Want Some Cheese with that Whine?

This Tuesday, August 2, 2005, David Parker will again be in a Concord courthouse to refute the trespassing charges against him. In an interesting piece of propaganda, Parker's attorney, Neil S. Tassel, wrote a guest commentary for the Lexington Minuteman. While on one hand he says that he wants to "clarify numerous inaccuracies" he instead creates new ones:

First of all, Mr. Parker does not hate homosexuals or their families. In fact he is an exceptionally kind hearted man, who is anguished that his arrest has caused any pain to this community.

I guess we are supposed to forget that he planned his arrest and refused to leave the school until the police arrested him. Additionally, because of his arrest, he has been using his "martyr" status around the country by going onto Fox News and appearing at several road shows in Maine to get the state to remove protections for gays and lesbians.

...Many might be interested to learn that Mr. Parker's view of homosexuality resulted in-part from the illness contacted by his best friend who was gay. When Parker observed signs of his friend's illness, he urged him to obtain medical care and personally underwent a preventative series of gamma-globulin shots, so that he too, would not be overcome by hepatitis. The illness of his friend had a profound effect on Mr. Parker's beliefs.

We are supposed to excuse his behavior because of this? This is a new tactic, his views of homosexuality were based on his friend's illness. Sounds to me like the "gay panic" defense. What was Mr. Parker doing with his roommate that made himself concerned that he was also going to contract hepatitis? My guess is NOTHING so if he is so smart (the attorney says he has a Ph.D) then he would have known that he was really at no risk for contracting Hepatitis. From the National Center for infectious Diseases:

Hepatitis A Virus (HAV) Hepatitis A virus is spread from person to person by putting something in the mouth that has been contaminated with the stool of a person with hepatitis A. This type of transmission is called "fecal-oral." Most infections result from contact with a household member or sex partner who is infected with HAV. Casual contact, as in the usual office, factory, or school setting, does not spread the virus.

Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) HBV is spread when blood or body fluids from an infected person enters the body of a person who is not infected. For example, HBV is spread through having sex with an infected person without using a condom (the efficacy of latex condoms in preventing infection with HBV is unknown, but their proper use might reduce transmission), by sharing
drugs, needles, or "works" when "shooting" drugs, through needlesticks or sharps exposures on the job, or from an infected mother to her baby during birth.

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV)HCV is spread when blood or body fluids from an infected person enters the body of a person who is not infected. This could happen through sharing needles or "works" when "shooting" drugs, through needlesticks or sharps exposures on the job, or from an infected mother to her baby during birth.

He goes on:

Second, Mr. Parker is not against a book. This commonly heard misconception is both rampant and untrue. The book sent home with their son simply spurred the Parkers into action. To label the Parkers as "book haters" is to try to portray them as book burning extremists which is being done for apparent political gain.

It's funny that Article 8, who does most of the talking for Parker and who's leader, Brian Camenker, appeared with Parker on Fox News takes issue with this point. See their website. I have also read a lot about this issue and I never read or heard anyone call the Parkers book burners. It sounds like the attorney is trying to draw sympathy for David Parker.

The Parkers' proposal was simple: notify them in advance if there is a planned discussion about same-sex issues, and, if an adult becomes involved in a discussion spontaneously begun by a child, then remove their child from the discussion. Their concern is that impressionable children will hear for the first time from a respected adult that a homosexual headed family is a normal family structure, and an equally "good" one at that. Regardless of whether one agrees with that premise, it is a matter of one's values and beliefs. It is not borne in hate, but in a concern for his children and a desire to see them equipped to make decisions in a healthy manner.

I guess the Parkers would not want a "respected adult" who is gay to teach their child either? Will they want their own background checks to make sure that the teachers are heterosexual? Wouldn't this rationale which they are advocating also allow people who didn't want they children to learn about African-American or Jewish families to be removed from the classroom discussion? How about those people that believe that the holocaust didn't exist, should those families be able to remove their children from all discussions of the hate caused by Hitler?

All in all, it's a feeble attempt of Parker's attorney to try and generate sympathy for a man that has used his arrest to fuel hatred around the country. If Parker cared so much about the pain he had caused he never would have allowed Article 8 to parade his picture around and go on the road shows in Maine touting his "civil disobedience". Clearly he is a man of principles, misguided ones.