by Brian Camenker
October 2008 Updated June 2012
Anyone who thinks that same-sex
“marriage” is a benign eccentricity which won’t affect the average person
should consider what it has done to Massachusetts since 2004. It’s become a hammer
to force the acceptance and normalization of homosexuality on everyone. The
slippery slope is real. New radical demands never cease. What has happened in
the last several years is truly frightening. On November 18, 2003, the
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court announced its Goodridge opinion,
declaring that it was unconstitutional not to allow same-sex “marriage.” Six
months later, despite public outrage, homosexual “weddings” began to
take place. And that was just the beginning .
. .
The public schools
The homosexual “marriage” onslaught in
public schools across the state started soon after the November 2003 court
ruling.
At my own children's
high school there was a school-wide assembly to celebrate same-sex “marriage”
in early December 2003. It featured an array of speakers, including
teachers at the school who announced that they would be “marrying” their same-sex
partners and starting families, either through adoption or artificial insemination. Literature on same-sex
marriage – how it is now a normal part of society – was handed out to the students.
Within months it was
brought into the middle schools. In September 2004, an 8thgrade teacher in
Brookline, Mass., told National Public Radio that the marriage ruling had opened up the door for teaching
homosexuality. “In my mind, I know that, ‘OK, this is legal now.' If somebody wants to
challenge me, I'll say, ‘Give me a break. It's legal now,'” she told NPR. She added that
she now discusses gay sex with her students as explicitly as she desires. For
example, she said she tells the kids that lesbians can have vaginal intercourse using sex toys.
By the following year
it was in elementary school curricula – with hostility toward parents who
disagreed. Kindergartners
in Lexington, Mass. were given copies of a picture book, Who’s in a
Family?, telling them that same-sex couples are just another kind of
family, just like their own parents. When David Parker – parent of a
kindergartner – calmly refused to leave a school meeting unless
officials agreed to notify him when discussing homosexuality or
transgenderism with his son, the school had him arrested and jailed
overnight.
The next year, second
graders at the same school were read a book, King and King, about two men who
fall in love and marry each other, ending with a picture of them kissing. When parents Robb and
Robin Wirthlin complained, they were told that the school had no obligation to notify
them or allow them to opt their child out.
In 2007 a federal
judge ruled that because of “gay marriage” in Massachusetts, parents have no
rights regarding the teaching of homosexual relationships in schools. The previous year the
Parkers and Wirthlins had filed a federal civil rights lawsuit to force the schools to notify
parents and allow them to opt out their elementaryschool children when
homosexual-related subjects were taught. The federal judge dismissed the case.
The appeals judges later upheld the first judge’s ruling that because same-sex
marriage is legal in Massachusetts, the school actually had a duty to normalize homosexual relationships to
children; and schools have no obligation to notify parents or let them opt out their
children. Acceptance of homosexuality had become a matter of good citizenship!
Think about that:
Because same-sex marriage is “legal,” federal judges have ruled that the
schools now have a duty to portray homosexual relationships as normal to children,
despite what parents think or believe!
The judges also allowed the school to
overrule the Massachusetts parental notification law on this issue, with the claim that
homosexuality or same-sex marriages are not “human sexuality issues” (to which the
law refers).
School libraries have
also radically changed. School libraries across the state, from elementary school
to high school, now have expanding shelves of books to normalize homosexual
behavior and “lifestyle” in the minds of kids, some of them quite explicit and even
pornographic. Parents’ complaints are ignored or met with hostility.
A large, slick
hardcover book celebrating Massachusetts homosexual marriages began to appear
in many school libraries across the state. Titled Courting Equality, it
was supplied to schools by a major homosexual activist organization. Its
apparent purpose was to teach kids that “gay marriage” was a great civil
rights victory.
It has become
commonplace in Massachusetts schools for teachers to display photos of their
same-sex “spouses” and occasionally bring their “spouses” to school functions. At one point, both
high schools in my own town had principals who were “married” to their same-sex
partners who came to school and were introduced to the students.
“Gay days” in schools
are considered necessary to fight “intolerance” against samesex relationships.
Hundreds of high schools and even middle schools across the state now hold
“gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender days.” In my own town, a school committee member announced that
combating “homophobia” was now a top priority. The schools not only “celebrate”
homosexual marriage, but have moved beyond to promote other behaviors such as
cross-dressing and transsexuality.
As a result, many
more children in Massachusetts appear to be self-identifying as “gay.” According to the Massachusetts
Youth Risk Behavior Survey, given to students in high schools across
the state, between 2005 and 2009 both the percentage of kids “identifying
as gay” and who had same-sex contact rose by approximately 50%. Although this bi-annual survey is unscientific
and largely unreliable, it still shows a disturbing trend among those students
who chose to answer the questions in this way.
(At a minimum, it implies that these
answers are being encouraged.)
Once homosexuality is
normalized, all boundaries begin to come down. The schools have already moved on to
normalizing transgenderism (including cross-dressing and sex changes). The
state-funded Commission on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth, which goes into
schools with homosexual and transgender programs and activities for children,
includes prominent activists who are transsexuals.
In 2006 a
cross-dressing man undergoing a sex-change operation was brought into a third-grade
class in Newton to
teach the children that there are now “different kinds of families.” School officials
told a mother that her complaints to the principal were considered “inappropriate behavior”!
She ended up removing her child from the school.
Public health
The Commissioner of
the Mass. Dept. of Public Health, who is "married" to another man, told a crowd of kids
at the state-sponsored Youth Pride event in 2007 that it’s “wonderful being gay” and he
wants to make sure there’s enough HIV testing available for all of them.
The STD test required
to obtain a marriage license was eliminated five months after same-sex “marriages”
began in Massachusetts, by a bill quietly signed by Gov. Mitt Romney. This was despite an increase
in syphilis cases and other STDs in homosexual men in Massachusetts at the time
(according to the Mass. Dept. of Public Health).
In recent years state
funding for HIV/AIDS programs has gone up considerably in Massachusetts, along
with the proportion of homosexual-related cases. According to
the Massachusetts Dept. of Public Health, even though the total number of new
HIV/AIDS diagnoses has declined, the proportion caused by male
homosexual behavior rose by over 30% from 2000-2009. Thus, for
the last several years the state has budgeted $30-$35 million per year
for these programs. This dwarfs spending on any
other viral disease that we are aware
of.
A hideously obscene
booklet on “gay” practices created by health officials was given out in a high
school. Citing
“the right to marry” as one of the “important challenges” in a place where “it’s a
great time to be gay,” the Mass. Dept. of Public Health helped the AIDS Action
Committee produce The Little Black Book: Queer in the 21st Century. It was given to teens
at Brookline High School on April 30, 2005. Among other things, it gives “tips” to boys
on how to perform oral sex on other males, masturbate other males, and how to
“safely” have someone urinate on you for sexual pleasure. It even included a directory
of bars in Boston where young men meet for anonymous sex.
Hospitals
Because of the
purported necessity to cater to “LGBT health” issues, nearly every major Boston
hospital has become an active supporter of the radical homosexual movement. This includes
marching in the “Gay Pride” parades, holding homosexual events, and
putting on numerous “gay health”-related seminars. This is one of the most disturbing
things that’s happened since “gay marriage” became “legal.”
A major Boston
hospital threatened to fire a physician when he objected to its promotion of
homosexual behavior.
In 2011 a prominent physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston – a
large Harvard-affiliated hospital – objected to the hospital being involved with “Gay
Pride” activities. He also pointed out to his superiors the medical health risks of
homosexuality, and said that he and others at the hospital considered homosexual
acts to be unnatural and immoral. The hospital then
threatened to fire him, telling him
that same-sex marriage is “legal” and that his
comments constituted “harassment and
discrimination.” After a “hearing” he was allowed to keep his job, but was told to apologize
and to keep his opinions on these matters to himself.
In 2012 the Boston
Medical Center purchased a prominent full-color ad (full page, inside cover) in
the Boston Gay Pride guide book. The content? The entire ad promoted the hospital’s STD and AIDS
clinics for the “pride” participants – particularly its screening services for gonorrhea,
chlamydia, syphilis, hepatitis, and HIV.
Domestic violence
Every year more state
money goes to deal with the high incidence of homosexual domestic violence. Since “gay marriage”
began, Massachusetts has one of the highest proportions of homosexuals living as
couples in the country. Given the extremely dysfunctional nature of homosexual
relationships, the Massachusetts Legislature has felt the need to spend more and more money
to deal with that problem. “Gay domestic violence programs” have also become a
major lobbying push in the State House by the homosexual group MassEquality.
This year it comprises a considerable portion of a $5.5
million state budget item (according
to MassEquality). This is up from $100,000
budgeted in 2007.
“Gay domestic partner
violence” literature (funded by the state) is now distributed at virtually
every public homosexual event – including to children at “Youth
Pride” events, GLSEN conferences, “gay straight alliance” high school
clubs – and especially at the various events and parades during “Gay
Pride” week.
It has become such a
problem that a public candlelight vigil in downtown Boston is held every year by
a coalition of Massachusetts homosexual groups “to remember victims of
recent LGBT intimate partner violence, and to raise awareness of this important
community issue.”
Business and
employment
All insurance in
Massachusetts must
now recognize same-sex “married” couples in their coverage. This includes auto
insurance, health insurance, life insurance, etc.
Businesses must
recognize same-sex “married” couples in all their benefits, activities, etc., regarding both
employees and customers.
People can now get fired
from their jobs for expressing religious objections to same-sex “marriage.” In 2009, a deputy
manager at a Brookstone store in Boston was fired from his job for mentioning his
belief to another manager who had kept bringing up the subject with him that day.
Brookstone’s letter of termination (quoted on local TV news) said his comment was
“inappropriate” because “in the State of Massachusetts, same-sex marriage is legal.”
The wedding industry
is required to serve the homosexual community if requested. Wedding
photographers, halls, caterers, etc., must accept same-sex marriage events or be held liable for
discrimination.
Businesses are often
“tested” for tolerance by homosexual activists. Groups of homosexual activists go into
restaurants or bars and publicly kiss and fondle each other to test whether the establishment
demonstrates sufficient “equality” — now that homosexual marriage is “legal.” Then
they report “tolerance violators” to authorities, and businesses can be fined and punished.
In fact, more and more overt displays of homosexual affection are seen in
public places across the state to reinforce "marriage equality."
Legal profession and
judicial system
The Massachusetts Bar
Exam now tests lawyers on their knowledge of same-sex marriage "law."
In
2007, a Boston man failed the Massachusetts bar exam because he refused
to answer a question about homosexual marriage.
In many firms,
lawyers in Massachusetts practicing family law must now attend seminars on
homosexual "marriage." Issues regarding homosexual “families” are
now firmly entrenched in the Massachusetts
legal system. In addition, there are now several homosexual judges overseeing the
Massachusetts family courts.
In 2011 the Governor
appointed Barbara Lenk, a “married” lesbian activist, to be a state Supreme
Court Justice. She
has said that the interpretation of law “evolves and develops” because “minority groups
[e.g., homosexuals] see certain things differently based on their own experiences.”
Adoption and birth certificates
In the year after the
“gay marriage” ruling, the state’s adoption and foster care workers went through
a massive indoctrination on “LGBT youth awareness.” This included employees and managers at the
Mass. Dept. of Social Services. These sessions were run by the radical National
Gay and Lesbian Task Force (which once awarded a “Leather Leadership Award”
to the owner of a pornographic video company). The emphasis was that those working
with children must be trained that homosexuality (and transgenderism) are normal. At
one session, the trainer announced that the new
motto is, “To tolerate is an assault;
you have to accept” this behavior.
Homosexual “married”
couples can now demand to be allowed to adopt children – through any
agency. In
2006 Catholic Charities decided to abandon handling adoptions rather submit to regulations requiring
them to allow homosexuals to adopt the children in their care.
Adoption agencies
have said that 40% of their adoptions are to homosexual couples. Anecdotal reports
also indicate that many adoption agencies now favor homosexuals over normal couples.
In 2006 the
Massachusetts Department of Social Services (DSS) honored two men “married” to
each other as their “Parents of the Year.” The men had adopted a baby through
DSS (against the wishes of the baby’s birth parents). According to news
reports, the day after that adoption was final, DSS approached the men
about adopting a second child.
The state-funded
Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange (MARE) has been pushing “GLBT” family
formation and holds “adoption parties” where homosexual couples have been encouraged to attend
(along with others) and see “available” children in person. MARE places prominent ads
in GLBT publications.
Birth certificates in
Massachusetts have been changed from “mother” and “father” to
“mother/parent” and “father/parent.” Two men or two women can now be listed as the “parents” on birth
certificates! Homosexuals who adopt can revise children’s’ existing birth
certificates.
A court ruled in 2012
that if a child is “born of a same-sex marriage,” there is no need for adoption by
a non-biological parent. Thus, they would both be the listed as the “parents” on the child’s birth
certificate, without any formal proceedings necessary. (The other biological parent is not
noted on the official birth certificate.)
Government mandates
Marriage licenses and
certificates in Massachusetts now have “Party A” and “Party B” instead of
“husband” and “wife.” Imagine having a marriage license like that.
In 2004, Governor
Mitt Romney ordered Justices of the Peace to perform homosexual marriages
when requested or be fired. Several Justices of the Peace immediately decided to resign. That
order still stands. Also Town Clerks were forced by the Governor’s office to issue
marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
In 2008 Massachusetts
changed the state Medicare laws to include homosexual “married” couples in the coverage.
The public square
Since gay “marriage”
began,
public “Gay Pride” events have become more prominent in the
public square. There
are more politicians and corporations participating, and even police
organizations take part. And the envelope gets pushed further and further. For example: the
annual profane “Dyke March” through downtown Boston, and the 2008 “transgender”
parade in Northampton that included bare-chested women who have had their breasts
surgically removed (so they could “become” men). Governor Patrick even marched with his
17-year-old “out lesbian” daughter in the 2008
Boston Pride event, right behind a
sadomasochist “leather” group brandishing a black and blue flag, lashes and chains!
Churches being
harassed
Churches and religious people have
been demonized, harassed and threatened – with no punishment for the perpetrators.
Since the “gay marriage” ruling, those who publicly disagree with “gay marriage” or the
normalcy of homosexuality – or hold events promoting traditional beliefs – are
targets of militant retribution by homosexual activists. Police and public officials
have shown no interest in stopping this. We are not aware of a single homosexual
activist arrested (or charged with any “hate crime”) for disrupting a religious
event or threatening and harassing people at a church. For example:
In 2012 someone
threatened to burn down a Catholic Church in Acushnet which posted the words “Two
men are friends, not spouses” on its outdoor sign. The church immediately received a flood of
profane phone calls. At least one person threatened to burn down the church. An
activist nailed a sign to church’s fence saying, “Spread love not hate.” Activists
staged a protest outside of the Sunday Mass to intimidate parishioners with a sign
saying, “It is legal for two men or women to be spouses.” Neither the police nor the
District Attorney pursued the threats as a hate crime
or other offense.
In 2010 a Catholic
elementary school balked at letting a lesbian couple enroll their son. As a result, the
school was excoriated in the media and even by the local liberal state
representative as “discriminatory.” The privately-run Catholic Schools
Foundation then threatened to withhold funding to the school unless
it relented. The Archdiocese eventually backed down and the school
reversed its policy.
In 2009 angry
homosexual activists terrorized the Park Street Church in Boston while it was holding an ex-gay
religious training session inside. They demonstrated next to the doors and windows with signs,
screaming homosexual slogans. One of them held a bullhorn against the window outside
the meeting, bellowing at the participants inside. Police did nothing to stop them, even
though they were standing inside the historic cemetery adjacent to the church.
In 2006 dozens of
screaming homosexual activists drowned out the speakers at an outdoor
pro-marriage rally in
Worcester organized by Catholic Vote, yelling “Bigots” and disgusting chants. Police did not
stop them, even though the rally had a permit. When one of the rioters rushed the
stage and started shouting, a rally organizer tried to lead her to the side. She subsequently
sued that organizer for assault! He went through
a four-day trial and was acquitted by
a jury. But no charges were filed against any of the rioters.
In 2006 a group of
homosexual activists with signs taunted and screamed at people entering and
leaving the Tremont Temple Baptist Church in downtown Boston, which was holding a nationally
televised pro-marriage event inside.
In 2005 hundreds of
homosexual activists terrorized the Tremont Temple Baptist Church with
makeshift coffins, screaming obscenities through loudspeakers as
- 7 -
the national pro-family group Focus
on the Family held a religious conference inside. The crowd was so threatening that
attendees could not leave the church for the lunch break. The Boston riot police stood in
front of the church doors, but did nothing to disperse the protesters who were also
completely blocking the street.
The media
The Boston media
regularly features articles and news stories using homosexual “married” couples
where
regular married couples would normally be used. It’s “equal,” they insist, so there must be no
difference in how marriage is portrayed. Also, the newspaper advice columns now deal with
homosexual "marriage" issues – and how to properly accept it.
A number of news
reporters and TV anchors are “out” homosexuals (at least one openly “married”) who march in the
“Gay Pride” parades and publicly participate in other homosexual events.
Politics
A climate of fear has
kept politicians at all levels from disagreeing with or criticizing same-sex
marriage since it became “legal.” Public officials are afraid of being accused of wanting to “take away
rights.” Those who support traditional marriage rarely discuss it publicly. And this
fear has expanded to suppress any meaningful debate on all homosexual related issues.
Additionally, it has brought a feeling of intimidation among pro-family people across the
state.
The Massachusetts
Republican establishment has become arguably the most “pro-gay marriage”
GOP in America. The
state GOP House and Senate leaders now both publicly support “gay marriage,”
as did the recent Mass. GOP candidates for Governor and Lt. Governor. GOP
candidates for office are told not even to discuss it.
In April 2009, the
Chairman of the Mass. Republican Party told a homosexual newspaper that the
GOP would no longer oppose “gay marriage.” Then Chairman Jennifer Nassour, interviewed on the
front page of Bay Windows, assured the gay community that the state GOP would
“steer clear of social” issues such as “opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion.” The
newly elected chairman, Bob Maginn, does not talk about the issue.
Every Massachusetts
state-wide elected official and member of Congress (but one) now publicly
supports “gay marriage.” The one (apparent) holdout, Republican US Senator Scott Brown, strenuously
avoids the issue, saying that it’s “settled law” and not worth fighting over.
Rule of law
Same-sex “marriage”
came to Massachusetts through a radical court’s narrow ruling. Because of that,
there is an often depressing sense of helplessness that pervades this issue. The marriage
statute was never changed, and it has been convincingly argued that the whole
process was in violation of the state constitution. The Governor simply went along. And the
Legislature acted to block popular votes on two separate constitutional amendments
protecting marriage, after sufficient signatures had
been gathered for each. The rule of
law seems further lost with every new outrage imposed on the people.
Even the
Massachusetts Law Library (online) shows no law legalizing same-sex marriage, only a
court opinion. It
is a dangerous precedent to allow such sweeping judicial activism to stand as law,
enabling everything that has followed from it. It should serve as a warning to states across
the country.
In conclusion
Same-sex “marriage” hangs over
society, hammering citizens with the force of law. Once it gets a foothold,
society becomes more oppressive. Unfortunately, it was imposed on the people of
Massachusetts through a combination of radical, arrogant judges and pitifully
cowardly politicians. The homosexual movement has used that combination to its
continued advantage around the country. It’s pretty clear that this radical
movement is obsessed with marriage not because large numbers of homosexuals
actually want to marry each other. A small percentage actually “marry.” (In
fact, over the last several months, the Sunday Boston Globe’s marriage
section hasn’t had any photos of homosexual marriages; at first it was
full of them.) Research shows that homosexuals’ relationships are fundamentally
dysfunctional on many levels, and real
“marriage” as we know it isn’t
something they can achieve, or even truly desire.
The push for “gay
marriage” is really is about putting the legal stamp of approval on
homosexuality and
forcing its acceptance on (otherwise unwilling) citizens and our social, political,
and commercial institutions.
To the rest of America: You've been forewarned.
Copyright (c) 2012
MassResistance
(For a downloadable
version of this article and links
to further material
see www.MassResistance.org.
This pamphlet is also available in booklet
form.)
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου