MA Education Committee hears lurid testimony from mother of 11-year-old, and others. But legislators barely interested.

Parents Rights Bill demanded now! Big battle on horizon.
Warnng: Some this testimony is very explicit.

October 13, 2009

Angry parents  and others joined MassResistance at the Massachusetts State House on Oct. 13 to testify before the Joint Education Committee in support of the David Parker Parents Rights Bill (H406 – written by MassResistance) and against the Planned Parenthood compulsory sex-ed / homosexuality / abortion counseling bill (H3434) – both of which would affect children in the public schools.

Much of the testimony was shocking and explicit. But most of the committee, dominated by left-leaning politicians, seemed uninterested and even hostile.

A Jamaica Plain mother (see video above) testified that her 11-year-old daughter had been given a homework assignment to draw an erect penis ejaculating. The mother described how this deeply affected the entire family. The only reaction from the committee was a question by House Chairman Martha Walz (D-Boston) who blandly asked the mother if she had been properly notified according to the current law. (The mother said: absolutely not.)

There was more hardcore MassResistance testimony as David Parker came and testified with Brian Camenker (see video below).

The Parkers made national news over his elementary school’s refusal to notify him or allow an opt-out when teaching his son in Kindergarten about homosexuality and transgenderism. The family filed a Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit over the matter. But the federal judges said that Parker has no rights under current Massachusetts law over what their children are taught or even to be notified of it. At the end of the testimony, the only reaction was from Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz (D-Boston), who asked a question about opt-out in schools.

Also, Amy Contrada, a mother of two children who attended the public schools, gave testimony about the horrific “Youth Pride” event and other homosexual-related activities targeting children.  Many other parents were also there to give testimony. It was a virtual flood of pro-family outrage.

R.T. Neary, a former schoolteacher who was once one of the top officials in the teachers union, gave a passionate speech for parents rights in the schools.

 

Rep. Elizabeth Poirier (R-North Attleborough) came to testify for the parents rights legislation!

 

A father makes a point for parents rights.

Parents and citizens see this hearing as the beginning of a huge fight in the Legislature this year. They are demanding basic rights against poisonous and destructive agendas being pushed on their children by activists without their knowledge or consent, and getting worse and more aggressive each year.

Many parents from across the state wanted to come but couldn’t spend several hours in downtown Boston on a Tuesday afternoon. In the past, committee hearings on parents’ rights issues have lasted as late as 10 pm and longer before many parents were able to speak.

Greatly subdued from past years – tepid response from other side

The pro-family people who came to testify on the Parents Rights bills and the Planned Parenthood bill far outnumbered those on the other side. The anti-family forces were basically no-shows. None of the homosexual lobbies were represented, nor were any of the usual gay activists there.

Only a few Planned Parenthood-affiliated people testified.  In addition, fewer pro-family people made the trip to the State House this year. And as a result, the hearing was much shorter and less crowded than in the past.

A couple of lonely pro-abortion activists came to testify for the Planned Parenthood bill.

 

The usual gang. Most of the testimony on the other side was by was from the usual crowd of far-left legislators who came by, such as Rep. Alice Wolf (D-Cambridge) and Rep. Mary Grant (D-Beverly).

Rep. Mary Grant (D-Beverly) makes her case that the state knows better than parents. (It's hard to believe that Kerry Healey lost to this woman in a state rep race!)

In past years every time there was a Parents Rights Bill hearing the homosexual lobby came out in force. The major activists would be there with the full package of propaganda, emotion, and intimidation. But not this time.

This is the third time that Planned Parenthood has introduced their bill. In 2005 it was part of their “five year plan” to change the schools. Last session they went all out with a big press conference before the hearing. And they flooded the hearing itself with waves of panels, expert testimony, activists, and stickers -- a full-court press. But this time it was basically Alice Wolf and a few of her leftish colleagues.

Why so quiet this year?  Our sense is that they feel they have this in the bag. It’s before a left-wing Education Committee under left-wing State House leadership and a left-wing Governor. So they probably feel it’s easier to just work behind the scenes than to bother offering actual public testimony.

The media works with a teenage "ally"

Earlier in the day we had talked with a Boston Herald reporter about coming to the hearing. The Herald covered it, but in a 100% slanted way.

Near the end of the testimony a teenage boy walked up from the back of the room. He told the committee that he hadn’t signed up to speak, but he had decided now that he wanted to say something.

He then sat at the table and gave the textbook Planned Parenthood / gay activist emotional speech about how parents “just don’t understand” and how kids need “good” knowledge and support from the schools.  (Of course, all that “good” advice is from hardcore activists whose main qualification is their extreme ideology.)

Jason Faller apparently took took the day off from his studies at Belmont High School to come down to the State House and testify against parents' rights. He just "happened" to connect with Boston Herald columnist Peter Gelzinis.

The next day, Herald columnist Peter Gelzinis wrote a column about how fortunate the committee was to have this kid there, to counter all the ignorant and backward parents who testified. 

In other words, it was basically a set-up. Gelzinis wrote in his Herald column:

So where would this student suggest troubled kids could get help (without their parents' knowledge)? Their counselor? BAGLY? -- Both now direct them to destructive activities such as Youth Pride and the GLBT prom where they can meet Mr Boston Leather (as described in some of the testimony)!

It's all so much blather. In other words, the Boston media can be counted on to continue their usual biased slant.

What’s next?

Unfortunately, only about half of the 17-member Education Committee even bothered to show up and many only stayed for part of the time. In particular, Rep. Jeffrey Perry (R-Sandwich), who had been on the Howie Car Radio Show the day before discussing this hearing and was a co-sponsor of one of the other parents’ rights bills, did not attend. Nor did Sen. Scott Brown (R-Wrentham), who is running for the vacant U.S. Senate seat.

After the hearing we talked briefly with both the House and Senate chairmen -- Rep Martha Walz (D-Boston) and Sen. Robert O’Leary (D-Barnstable). Both of them were there pretty much the whole time. Neither of them seemed very interested in what they had heard, which doesn't surprise us judging from their reactions during the testimony.

An Education Committee staffer told us later that the Committee would probably be deciding early next year on these bills, probably in January. It's up to us to make sure they make the right decisions.

Can we fight this?

In 1996 we were up against the same thing and we succeeded. We got the original Parents Rights Bill passed through a hostile legislature, and signed by a hostile governor (Bill Weld)!   It happened because there were a lot of angry people back then! And at that time there was no Internet, just fax machines and telephone trees.

In September, 1996, shortly after our bill was passed by the Legislature, National Review published a blockbuster article by two of our activists titled “Parents Rights: The Sleeping Giant.” It described how Massachusetts parents were waking up and fighting back. The article electrified people across the country..

Now it’s 2009. There are many, many more angry people now! Things are worse now than anyone would have dreamed of.  People are outraged. And this time organizing and communication techniques are much better.

The giant is waking up again. Our message to the legislature: Do NOT ignore us!