KnowThyNeighbor.org

Massachusetts Republican Legislators Sponsor Holocaust Denier's Anti-Gay Bill S321

Brian Camenker of MassResistance Testifies in Support of Parental Notification Bill S321 By Denying That Homosexuals Were Among the Victims of the Nazi Holocaust

Things just keep getting worse and when you think that the anti-gays have said just about everything they can to demonize, degrade and de-humanize LGBT, they manage to outdo themselves.  At yesterday's hearing of Joint Committee on Education, Brian Camenker of MassResistance in support of Bill S321--Parental Notification--spent his three minutes of allotted time to speak in support of this bill by claiming that homosexuals were not among the 6 million Jews, gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses and social outcasts killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust.  Camenker went as far as to say that the whole "pink triangle" was made up in order to arrest Catholic priests.

And it gets worse, one of Camenker's minions who testified twice agreed with Brian.  In her testimony before the Joint Committee on Education, she said that it was the Nazis themselves who were the homosexuals and they gave pink triangles to and arrested only the "most flamboyant of their own people."  Thank God for Representative Alice Wolf who sat on the Joint Committee and called out Camenker on his craziness.  Rep. Wolf said that "a fact is a fact" and you cannot deny that homosexuals were targeted and killed in the Holocaust.  Camenker was relentless and he told Rep. Wolf that she was incorrect.  Among other notables testifying at yesterday's hearing were Evelyn Reilly of the Massachusetts Family Institute, Ed Saunders of the Mass Catholic Conference and C.J. Doyle of the Catholic Action League.

Camenker's testimony in support of S321 was in response to Tom Lang of KnowThyNeighbor who tesified (Download lang_testimony) that Bill S321, by creating an "opt-in" only provision to the existing law of parental notification and its broad-based definition of "alternative sexual behavior" would not allow the inclusion of discussion about LGBT in any classroom or outside activity without a parental permission slip.  Lang said that for example if S321 passed, "a field trip to the Holocaust Memorial would be fine unless a teacher included homosexuals among the list of (people) murdered by the Nazis in their death camps."  And "discussion of the influence Gertrude Stein's relationship with Alice B. Toklas had on her poetry would also be forbidden."  Bill S321 includes "homosexuality, lesbianism, trangenderism and bi-sexualism" among the list with bestiality and sado-masochism.  Discussion of "alternative families" and same-sex marriage are also included in the proposed "opt-in" policy.

Of the Twenty-Five (25) Co-Sponsors of S321 Download Rep.htm only one bothered to appear before the Educational Committee to record her support--Rep. Elizabeth Poirier (R-North Attleborough).  But she left before testimony was heard on this bill.  Poirier was among 17 co-sponsors who are Republicans and fall in the large majority of support of this nasty bill which is trying to take away any or all identity from LGBT youth and does nothing but cause them harm.

I wonder how many of these Legislators understand the nature of the support and testimony for the bill that they sponsored--liars, bigots, homophobes, opportunists and now Holocaust deniers.  I have called my Senator Bruce Tarr and have already read the riot act to his aide for the senator's sponsoring of this bill.  This is absolutely inexcusable, deplorable and to which he and others should be held accountable. 

Download Rep.htm   Legislators Who Co-Sponsored Bill S321 and must be called

Link to the National Holocaust Memorial Traveling Exhibition of the Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals

Tom Lang, Director

 

   

Senator Scott Brown Should Be Ashamed of Himself

Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown (R) - Wrentham should be ashamed of himself!   No, not for posing nude in Cosmo's 1982 "Cosmo's Centerfold Winners" -- heck if you've got it, show it.  And if a staple is all it takes to cover "it" up then all the

more power to you for having the guts to show it in public.  Senator Scott Brown should be ashamed of himself and his twenty-four (24) fellow legislators for co-sponsoring the MassResistance-promoted Parents Rights Bill S321.

Parents Bill S321 sets to change the nature of the current law, Ch. 71 Sec. 32A to a clearly anti-gay piece of legislation by defining the current term "human sexuality issues" as LGBT inclusive.  It also would require schools to notify parents if the below terms are to be discussed in school or at any school sanctioned activity and provide parents with an "opt-in" policy for their children.  A Hearing is scheduled at the State House Rm A-1 on Tuesday May 29, 1 PM.

Terms discussed in public schools which would require a parental "permission slip" include:

homosexuality, bisexuality, lesbianism, transsexuality, transgenderism, cross-dressing, pansexuality, promiscuity, sodomy, pederasty, prostitution, oral sex, anal sex, masturbation, polygamy, polyandry, sex re-assignment treatments, "bondage and discipline", sado-masochism, bestiality, and similar behaviors. It also includes issues and relationships deriving from those behaviors, including but not limited to "sexual orientation", and alternative family, parenting, and marriage constructs.

So a teacher may read Gertrude Stein's "Rose is a rose is a rose" but cannot discuss the complex nature or relationships of that master of modern poetry.  A history teacher may speak of the genious of Alan Turing, the British mathematician who cracked the German Enigma code and saved countless lives for doing so, but she may not re-count the the injustice and horrific court-ordered hormone therapy and subsequent suicide of Turing  after he was found to have had a homosexual relationship (which was punishable in England at the time).  And I guess that without "parental permission" the lives of two of the three men that pulled Western Civilization out of the Dark Ages and into the Renaissance, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci will not be discussed either.

But what hits me more that this bigoted and troglodytical legislation are the Senators and Reprentatives backing it.  Not only did I find my own Senator and Rep. on this list but but I found at least one "closeted homosexual" among them.  Maybe this bill is a way for him (or her) to protect his (or her) future best interest.  This way students will need a permission slip to discuss in Civics Class how internalized homophobia might lead to a closeted gay (or lesbian) legislator co-sponsoring a clearly bigoted piece of legislation.  Enough said on that topic.

But this blog really goes out to Senator Scott Brown as I caution him of the perils of "getting what you wish for."  If the Parents Rights Bill S321 passes, then discussion in classrooms around the Commonwealth about you might end.  It will be difficult for teachers to speak about your career path to becoming a Republican Senator.  Of how, by Cosmo's account, you helped pay for your college tuition by posing nude for their magazine (aka Porn for Women).  That your 16 year old "baby sister" sent Cosmo the shirtless photo of you which lead to your nude "spread." And of how you, after having been quoted in Cosmo saying, "when you go to the beach you automatically seek out the best bodies, male and female.  Why should it be different in a magazine," would sponsor any anti-gay legislation.  To the latter, some might argue a comment like that says "enlightened Renaissance-man," others "bi-sexual."

But students may never get the chance to have this discussion and without these things to talk about, your legacy may just fall into obscurity.

Tom Lang (so tired of the hypocrisy), Director

 

Jarrett Barrios Has Alot Of Work To Do with Blue Cross Blue Shield

Openly Gay Senator Jarrett Barrios Has Announced that He Will Leave the Massachusetts Senate in July to Become the President and Chief Executive of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation

In today's Boston Globe it was announced that the Commonwealth's champion for LGBT Rights, Senator Jarrett Barrios, will move on to head Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation.  Hopefully, while at the helm, Jarrett will be able to educate Blue Cross Blue Shield about LGBT issues and let them know that sponsoring organizations such as the Black Ministerial Alliance is not in the best interest of ALL citizens of the Commonwealth. 

KnowThyNeighbor.org stumbled upon the BMA's Thank You Donor List recently in which major donors and supporters were honored at the "Roasting Reverend Ray Hammond" on November 16, 2006.  Hammond tesified before Congress in support of the Federal Marriage Amendment blaming same-sex marriage for high rates of fatherlessness in the African-American community.  Two of the largest donors (contributing over $ 25,000) were Blue Cross Blue Shield AND Caleb and Bronwyn Loring.  You remember Bronwyn Loring...she was one of the original marriage petition signers, VoteOnMarriage major funder and one of the nastiest letter writers in the anti-gay campaign of the Massachusetts Family Institute, justifying her objection to same-sex marriage by suggesting gay and lesbian relationships lead to "higher rates of corprophilia, fisting, ovarian cancer and bacterial vaginosis."   Her husband Caleb Loring, III was photographed by KnowThyNeighbor at one of the VOM meetings at the Beverly Farms Public Library, one of the same type of meetings that LGBT were demonized shamelessly.

KnowThyNeighbor.org contacted Blue Cross Blue Shield's Public Relations Spokeswoman, Susan Lahey to express our discontent regarding BCBS's contribution to the Black Ministerial Alliance, BMA's history as a chief sponsor of the anti-gay marriage petition here in Massachusetts, BCBS's sponsorship of The Rev. Hammond Roast, and the association with the bigoted Loring couple.  Ms. Lahey was very quick to point out that Blue Cross Blue Shield contributes to the HRC, the AIDS Action Committee, Community Servings, GLAD and other LGBT-oriented philanthropies.  Ms. Lahey then added, "I received a call very similar to yours but questioning Blue Cross's contribution to the HRC and I told them the same thing, that we contribute to ALL social institutions."

I reminded Ms. Lahey that the HRC is not demonizing a minority, changing constitutions to segregate a group of people, giving permission for society to continue to hate, and blaming say, African-Americans for internal LGBT problems.  I was also told that many of the members of the Blue Cross Blue Shield leadership signed MassEquality's list of corporate leaders who believed marriage equality is good for the Commonwealth on the financial level.   

If you ever wonder who or what is responsible for the proliferation of intolerance in society, it is the money and the supposedly "good" people who continue to support institutions that have not yet cleaned house of this intolerance.  Check out The Black Ministerial Alliance's Donor List, there are others on there that should be ashamed of themselves or at least should know better.  Give them a call and educate them.  Ask them if they advocated on the behalf of LGBT people and their families while they were handing the BMA that sponsorship check.  Ask them if they even know the Black Ministerial Alliance's anti-gay history.

It seems there are alot of excuses.  Excuses as to why the bigots like the Lorings continue their hateful campaigns, their contributions to the fellow anti-SSM amendment sponsor, the Black Ministerial Alliance, is suspect in and of itself.  But there are also too many excuses coming from organizations like Blue Cross Blue Shield as to how they justify funding those organizations which are pro-active in doing bad things to society almost as much as they are in doing good things for society.

Congratulations to SenatorJarrett Barrios.  Here is hoping that he is successful and will address some of these concerns.  And here is hoping that I won't be posting a blog re-counting his excuses for muzzling up to the Lorings, Reverend Hammond or anyone else that would attack our constitution, our families, our children and us.

Susan Lahey, Spokesperson, Blue Cross Blue Shield 617-246-4842

Tom Lang, Director

   

If I Am Going To Hell, I Know Who Will Be Holding The Door When I Get There

Jerry Falwell, Tele-Evangelist, Racist, Sexist, Homophobe Dead At Age 73

The Associated Press reported that this morning :

"The founder of the Moral Majority was discovered without a pulse at Liberty University and pronounced dead at a hospital an hour later. Dr. Carl Moore, Falwell's physician, said he had a heart condition and presumably died of a heart rhythm abnormality."

Jerry Falwell had a "heart condition" all right, he had a black, black heart and one wonders how it beat at all.  I am not going to mix words on this one.  Quite frankly, the damage that "Reverend" Jerry Falwell did to this country, to minorities, to women, the LGBT community and how we look at our fellow human beings both on the political spectrum and in polite society cannot be reversed.  Not in my life time at least.  From the LGBT perspective, the deaths and stigmatization of a large group of beautiful human beings, lost to us forever, are burned on this man's soul for eternity.

With regards to his death and the LGBT community, Matt Foreman, executive director of The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force said it best as he extended condolences to those close to Falwell, but added: "Unfortunately, we will always remember him as a founder and leader of America's anti-gay industry, someone who exacerbated the nation's appalling response to the onslaught of the AIDS epidemic, someone who demonized and vilified us for political gain and someone who used religion to divide rather than unite our nation."

Will Jerry Falwell's legacy live on?  Unfortunately, yes.  That one of the heads of the Hydra is gone, a thousand more are ready to take its place.  But maybe, just maybe the decent people of this nation have learned how to keep them from growing. 

Tonight I ask you when you talk about the death of Jerry Falwell to say a prayer, take time for a moment of personal silence or reflection, lift a glass, yell at the top of your lungs, or just quietly remember those in the LGBT community (the human community) who passed away without being shown any common decency, without being given even a shred of dignity, without being shown respect or being given the opportunity to fight for what we now call "equality."  Remember them... 

Tom Lang, Director

Attorney General Martha Coakley -- Same Sex Marriage Ballot Initiative Unconstitutional

Attorney General Martha Coakley on Friday promised her support to enter into litigation against the proposed state constitutional referendum which would put to the voters of Massachusetts a ban on same-sex marriage.  See Worcester Telegram & Gazette

The Attorney General before a meeting with the Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay Bar Association, urged the group to press legislators to keep the question off the ballot in 2008 as she said that neither the Massachusetts nor the U.S. Constitution "has ever been an instrument of discrimination and we shouldn't start now."  She also anticipates that she expects "protracted, hard-fought litigation" challenging the constitutionality of the amendment if it were passed.  And pledged, "If that batle is necessary, you have my support."

We "insiders" and anyone following the equal marriage fight here in the Baystate knew that a legal remedy would be sought in the event that the question made it to the ballot and if it passed in the voter box.  Coakley's posturing now could not have come at a better time that (hopefully) each and every one of us is contacting his/her Senator and Representative.  see MassEquality interactive maps

Know this...what Attorney General Coakley is doing by posturing for a lengthy, costly legal battle on the behalf of a minority AND the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is sending a resounding message to our Legislature.  A message that says, "You (Legislator) who is thinking about passing the buck of responsibility to the voters for changing the Consititution to discriminate against the LGBT community, will not get a free pass."  These Legislators will be held accountable after the June 14th vote if this amendment is not killed.  Accountable to "The People" of the Commonwealth for the costly, protracted, politically-charged litigation that will ensue in order to protect the very Commonwealth itself.

**To Email or Call Attorney General Martha Coakley and Thank Her**

Attorney General Martha Coakley

McCormack Building
One Ashburton Place
Boston, MA 02108
(617) 727-2200

ago@ago.state.ma.us

_________________________________

Tom Lang, Director