Two Anti-gay campaigners from Massachusetts, Brian Camenker (of the Parents Rights Coalition and the Article 8 Alliance) and David Parker were in Maine on June 13th and 14th for six city “Wa ke Up” tour by Christian Right groups. The tour sought to gain attention for thier effort to gather enough petition signatures to stop implementation of a new law that bars discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, credit, housing, education, and public accommodations. The law is due to take effect on June 28th.
According to an article in the Mor ning Sentinel, Parker and Camenker were the guests of the Christian Civic League at one stop on Tuesday “to alert Mainers to what’s happened in other states with progressive gay-rights laws.”
Parker, as the father of a child in the Lexington, MA public schools, complains about a picture book that depicts a same sex couple as parents; and he wants to be able to remove his son from any possible reference to homosexuality in school. Here in MA, we often allow children to begin to understand that there may be different kinds of families in the world. Parker and Camenker, however, are obsessed with “the gay agenda.” Parker was arrested when he refused to leave school property until he got his way in the matter.
Here is what the Coalition for Marriage says on its web site about the “hidden agenda of the homosexual rights movement:”
“When the homosexual rights movement succeeds in their effort to gain absolute power, they will vent their fury on men of God with all the rage of the crowd gathered outside Abraham’s door in Sodom and Gomorrah.”
The nasty crusade is not going unopposed. “As Parker and Camenker told their stories,” reported the Morning Sentinel,” a small group of people holding signs stood silently in the back of the room to show their opposition to the event. Members of Waterville’s First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, said they want the public to know that not all Christians agree with the civic league’s efforts.”
Mainers might be interested in MA blogger Mar ry in Massachusetts’ eye-opening take on Parker’s tale. They might also be interested in knowing about the noxious electoral activities of Camenker’s Article 8 Alliance last year, and again this year during special elections for the MA House of Representatives.
Its hard to beat Maine’s Coalition for Marriage for absurd and inflammatory rhetoric, but the Article 8 Alliance is certainly in the running, as Cecilia d’Oliveira, a resident of a town that knows them well showed in a letter-to-the-editor.
Here is part of what she wrote: “The Article 8 Alliance has aligned itself with David Parker in his effort to undermine the inclusive and welcoming nature of Lexington’s public schools. Article 8 may also have been instrumental in creating the incident in order to generate press coverage sympathetic to their political views. So perhaps residents would be interested in learning more about this group.”
“The Article 8 Alliance is an organization that is behind multiple pieces of harmful anti-judicial and anti-gay legislation. One proposed bill would actually require all parents to “opt-in” before a teacher could even mention the same-gender parents of a student!”
“If you go to the Article 8 Web site and click on their MassResistance blog, you will find many inflammatory quotes, some about our town. Here are four examples: 1) ‘the jackbooted thugs currently in control of the Lexington schools;’ 2) ‘the fascists of Lexington are marching in lockstep!;’ 3) ‘Lexington lemmings;’ 4) ‘Lexington LGBTQI Fourth Reichers.'”
( A Tip o’ the Hat to fellow MA blogger .08 Acres and a Donkey for pointing the way on this story.)
[Crossposted from FrederickClarkson.com]
