Clash of the Cultures

Well the Red Sox did it again! I can't believe it. I celebrate this win for my mother, who was a huge Red Sox fan. One of my earliest memories was of my parents getting Red Sox tickets and taking us to Fenway Park (I recall my mother being the most excited). I think I must have been around 4 or 5 years old. It was Russ Gibson Day.


Their win yesterday is bittersweet since my mom passed away in 2003 and never got to see the Red Sox win the World Series (She was a big Patriots fan too but did get to see them win one Superbowl). Along with missing the Red Sox wins, as I've written here before, my mom also wasn't here to witness me getting legally married. However, like last night's win, I could feel my mother right next to me, excited as can be and taking the happiness all in.


Which leads me to one of the reasons I think the Red Sox won. Of course they're a great team and yes, they did play beautifully, but I think there was a higher power in play.


In the infamous words of Brian Camenker:

I could sit here and I could probably, you know, find some ways of connecting the dots to gay marriage to all of these if I had enough time and if I did some research.

You see, Colorado is the home of Focus on the Family, one of the eminent anti-gay organizations in the country (possibly the world?) They tried to eradicate same sex marriage in every state in this country and failed in Massachusetts.When the Massachusetts Legislature prevented discrimination from staining the country's oldest constitution it seems only fitting that the Red Sox would be World champs over the Colorado Rockies.



So maybe Brian Camenker is a little bit right this time

More Cheese With that Whine?

Thanks to an anonymous poster we can now read Amy Contrada's "Opinion Piece" about "The Laramie Project" in The Beacon:

The play’s foul language is just one problem. It is also horribly violent, promotes homosexuality as normal, and undermines many parents’ values and authority. Yet the director told me that it has literary merit worth six months of production time.

The whole "foul language" issue sounds like a scene out of "Serial Mom" and readers of this blog will know that Amy LOVES to recite the "foul" language she attributes to the LGBT community. Also I guess she wants a play that promote gay people as being abnormal, non tax paying members of no community, no scratch that, she probably still wants our tax money she just doesn't want us to be portrayed realistically.

Strangely enough, no where in the whole article does she come out and state that she has a child in this production. Now wouldn't you think someone who takes the effort to write an opinion piece for the hometown newspaper that says stuff like:

This “R-rated” play is dishonest, vulgar, violent, politically loaded and divisive. It has no place in a taxpayer-funded school.

Isn't it just begging for the line "And I'm allowing my child to take part in it too"?

Responses may be sent to the editor: Robert Burgess: rburgess@cnc.com.

You might also want to take a gander at Brian Camenker's "Letter to the Editor" in the Beacon also. It's really more of the same conspiracy theories and old "it's against the Christians" baloney. I think the play bothers them so much is because the hate the play focuses on is the hate Brian and Massresistance peddles.

BTW, tickets for "The Laramie Project" are on sale here date: Nov 2, 3, 9, 10.

Will a Woman Be the Host?

In the comments section of the post "I Want My MassResistance" an anonymous commenter stated that MassResistance was moving to WNSH AM 1570 Beverly which is billed as Women's Talk Radio: For Women, By Women.

Thanks go to Mike over at Marry in Massachusetts, he received information that confirmed that MassResistance will be on WNSH. He told me that the station will be making it clear that they do not endorse MassResistance's ideas and that they are simply renting times. They also wanted it noted that they have a lesbian feminist on the station who might be airing right after the Massresistance show. Keating Willcox, from WNSH also welcomed anyone from the Gay community to get together and put their own show on WNSH.

No word yet on whether they will have advertisers on this show. I guess we're just have to wait and listen and then see if the advertisers share MassResistance's viewpoints. Since it's a "Woman's Radio Station" do you think Amy will lead off the show?

I Want My MassResistance!

You know nothing ruins a homosexual activist's day more than to get to the gym early, cook a low carb breakfast and finally settle in to listen to Massresistance's Radio Show only to find out that some other program is now in the same time slot.

As I'm franticly scrambling around trying to figure out what's wrong, making sure the station dial is correct (I can't miss their insightful introduction), I surf on over to Massresistance's website only to find out:

[We're taking a break until next week -- as MassResistance Radio moves to a new, more powerful station.]

Only that was for the October 6th show, it's October 20th, that was two weeks ago! Where's Brian? Where's Amy, A.K.A Ms. Massresistance? They say they're going to a new station, gee, that would be their THIRD radio station (and they say the gay community is promiscuous!).

Oh well, I guess I'll have to go back to my Sudoku puzzles and call it a morning!

Dumbledore is Gay

Yes folks, JK Rowling, the best selling author of the Harry Potter series confirms what many people had been thinking:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - J.K. Rowling has outed one of the main characters of her best-selling Harry Potter series, telling fans in New York that the wizard Albus Dumbledore, head of Hogwarts school, is gay.

Isn't it great! I can't wait to hear the fundies say that the author, who created the character is wrong.

Larry Cirignano Trial

Over at Pie and Coffee, Mike is doing live blogging of the Larry Cirignano trial in Worcester. Good coverage.


Bay Windows is reporting that the civil rights charges against Larry Cirignano were dropped but but was denied the motion to drop the assault charge. The trial is expected to end tomorrow but the it sounds like the defense might be bringing in more witnesses including Larry himself. Stay tuned to Pie and Coffee for more details.

A Requiem for a Sad Man

Massresistance posted this past week that J. Edward Pawlick, the guy who started the virulent anti-gay MassNews passed away this past weekend, however no obituary was published in either the Boston Globe or the Boston Herald.

I have a lot to thank Pawlick for. It was because of him that I became involved in the Equal Marriage movement. After I started reading MassNews I couldn't wait to debunk the garbage he was posting and I started speaking out.

Every year he would have predictions about Massachusetts and none of them would come true. (I bet the small plane pilots will miss him too since he paid for a lot of anti-gay airplane banners.)

In the past few years I've written sparingly about Pawlick mostly because it was clear the poor guy was going off the deep end. To give you a little insight into Pawlick's mind here are his predictions for 2004:

• Senate President Robert Travaglini will be rejected by the voters in 2004 when his position on gay marriage and civil unions becomes clear.


• Many of the other 137 legislators who voted to violate the state's Constitution on July 17, 2002, will choose not to run for reelection, as Cheryl Jacques has already done. If they do choose to run again, they will stand an excellent chance of being defeated, not by an organization but by angry voters.


• Chief Justice Margaret Marshall will resign before May 2004, which is the month she has ordered that everyone must report back to her. She has proven she is no longer fit to be a judge in her adopted country.

It's sad that the man who started Lawyer's Weekly would end of being remembered for spending millions of dollars to deny gay and lesbian people their civil rights AND flying planes with ridiculous banners attached to them.

A Week Late and Way More Than A Dollar Short

Well, in my last post I noted that Massresistance apparently was repeating their radio show. To my surprise, when I went to their website I found the show that was supposed to be aired last Saturday on their site. Today when I tuned in to listen to their "new" show I was treated to the show that was supposed to air last week (and already posted on their website last Saturday).

Porno Pete was on and they actually gave a shout out to this blog, of course they never mentioned the name of the blog but you could tell from Amy's comments that reads every post including the comments section. Oh, they also had on the "Ex-gay" Stephen Bennett who talked about his "hit and run" accident which prevented him from attending that nasty forum two weeks ago in Acton.

One of the more interesting aspects of this show was Porno Pete talking about his trip half way across the country to attend the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco. This guy, who comes off more as your nosy, busy body, cares about everyone's business but their own, old maid aunt, sounded downright giddy at retelling the sites he saw in California. Do the people who contribute to his organization know that they are funding this erotic trips? Amy posted about the Folsom Street Fair last week. Included threats such as "Soon coming to the streets of Boston. Torture, flogging, public nudity." Of course she neglected to mention that the fair has been going on for 25 years (how long are we supposed to wait until it gets here?) or that heterosexuals were also participating in the Fair. Somehow this is supposed to be linked to sexual orientation and gender identity but I didn't get her linkages.

I would suggest you read one article/letter concerning the Acton Forum on the Laramie Project. It was online in the Acton Town Online Newspaper:

ACTON, MASS. - A forum that was billed as a concerned parents' discussion of the high school drama department's production of the controversial play "The Laramie Project" focused mainly on what panelists said were the dangers of homosexuality.

There is also a letter to the Editor from a parent and a school teacher in the Acton school system.

It still boggles my mind why a parent who is supposedly so against the play and the message behind the play would allow their child to be a part of it. What kind of mixed messages is the child going to get?

The Show Must Repeat?

How sad, it's only been two or so weeks since Massresistance: The Radio Show came back on the "air" and they are already repeating programs.

Yesterday, I was all settled in to hear about the Laramie Project "forum" and their anti-gay gala in Boxborough, but no! Instead I was treated to a repeat of last week's show.

One wonders if they had any time at all to do the show last week with all their anti-gay activism. Or maybe the radio station pulled their show for who knows what reason? Maybe they couldn't afford to pay for the hour anymore because all of their anti-gay dollars have dried up?

Did They Even Mention "The Laramie Project" ?

Are we surprised? Nah. Some how I didn't quite make it to the alternative forum on "The Laramie Project" last night but the Queer Today Bloggers did:

Their featured ex-gay speaker, Stephen Bennett, didn't show up because he was allegedly involved in a hit and run accident just before the event. Brian and the other panelists were convinced that it was a "homosexual" who hit Stephen and drove off - providing them with a theme for the night. One speaker asked, "Where is Stephen Bennett's 'safe zone?'."

All of the speakers could not stop talking about our penises and vaginas, and what people should do with said body parts. They are more obsessed with our bodies and sex lives than we are.

So once again paranoid Brian and his followers believe that the "homosexual activists" were at work but this time they supposedly stopped "ex-gay" Stephen Bennett from attending (not too different than Amy blaming the "homosexual activists" for breaking into her home and terrifying her cats). Now why doesn't these religious zealots believe that God was the one who stopped Stephen Bennett from "testifying"? If they believe that God is the micromanager they make God out to be I'd be thinking The Lord stopped him.



Mark does point out what I knew from the start:

Nothing the speakers had to say was in any way related to the Laramie Project.

I hope the people in Acton who OK'd this sham forum were present to see what was truly behind the motives for those people who called for an alternative forum to present the opposite view of "The Laramie Project". What I can't figure out is what is the opposite of "A gay man is left to die on a fence by men who did it just because he was gay", he wanted them to do it? It makes no sense.

A Tale of Two Galas

This Thursday night there will be two fundraisers which could not be farther apart.

As posted earlier, Massresistance will be having their annual fundraising "gala" at the Boxborough Holiday Inn. Tickets are $30.00 a piece with tables of ten going for $300.00. No doubt money from this event will go to line Brian Camenker and Amy Contrada's pockets (these "volunteers" are actually paid by the donations) and the bone chillingly boring radio show.

Meanwhile in Boston, The Point Foundation will be holding an outreach event in Boston at the Fairmount Copley Plaza. If you haven't heard of the Point Foundation, you will soon enough, they do great work:

The Point Foundation was established in 2001 by Bruce Lindstrom and Carl Strickland; it has since invested more than $2 million in educational opportunities for outstanding LGBT students. The foundation drew national attention in 2005 when it awarded a scholarship to Maya Marcel Keyes, the daughter of right-winger and GOP presidential candidate Alan Keyes. The elder Keyes, a strident anti-gay activist, threw his then-19-year-old daughter out of his house and refused to pay her college tuition after she came out as a lesbian during a rally in their home state of Maryland. In addition to financial assistance, Point Foundation scholars also receive mentoring and leadership training.

So here you have two organizations which are looking for funds, one pro-family organization which helps educate young adults and the other funnels the money collected to tear families apart.

Honestly, how many children do you think have been helped by the money donated to Massresistance?

Mamma Don't Let Your Daughters Grow Up To Be Actors

I wasn't going to comment on the fact that Amy Contrada, who co-hosts the Massresistance Radio Show with Brian Camenker, has a daughter who is in "The Laramie Project" at the Acton high school, but I changed my mind when I read the bunch of BS over at the Massresistance Website:

But this is among the worst. They are attacking a mother and her vulnerable high-school-age adopted daughter in a particularly vicious way. They've published an article with the message that the daughter should be ashamed of her mother and distance herself from her mother - calling the mother horrible, vulgar names.

They appear to be doing this because Amy Contrada, a MassResistance activist, has spoken out on issues and because MassResistance is helping parents on a forum on a homosexual play being presented at the high school in Acton, MA, where Amy lives.
Amy Contrada's 17-year-old adopted daughter has shown great talent as an actress, and has won awards over the years. As many of you know, adopted children, particularly those of a different race (she is Asian) face particular emotional struggles. Claudia loves acting and it has helped the bond between Claudia and her parents, who also have a love of theatre.

Amy is apparently embarrassed that word got out that someone in her family is doing a gay positive play which her and Brian have protested against. Here's what Amy wrote about "The Laramie Project" the movie which was being shown in Worcester:

In the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, we read about the propaganda film "The Laramie Project" being force-fed to high school students at the Tantasqua Regional High School -- without parents being informed or given the chance to opt their children out. (This is the film which portrays Matthew Shepard's murder in Wyoming as a "hate crime", when in fact the murderers were thieving thugs on drugs.)

Massresistance's "press release" about Amy raises so many questions about Massresistance's tactics:

• What difference should it make if Amy's daughter is adopted or not, why does Massresistance stress this?
• Why does Massresistance make a point of pointing out that Amy's daughters is a different race? (Neither of these details were listed in the BayWindows online article)
• They are accusing Bay Windows of "attacking" Amy and her family when all they did was point out a fact that is listed on a public website. Amy and Brian need to look into their own website and see the times they've attacked gay and lesbian parents and their families.

Bay Window's story was not about Amy's daughter but all about the woman who has made it her life's work to take away rights from GLBT Americans.

Update: Head over to Queer Today to read the hate mail they've received from the people who make up Massresistance.