Two "Moral" Men

Two incidents this past weekend show what's really going on in American.

In the first incident, Mel Gibson, an "authentic" Catholic made the news in California. Gibson is the man who made "The Passion of the Christ". When questioned about the anti-Semitic nature of his film he said that "The Passion" was not anti-Semitic and "To be anti-Semitic is to be un-Christian, and I'm not." So what do you make of this when Mel was arrested for speeding and drunk driving this past weekend:

According to reports, Gibson said to his arresting officer, "F***ing Jews. The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world." He then asked the deputy, "Are you a Jew?"

In addition to other remarks he made he now apologizes for making "despicable" comments to the arresting officer and blames it on his alcoholism problem.

In the other story, our anti-gay Governor Willard Romney also uses language unbecoming of an elected official. Once again leaving the Commonwealth of Massachusetts behind he headed for Iowa:

Gov. Mitt Romney has apologized for referring to the troubled Big Dig construction project as a "tar baby" during a fundraiser with Iowa Republicans, saying he didn't know anyone would be offended by the term some consider a racial epithet.

My question is "If he didn't know it was a racial epithet what, in Gov. Romney's world, IS a tar baby?" If he knows enough about the term to use it at a fundraiser for Iowa Republicans he must know how it came about.

"He was unaware that some people find the term objectionable and he's sorry if anyone's offended," Fehrnstrom said.

It reminds me of the time the first President Bush went to a grocery store and was amazed at the laser scanners used for checking out. Is the Governor so out of touch with people of color that he didn't know it was a derogatory term. Hard to believe. I also wonder how many people of color was in attendance at this Iowa fundraiser.

A Tale of Two Coasts

Over on the West Coast the Seattle Roman Catholic Archdiocese filed a friend of the court brief against gay marriage in Washington State. The court rejected the brief because it was late (17 months late to be exact). The archdiocese still wanted to make its case though:

The archdiocese filed its amicus brief Thursday, arguing that granting same-sex marriage would violate the church's ability to freely practice its religion. The Catholic Church believes marriage should be between a man and a woman and questioned whether allowing gay people to wed could, as one example, force priests to perform such ceremonies.

The archdiocese filed it late because happenings around the country. They actually blamed gay marriages in Massachusetts on the Catholic Charities decision to stop adoptions, I guess they didn't know that Massachusetts protects ALL its citizens through a non-discrimination policy that was in effect long before same sex marriage. In their brief they also used the same scare tactics the anti-gay forces used here that didn't work: "warning that the church could lose its right to decide who can be married in Catholic churches and possibly be exposed to discrimination lawsuits if it refused to marry same-sex couples."

Clearly the Archdiocese was trying to abuse the legal system submitting it way too late and making erroneous arguments.

Meanwhile on the East Coast news surfaced that another priest was accused of raping two teenaged boys over a 12 year period.

Genevive, 51, who lives in a Franciscan retreat in Wappingers Falls, N.Y., pleaded not guilty in Suffolk Superior Court to four counts of rape of a child and was released on his own recognizance by Clerk Magistrate Robin E. Vaughn.

Genevive appeared in court wearing civilian clothes without a clerical collar, Wark said. His next court date is Sept. 7 for a pretrial conference.

A spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, which oversees St. Anthony's of Padua in Troy, where Genevive worked when the alleged assaults took place, said that as a member of the Franciscan order, Genevive was not supervised by the diocese.

``It's unfortunate if indeed that occurred, but I don't know what else we can say," said spokesman Kenneth Goldfarb.

UNFORTUNATE? It's a crime! It's horrific! But there's more to the story:

The Rev. Robert M. Campagna, spokesman for the Franciscan Province of the Immaculate Conception, which oversees Franciscans, said Genevive was removed from active ministry on June 2, 2002, and now lives in a setting ``where he has no access to minors." He did not say why Genevive was inactive.

Interesting...now why was the Franciscan priest removed from active ministry (and away from children) in 2002? Do you think they knew something and didn't tell authorities? Strange that it took for more than 4 years for this to come to light and it only appeared because the boy (now a man) is suing the church.

Another incident of the Church abusing the legal system. It was there responsibility to alert the authoritites if they knew abuse had been committed. I guess we will have to wait to see how this one turns out but it already isn't looking good for the Church. The question will be whether they will be forthcoming in information on this alleged rapist.

Funny, here in Massachusetts Franciscan Cardinal O'Malley wasted no time at all to ensure that gay couples wouldn't be able to adopt through Catholic Charities. He also promptly allowed anti-gay marriage petitioners to get signatures during Church masses. He also quickly appeared with Romney at a press conference asking the legislature to allow the people of Massachusetts to put discrimination in Constitution.

It appears that the Church still has its priorities in order. Loving gay couples, act quickly to stop them, abusive priests, drag your feet until you're found out. The Catholic Church has managed to abuse the system, not what you'd expect from a religious institution.

Sad Songs Say So Much

Queer Today beat me to the punch and posted the lasted rant from Massresistance. You can read it here. It is such a sad, pathetic email. My favorite part is:

There are two very clear schools of thought among pro-family groups on how this terrible battle should be waged. One is that we need to be polite and non-confrontational, and appear as moderate, loving, etc. The other is that we must demand our rights as citizens, and not taking no for an answer, even if it means being rude once in a while. I think you know which camp MassResistance is in. But far too many people are in the other camp.

From here, there are only two directions for a group like MassResistance. We can spend the next few months building up the organization to a great level, raise lots of money, and confront Legislature, state government, and the gay lobby head-on. Or we can fold. There really is no in-between. Among other things, the gay lobby is raising enormous money and plans to use it to get even more seats in the Legislature this November. Should someone be there to counter them?

Right now, I'm sorry to say this but I don't have a lot of confidence that enough of the people who read this are committed to fighting back. I'm not sure what to do. Is it worth continuing? This past week was not particularly enjoyable, to say the least. Should we just concede all this and more to the homosexual movement? How many of you are personally willing to do things? We need to make some decisions quickly. If you have any thoughts on this, feel free to email me.

And here I thought they were "building up the organization to a great level", at least that's what they claim. Maybe they finally realized that they failed at trying to remove the judges. Then again if you read that fabricated press release about David Parker's son you know they can tell some tall tales. Honestly, I think that is what has did them in. Even the few people who have supported them finally realized how irrational they all are to drag a child into the middle of their mess. They have no shame.

On a positive note, they did use a new word: "homosexualize":

Maybe a lot of people just don't want to believe that these things that were just passed will homosexualize the schools in a way that you cannot imagine, and it will effect states beyond Massachusetts.

Are they saying we're going to make over the schools yard a la "Ground Breakers? If so, count me in, cinderblocks and asphalt are so 70's and those big school windows need curtains. COLOR! People, we need COLOR!

"Look honey, Bob and Dan just homosexualized their yard and doesn't it look nifty!"

Is Breeder Bad?

Ms. Massresistance got her panties in a bunch because someone somewhere called someone else a "breeder".

Listen up, all you heterosexuals. Did you know you're just "BREEDERS"?

I guess the reason she's so upset is because the "someone" is gay, the "somewhere" is Provincetown and the "someone else" signed the anti-gay marriage petition. Oh, the "someone else" also makes a living off the gays and lesbians in Provincetown (she owns the trolley that does tours and is usually parked in front of the Town Hall).

I'm actually surprised she is so upset that she had to interrupt her vacation for that lame post. After all, this is the same person who wrote:

That's because a heterosexual's natural sexuality usually produced children at some point.

And her definition of family:

But how are families with children created except through sex?(Leaving aside that non-hetero parents now have unethical doctors willing to artificially inseminate, no matter what the parent profile is ...)

or:

Conservatives do have hearts. We feel for the letter-writer's family. We are struck by the woman's obvious normal desire to be a mother -- but also her self-delusion, her efforts to "normalize" the unnaturalness of her situation. And we are struck hard by the boy's situation. How sad to inflict this twisted reality on a child.

Oh, there's more, I just got tired of trudging through that trash for more examples.

Wouldn't you think someone who appears to be obsessed with sex (both homosexual and hetersexual) and who states that gay couples with children are unnatural and that a heterosexual's ability to have children is normal would be thrilled with a "breeder" label?

To answer the intial question in her post (...Did you know you're just "BREEDERS"?)

Yes, because you, Ms. Massresistance, have told us so time and time again.

Where's the Outrage?

Once again Massresistance is trying to dig up dirt on the Gay community by publishing photos of a Pride parade which was held in plain view on a rainy Saturday in Boston. Meanwhile, elsewhere, heterosexual men are behind their computers allegedly enticing young girls to meet them for sex:

In what was dubbed Operation Trenchcoat, local police, federal officials, and state investigators prowled cyberspace for predators during a two-month probe.

Where's Massresistance's post covering this trash? Where's the outrage from the religious right? One of the men arrested is married with four children, what kind of values is he teaching his kids yet his marriage is not being voted on?

Unfortunately this is not an isolated incident, there are numerous "news magazine" shows on TV that set up these sting operations. The people they pull in is always married heterosexual men yet no one is calling their marriages illegal. You don't see the American Family Association devoting a big part of their home page to this either? If heterosexuals make up such a big part of the population don't you think this would a much more pressing issue?

But no, they are more concerned with two adult men or women who love each other and want to take care of each other for life, that is disgusting to them. So disgusting that they have to spend millions to try and prevent it. We have to spend millions not only to defend ourselves but to protect ourselves, how disgusting.

Another Day, Another Anti-Gay Amendment

Well it's two days after the convention. It was a good day that started very early. You probably have read about it elsewhere but I wanted to give you a peek into what it was like as a participant. (I even started podcasting it for a future podcast, stay tuned)

We arrived at the State House at 7:30 AM and a line had already started outside. It was very easy to spot which side was which. The easiest way to tell them apart was their age. The pro marriage equality side were clearly the youngest of both groups. (Quite frankly we were afraid that some of the anti-gay side weren't going to make it once we got inside because of the standing times and the temperature, even this old man dizzy at point, luckily no ambulances were needed).

Once the doors opened we went up to the fourth floor to wait for tickets to get into the gallery. As you can see from the pictures to the right, the corridors were packed and warm. A woman from my Dad's church came up to me and shook my hand and wanted to know if I had heard anything about the day (I hadn't at this point). My husband didn't get to meet her so he went over and introduced himself to her and her group. He commended the work she does along side his father-in-law (my Dad) for the poor.

The anti-gay side did have a few youths there. One small group (3 or 4) were behind us when we were outside. The most interesting thing about them was that they were not even from Massachusetts. They were bussed in from New Jersey. The kids didn't even know what the building was that they were going into. In the picture to the right to can see them talking with an older man who brought them (in blue) who was also from New Jersey. I know this because he told the woman (with the crucifix) in the picture that. Ironically, this man was interviewed by New England Cable News titled: Lawmakers recess without vote on gay marriage (or cut and past [javascript:playVideoClip('plV868874')] without the brackets into your browser). His name is Bruce Burns, of course he doesn't say on camera that he lives out of state.

After we got our tickets to the gallery we went back outside to see how things were going there. Again, the pro-equality side outnumbered the anti-gay by at least 2 to 1. We even saw Mickey "I run for every elected office and never win" Roache there on the anti-gay side chatting up some petitioners at about 11ish.

For the remainder of the day we were in the Great Hall watching the anti-gay protestors dwindle by the minute. Even the Franciscan Sisters in full habit got into the act by breaking chairs in the hall ala "The Who", ok, they didn't actually do it on purpose, the chairs fell apart as they were moving them but it broke up the monotony of the day.

At around 4:30 we were back in the House Gallery for the closing minutes of the session. A couple of women next to me were upset because it was taking so long for each roll call vote and then I had to laugh to myself. They were upset because the House and Senate were following the rules of the convention. It seems they wanted the legislature to only follow the rules when it did what they wanted and on their timetable.

A rally followed in the Great Hall where many of the pro equality side were still there. It was good to see Mark from Queer Today and meet Chris from Take Mass Action. I think we were all proud of the work that had gone on that day. Mark mentioned to me that there was no hide nor hair of Massresistance/Article Hate. My guess: they're probably still waiting for the legislature to vote to oust the 4 judges. If so, they have a long wait.

WBZ's Paul Sullivan

Here's the Paul Sullivan commentary I posted early this morning. If you get a chance listen to it, it's worth it.

Three Separate And Unequal Classifications of Citizens

Mass Marrier has a great discussion of the MA SJC's ruling. While it is a disappointment, it was expected.

Mass "Family" Institute is practically messing their pants with joy over the ruling. Will they still call the Mass SJC "activist judges"? Of course they will as soon as it doesn't rule the way they want. However, the language in the ruling that they appear to ignore is the part where the justices talk about what would happen if the vote goes forward:

The only effect of a positive vote will be to make same-sex couples, and their families, unequal to everyone else; this is discrimination in its rawest form. Our citizens would, in the future, be divided into at least three separate and unequal classifications: heterosexual couples who enjoy the right to marry; same-sex couples who were married before the passage of the amendment (but who, if divorced, would not be permitted to remarry someone of the same sex); and same-sex couples who have never married and, barring the passage of another constitutional amendment on the subject, will be forever denied that right.

The Massachusetts legislature has two choices: put discrimination into the oldest state constitution or proclaim at "All people are created equal" They will make history one way or another.

Who Will Be the First?

Here's a wonderful editorial cartoon from the pages of the Boston Globe. The artist is Dan Wasserman:
There was also a great opinion piece on WBZ AM this past weekend by Paul Sullivan. I'm hoping to get a copy of it and post it here. He hits the nail right on the head.

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

Brian and Amy were trashing the Religious Coalition for Marriage this past weekend on their radio show. In addition to questioning their religious integrity they were also complaining because the group "had the nerve" to criticize the Catholic Bishops of Massachusetts.

So I did a bit of searching in the archives and found a post Massresistance had written over a year ago criticizing the religious groups in Lexington Mass:

Shame on Lexington Clergy: Accusing Concerned Citizens of "Hatred"

Hmm...it was just last year when THEY had no problem disparaging religious groups but I guess it's always "Do as I say not as I do" with them.

Fallout From Fabricated Massresistance/Article 8 Press Release

The Boston Globe documents the harassment and intimidation tactics that Massresistance/Article 8 has forced upon Lexington by issuing a deceptive and fabricated press release:

Paul Ash , 56, the new superintendent of schools, said news of the playground fight posted on blogs intensified the attacks. The conservative group's press release accused school officials and other adults of inciting students to fight, and claimed the spat was timed to coincide with the anniversary of the legalization of gay marriage. Then, a blogger posted Ash's phone numbers and e-mail address.

At 4 a.m. on June 18, a man from Japan called Ash's home and angrily asked why the school was beating up children. The phone rang until Ash took it off the hook.

By the next day, his e-mail box was clogged with nearly 400 messages, and his work voicemail filled with vitriolic messages.

In addition to the threats and intimidation which Massresistance/Article 8 is always accusing other of doing, they also say that people that don't agree with them post lies and deception. Well, here's a sample of what David Parker had to say in the Globe article:

Sitting on his living room couch, Parker denied that he is being used by anyone. But in retrospect, he acknowledged there was no evidence that an adult had directly incited students to bully his son.

He is worried that adults who criticize his views against homosexuality might have led some children to not want to play with his son or to pick on him.

"Are parents and administrators telling little children to get [my son] on the playground because of his father's beliefs? No, I doubt it," Parker said, but added: "You have children being exposed to the notion that this guy, or this family, is wrong and maybe is a bad guy. That can influence their actions."

Two interesting issues here which are all David Parker's doings:

• Where is the Press Release from Massresistance/Article 8 saying that there is no evidence that this was caused by adults? As of last night Massresistance/Article 8 still had on its home page links to "A child beaten because of gay marriage"
• He's worried that adults might not want their child to play with his children! Look what happens when a friend of their child has a disagreement with his child, a national circus. Does any parent want their child to go through what David Parker/Massresistance/Article 8 has put everyone through? It's a scary thought to think that your child's friend's parents are going to make a national scene over some disagreement because the kids.

Parker seems to not accept the consequences of his actions. Obviously he wasn't thinking of his child when he chose to stay in jail or link up with Brian Camenker. This IS a parent's right issue and parents reserve the right to not have their children associate with people who do not share their values including the Parker's narrow definition of family.

Somehow I don't believe the author of the article knows the depths that Massresistance/Article 8 has gone through to push its anti-gay agenda.

Massresistance's Responses

Happy Fourth Everyone!

Since people posted in the comments sections that they were receiving rude and obnoxious email responses from Massresistance/Article 8, I posted a request for copies of their email responses. Below are just a few of the responses people received from a paranoid group that touts its moral character:

I wish I could give you the email from MassResistance but I belong to AOL and the emails are automatically gone after 30 days. All I have is the address which was MassResistance@hotmail.com.

I had wrote them about an article I had read on their web site that I knew was false and I made a point of stating that I was not gay but I supported gay rights. I asked them why they were going after the 1 to 5% of the population who are gay who practice anal sex (sodomy) and ignore the 30 to 40 % of heterosexuals who practice it. They came back with an email saying that I didn't have the "guts" to state my real name. This I thought was very strange because I had written what I thought was a thoughtful email stating my feelings. I went back to them with my name and their answer was a two word email:

"Fudge Packer!!".

Strange people. I have a cousin in Hudson, NH who forwarded their web site to me. He is also a heterosexual who absolutely hates Camenker and the woman. He is a mild mannered guy but has told me he has never in his life seen such hateful and dishonest people.

And here's another:

Attached Message
From: Mass Resistance massresistance@hotmail.com
To: ######

Subject: RE: THANK YOU!!!
Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 08:48:13 -0400

So - - do you plan to marry a German Shepherd? Or a Dalmation? Or a chicken?

From: #########

To: massresistance@hotmail.com

Subject: THANK YOU!!!

Date: Sun, 21 May 2006 14:19:10 -0700 (PDT)

Thank you so much! Because of your complete ignorance and misunderstanding of the law I can marry when I am ready! Thank you and Brian both! You are not only amusing....you are one of the reasons I can marry! SO ironic!!!

"Isaacson said that by forcing a vote on a marriage amendment filed last year by state Reps. Emile Goguen (D-Fitchburg) and Phil Travis (D-Rehoboth), she is confident they can defeat Vote On Marriage’s amendment. Goguen and Travis’s amendment was originally filed at the request of the anti-gay group Article 8 Alliance. Because it was filed by lawmakers, rather than through an initiative petition like the VoteOnMarriage.org amendment, it requires a full majority of the legislature to pass; by contrast, the VoteOnMarriage.org amendment only needs 50 votes."

“Miss Contrada has very generously provided proponents of fairness with a wonderful strategy which, while the first time I have heard of it, I would consider entertaining if it means keeping that discriminatory amendment off the ballot,” said Barrios. “Thank you for being so Christian in helping me keep discrimination out of our state.”

Take Mass Action

Ever since Article 8/Massresistance's obsession with mannequins a number of new blogs have popped up. One in particular has been pretty regular with its posts, it's called Take Mass Action and it's run by Chris Mason of Cambridge.

Chris has already had a very interesting life and he's just 24. From his concern for the environment (starting a group at 9 years old to protect the rainforests) to his opposition in high school to anti-gay military recruiters, Chris has shown that the youth of today are concerned about the world and people around them.

His lastest post takes on MassResistance/Article 8's insistence that gay youth not be protected. Cleverly he also uses the tactics of anti-gay forces against them:

Anti-gay organizations are having hundreds of people make calls to a targeted group of state legislators to try and stop the funding for gay/straight alliances. They are even having people that live in other states call OUR state legislators!

We need to be calling these same legislators and telling them to vote to override the governor's veto. Start by calling your own legislators.

Next, we will use the list provided by the anti-gay group to call the same targeted group of legislators. Start with the top of the list and work your way down. Their WebPages are included so you can send them an email as well. When you call you will be speaking to an aid. Politely tell this person why you think our schools should be safe for ALL students and urge them to vote to override the governor's veto.

It's good to see younger people getting involved in issues that are directly affecting them. Their passion is a wonderful contrast to the hate filled rhetoric erupting from the Right.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, No, It's Another Boring Installment of Massresistance: The Radio Show

Saturday just wouldn't be Saturday without Massresistance: The Radio Show featuring the monotone vocal stylings of Brian Camenker and Amy (still no last name given) spewing their anti-gay rhetoric. We could honestly guess who their guests were before they even announced it on air, can you guess? If you guessed C.J. Doyle (to the right who seemingly seems to be the only guest on every week) and Tristan Emmanuel (leader of an anti-gay group in Canada still rallying against same sex marriage even though almost 2/3rd of the country is ok with it) you'd be right. Some of the gems in today's show:

• They started off their show asking for cash, well, Amy was the one who was panhandling (and rebuked Brian was not talking about it first);
• Amy being particularly angry and denouncing "Sodomy Marriage" and linking it to promoting AIDS;
• Brian linking the Religious Coalition for Marriage to MassEquality. I guess that's like linking Fred "God Hates Fags" Phelps' Westboro Baptist church to Article 8/Massresistance/Parent's Rights Coalition/Interfaith Coalition of Massachusetts. It's funny that the first incarnation of Brian's anti-gay groups was called the Interfaith Coalition of Massachusetts and now he's demonizing other religious groups even going so far as to question their religious integrity;
• C.J. Doyle complaining about a number of inane things including a sign which said "Sell the Vatican, Feed the Poor" (That's right, let the poor starve!)
• and Tristan Emmanuel. I can't honestly say I even recall what he talked about because as boring as the show was at this point, "shoving spikes through my eyes" would have been less painful and draining. I think he talked about some social threats coming our way, you know, equal rights for everyone, something like that. Well whatever it was, Brian and Amy thinks its BAD BAD BAD.

Ok kiddies, for future reference, you know, if you're planning your summer outings on these Massresistance radio shows let me give you the lineup of future shows: next week, David Parker; the week after that C.J. Doyle and David Parker; the following week David Parker and C.J. Doyle; etc... I think you get the picture.

The $64,000 Question: When is Kris Mineau of the Mass "Family" Institute going to appear?