KnowThyNeighbor.org

Congratulations California! Congratulations Equality!

We cannot ask for a better gift as Massachusetts approaches its 4th Anniversary  of Marriage Equality...California's Supreme Court Overturns Ban on Same-Sex Marriage!!!  East Coast and West Coast!!  Thank You California!

California's top court overturns gay marriage ban

By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer 2 minutes ago

SAN FRANCISCO - In a monumental victory for the gay rights movement, the California Supreme Court overturned a voter-approved ban on gay marriage Thursday in a ruling that would allow same-sex couples in the nation's biggest state to tie the knot.

Domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage, the justices ruled 4-3 in an opinion written by Chief Justice Ron George.

Outside the courthouse, gay marriage supporters cried and cheered as news spread of the decision.

"Our state now recognizes that an individual's capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual's sexual orientation," the court wrote.

The city of San Francisco, two dozen gay and lesbian couples and gay rights groups sued in March 2004 after the court halted San Francisco's monthlong same-sex wedding march.

"Today the California Supreme Court took a giant leap to ensure that everybody — not just in the state of California, but throughout the country — will have equal treatment under the law," said City Attorney Dennis Herrera, who argued the case for San Francisco.

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Check Out the Photos

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tom Lang, Co-Director

Anti-Gay Running For School Committee in Rockport

Jonathan Ring, Chairman of the Anti-Gay Cape Ann Marriage and Family, Affiliate of VoteOnMarriage and the Massachusetts Family Institute, Will Be Seeking Election Today For One of Rockport's Two Open Positions For School Committee

Today, Tuesday, May 6th, Anti-Gay Leader and known combattant to KnowThyNeighbor and the LGBT Equality Movement, Jonathan Ring hopes that unsuspecting Rockport voters will elect him to a seat on the Rockport School Committee.  Ring, who sponsored many of the Northshore Meetings of VoteOnMarrige before their failed ballot initiative to end same sex marriage, heads Cape Ann Marriage and Family.  This organization clearly states that members should be seeking election to local and state offices in order to promote its agenda.

Jonathan Ring took on Tom Lang of KnowThyNeighbor last year and drew national attention when Lang contacted a local pizza parlor, Valentino's Restaurant in Gloucester, about the appearance of the notorious anti-gay media maven, David Parker at Valentino's.  Parker was to speak at Valentino's on behalf of Cape Ann Marriage and Family and Lang informed Valentino's that this is something that LGBT patrons of Valentino's and their families should know due to Parker's hurtful rhetoric and actions.  Valentino's cancelled the event due to the fact that Cape Ann Marriage and Family did not pay its $ 100 fee to reserve the space at the pizza parlor, but not before Ring and his group alllegedly launched a letter writing campaign to defame Lang.

What more can be said?  KnowThyNeighbor came across a letter to the editor in the Gloucester Daily Times by Rockport resident Suzanne Carver who is against Jonathan Ring being elected to School Commmittee.  Ms. Carver speaks well to this...

   

Candidate's, group's agenda has no place in Rockport schools

I am writing this letter because I am very concerned with this Tuesday's School Committee election in Rockport — in particular with regards to Jonathan Ring, who is running for one of the two open seats. I oppose Mr.Ring's election.

Mr. Ring's group, Cape Ann Marriage and Family — of which he is the chairman — partners with such groups as Focus on the Family, VoteOnMarriage and the Massachusetts Family Institute as we find from his Web site www.coalitionformarriage.org.

These groups call themselves "pro-family" in an attempt to shroud what their true agenda is — to vilify and demean those who do not conform to their picture of the "ideal" family.

In Rockport and Cape Ann there exist many types of families including those with children being lovingly raised by single parents, divorced couples and same-sex couples — and these families and their children should never be subjected to a "less than" status or political agenda.

I am very fortunate to have had as a mother the late Fran Carver, who was an early pioneer in placing unwanted children in homes of same-sex couples. She understood before many who sought homes for these children, that

same-sex couples could provide the loving homes that these children needed.

At my mother's funeral service, I was approached by scores of people, most of whom I did not know and who had come from all over Massachusetts to pay their respects. Over and over again, many introduced themselves as the

children of these couples, and they told me that if it hadn't been for my mother, they would never have known a family that loved them. I could not have had a better legacy to pass to my own son as his grandmother truly

understood what it meant to be "pro-family."

Though Jonathan Ring and members of his group have the right to their opinions, I do not believe that the Rockport schools need to become a battleground for him or his organization and its agenda.

Suzanne Carver

Normanstone Drive, Rockport

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UPDATE 05/07/08

Anti-Gay Jonathan Ring LOST the election in Rockport for a seat on School Committee.  The two seats go to Brian Sullivan 1370 votes and Melissa Tingley 1304 votes.  Jonathan Ring had a mere 474 votes. see Gloucester Times

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Tom Lang, Director