the guide, referring to Gov. Mitt Romney’s threats to disband the Governor’s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth after a press release for Youth Pride went out with his name and the state seal without approval from Romney’s office....

The guide was first researched and written in 2002 and 2003 as a project of the Governor’s Task Force on Hate Crimes, but in late 2003, after the initial draft of the guide was already complete, Romney cut funding from the task force, prompting layoffs of the task force’s student civil rights director ... The guide was left unfinished until Gorton picked up the project in 2005. Henry agreed to bring the Governor’s Commission in to help provide some funding to help pay to print it, about $2000-$3000, and also to expand the guide’s section on LGBT bullying from a couple paragraphs into its own three-page section.

"I turned to my associates and friends at the Department of Public Health and asked would they write up the LGBT youth chapter, not realizing that once you do that, once you ignite the government per se, then you’ve entered into this approval chain that under Romney especially is particularly onerous. So it stalled in its channels,” said Henry, who now chairs the new commission on gay and lesbian youth created by the legislature. She praised the work of the DPH staff in the department’s Safe and Healthy Communities for Gay and Lesbian Youth (SCHGLY) program, who authored the section, but she said she believes involving DPH in the project has led to the project being delayed. ...

Neither Gorton nor Henry have received direct word from DPH that the guide is being delayed because of its LGBT content, but the timing of the delay prompted their suspicions. Henry said she believes the inclusion of information about bullying against transgender students may be a sticking point since discussion of transgender youth was one of the most contentious issues around the Youth Pride press release. She also said in discussions with staff at DPH ... there is a sense in DPH that any project that might be too controversial for Romney, who has been laying the groundwork for a run for the White House and whose term ends next year, should be delayed until a new administration is in place.

A Monster In Our Midst

Thus we began by attempting to right what was felt an ancient injustice and we ended with a monster in our midst, powerful and clamouring, flexing its muscles, threatening, vengeful and vindictive towards anyone who challenges its outrageous claims, and bent on making fundamental — and to most of us horrifying — changes to civilized patterns of sexual behaviour.

--British historian Paul Johnson in The Quest for God (1997).

Yes, we're living with a monster in our midst. Here's Johnson's quote in context:
There were a great many of us, in the 1960s, who felt that there were grave practical and moral objections to the criminalisation of homosexuality, and therefore supported, as happened in most Western countries, changes in the law which meant that certain forms of homosexual behaviour ceased to be unlawful. Homosexuality itself was still to be publicly regarded by society, let alone by its churches, as a great moral evil, but men who engaged in it, within strictly defined limits, would no longer be sent to prison. We believed this to be the maximum homosexuals deserved or could reasonably expect. We were proven totally mistaken. Decriminalisation made it possible for homosexuals to organize openly into a powerful lobby, and it thus became a mere platform from which further demands were launched. Next followed demands for equality, in which homosexuality was officially placed on the same moral level as standard forms of sexuality, and dismissal of identified homosexuals from sensitive positions, for instance schools, children's homes, etc., became progressively more difficult. This was followed in turn by demands not merely for equality but privilege: the appointment, for instance, of homosexual quotas in local government, the excision from school textbooks and curricula, and university courses, passages or books or authors they found objectionable, special rights to proselytize, and not least the privilege of special programmes to put forward their views — including the elimination of the remaining legal restraints — on radio and television. Thus we began by attempting to right what was felt an ancient injustice and we ended with a monster in our midst, powerful and clamouring, flexing its muscles, threatening, vengeful and vindictive towards anyone who challenges its outrageous claims, and bent on making fundamental — and to most of us horrifying — changes to civilized patterns of sexual behaviour.

GLBT Parenting Harmful to Many Children

Many children with GLBT parents are harmed in ways we're only just beginning to hear about. A new web site by Dawn Stefanowicz in Canada seeks to share these stories. Why were these voices silenced when adoption by homosexual parents was legalized? Or homosexual "marriage" began? National Catholic Register's Gail Besse reports (Oct. 8-14 issue):

New Website Offers Support For Adult Children of Homosexuals. A woman who grew up with a same-sex-attracted father has launched an effort to help similar people deal with the pain they experience.

LONDON, Ontario — She had every daughter’s natural need for affirmation, but that was something her homosexual father just couldn’t give his little girl. Now in her 40s, Dawn Stefanowicz knows there are others like her — others who as children ached with silent hunger for that missing connection. To help them, she has set up the first website that specifically addresses the impact of homosexual parenting from the adult child’s perspective.

“It pierces the inside of you when you know the truth. Men who struggle with their own masculinity cannot affirm femininity,” she said. “Six-year-olds cannot tell you how they’re being impacted. We can’t comprehend what we went through until we’re adults.

Now an accountant and home schooling mother of two, Stefanowicz and her husband of 22 years live in Ontario. Her website, http://www.dawnstefanowicz.com, went online in early September. It outlines her childhood story, which includes being exposed to nude beaches, “gay cruising” sites and sexually transmitted diseases. The website lists scientific studies and news articles, secular and religious support groups, and confidential contact information. Her Christian faith and counseling helped Stefanowicz come to terms with her past and with the biological father whom she loved but lost to AIDS....

She said that in trying to “normalize” the raising of children by homosexual parents, society is reconstructing the family so children’s needs are secondary to the sexual desires of adults....

A host of parental problems can challenge children raised by those who act out same-sex attraction, according to Dale O’Leary, a writer and researcher for the Catholic Medical Association and author of ­ The Gender Agenda: Redefining Equality. For example, boys reared by two “mothers” face hostility toward their masculinity within the lesbian community.

“Same-sex attraction is the tip of the iceberg,” O’Leary said. “Many such people were victims of sexual child abuse themselves and have multiple problems. Many have suicidal impulses, anger management issues, drug and alcohol abuse, a high level of partner change, serious depression and mental illness. The scary thing is, when children are raised by dysfunctional parents, they often think the problems are their fault,” she said.

Read more...

STD Control Undermined When "Gay Marriage" Began?

There's a politically-correct silence concerning the apparent collapse of the Dept. of Public Health's STD control efforts, especially concerning HIV/AIDS and other diseases highly correlated with homosexual sex practices. There's also been little public discussion of the now abandoned effort to control STDs in the heterosexual population at the time a couple applies for a marriage license.

Until January 2005, a couple could not marry without a physician's certificate of health verifying that each person was free of certain STDs. But this part of the marriage statutes (MGL Ch. 207, Sec. 28A) was overturned when Gov. Romney signed into law House Bill #75 on Oct. 29, 2004. Why did Romney do this? Wasn't the marriage health certificate an important part of controlling the STD epidemic? (Remember too, the DPH is under Gov. Romney's authority.)

Do we need to connect the dots? If marriage licenses were still denied to homosexual males with STDs monitored by the DPH, how many of them would still be able to "marry"? Does anyone know of some other reason the health certificate requirement was done away with?

See this page from the Division of Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD), part of the DPH's Bureau of Communicable Disease Control: http://www.mass.gov/dph/cdc/std/divstd.htm . The two info alerts below -- one on waiving the marriage health certificate, the other on STD issues in the "men who have sex with men" population --are ironically juxtaposed on that same page.

Marriage Information
News Alert: Information to all physicians regarding the January 28, 2005 effective date of the repeal of medical certificate requirements for marriage licenses.... All couples that file a Notice of Intention to Marry on or after January 28, 2005, no longer must obtain a medical certificate.

Clinical Advisories:
--Lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV) presenting as inflammatory bowel disease or proctitis, January 2005 (PDF 159k) MS Word
--Infectious Syphilis Among Men who have Sex with Men (MSM)
--Increasing Number of Cases Caused by Quinolone Resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Foley's Case Typical: Molested Youth Often Turn to Homosexuality

Stephen Bennett, an ex-homosexual with a Christian ministry reaching out to homosexuals hoping to change, has some interesting things to say about the Mark Foley story. See Ex-Homosexual Ministry Leader: 'My Heart Breaks for Mark Foley.' (Agape Press, 10-5-06) Excerpts:

According to the ministry founder [Bennett], what the disgraced political figure needs to do now is to admit he has a problem and take full responsibility for his actions.... Foley's attorney told the press that the Congressman is, in fact, homosexual and that he had been sexually abused by a clergyman while between the ages of 13 and 15.

Stephen Bennett, a former homosexual and founder of Stephen Bennett Ministries (SBM), says his ministry often deals with homosexuals who were abused as youngsters. In fact, he says there is a definite correlation between molestation and homosexuality.

"This is the truth that people need to understand, that molestation is a vicious, vicious cycle and the media is afraid -- most of the secular media, because it's politically incorrect -- to make that association between molestation and homosexuality," Bennett says. However, he asserts, just because Foley has suffered at the hands of a homosexual clergyman does not mean the former Congressman has to be a by-product of that cycle....

[I]t is time, Bennett urges, for people "to stop worrying about being 'politically correct' in the media regarding homosexuality and finally deal with the truth ... that homosexual (and heterosexual) molestation of children can and [does] produce future homosexual men and women.

"Foley's story is so tragically typical," Stephen Bennett says. But the good news, he adds, is that the former Congressman and others like him can find deliverance from the homosexual lifestyle through a relationship with Christ, because help and hope are available, and change is completely possible.