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Pro-family activism that makes a difference! | ||||
MassResistance counters testimony from gay groups, special interests at overflowing public hearing on "anti-bullying" bills in State House.Exploiting bullying problem to push radical agendas to kids
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It was an overflowing crowd of activists and special interests -- and MassResistance to represent parents! |
The homosexual anti-bullying agenda
As we've reported, the homosexual movement is dishonestly and maliciously using a legitimate problem - bullying at schools - to weave in their destructive agenda of forcing homosexual-normalization propaganda at kids. They've enlisted their radical allies at the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the state teachers unions, and other Massachusetts left-wing organizations to help them.
Their message is that schools need to introduce special "diversity training" programs for sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, race, etc., for all grades, to stop the problem of bullying. They also want a new layer of bureaucratic rules, reports, procedures, etc. to bolster their programs. Here's the text of the primary anti-bullying bill, H483. There are sixteen anti-bullying bills in all this year before the Legislature.
Waves of slick special-interest testimony
At the hearing they had panel after panel of slick and often emotional testimony before the committee. The Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus, the Mass. Commission for GLBT Youth, at least one Gay-Straight Alliance club, GLSEN, a transgender group, and the Massachusetts Teachers Association were all there.
Homosexual lobby pushing hard. Arline Isaacson, chief lobbyist for the Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay Political Caucus testifies in favor of sexual orientation and gender identity diversity training in the public schools, to stop bullying. |
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This woman identified herself as an advisor for a high school "gay-straight alliance" club. |
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These two were there representing the Massachusetts Commission for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth. |
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Lobbyist for the Massachusetts Teachers Association, touting its usual radical agenda. |
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A group of left-wing "experts". |
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And of course, a panel of hand-picked students for authenticity. |
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Politicians making the anti-bullying pitch. From left: Rep. Brad Hill (R-Ipswich),
Rep. Paul Donato (D-Medford), and Rep. Antonio Cabral (D-New Bedford)
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This man dressed as a woman is a well-known transgender activist. He didn't testify, but he was interested enough to make an appearance at the hearing. |
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This elderly man said he was a life-long resident of Boston and spoke very directly and eloqently about human behavior. He was one of the few people that day who had common sense. |
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Exploiting parents of bullied kids
But it's particularly galling the way the homosexual lobby exploits parents of kids who have been bullied. They use these terrible incidents, which may not be "gay" related, to sway the media and pressure legislators to pass their brand of diversity training.
Sirdeaner Walker, a woman from Springfield whose 11-year-old son Carl tragically hanged himself at home last April, has been featured prominently on GLSEN's website and their literature. Recently GLSEN brought her to Washington DC to testify on bullying issues and homosexuality. Last week her picture was in all the local newspapers and TV spots. She says that her son, who played football and was not "gay", committed suicide after being bullied repeatedly, and apparently some anti-gay epithets were included in that.
Sirdeaner Walker has been testifying for GLSEN and other homosexual groups. The liberal special-interest groups prey on grieving parents, and coaches them on how to make emotional presentations. |
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But as we've seen so often, the "solutions" to problems in schools being pushed by groups with radical agendas don't really fix anything. And it often makes things worse. They don't seem interested in finding out might actually work. Their social agendas are all that matter.
But committee listened and engaged with MassResistance
After a flood of special-interest testimony, the Education Committee seemed genuinely interested in hearing what the other side thought. And we were basically the "other side." So when Brian Camenker of MassResistance testified, they appeared to listen pretty closely. We poured a bit of cold water on things. Several legislators asked him thoughtful questions about his testimony and how it would affect the anti-bullying problems in the schools.
We testified that those programs would do little to solve the problem. Kids bully others because of their own emotional or psychological issues. And in fact, several teenagers came and testified that day saying exactly that - that they had bullied others because of their own problems, not because their targets were a specific race, religion, etc.
WATCH VIDEO: TV news report. The testimony was very emotional and well-scripted. But MassResistance asks the hard question: Will the solutions they're pushing actually work? |
NECN TV |
We're not opposed to something that would make sense. The stories we hear are certainly compelling. But we're certainly not going to let up on our strong opposition to more programs in the schools normalizing homosexual behavior to schoolchildren.
Interestingly, one girl who testified that day said her school, the Rashi School in Newton did not use any diversity training but instead pushed a strong general anti-bullying message to kids - an approach which apparently has worked very well at that school.
The truth is that kids can get bullied for any reason at all. They may have a different hair color, weight, disability, or a million other things.
And there's also the question of whether this is something the Legislature needs to get involved with. Why can't the Department of Education or the individual school districts take appropriate action? (Possible answer: It's easier for the special interests to get in if there's a state law requiring their programs.)
Will it get through this time, or be stopped?
We think that even the left-leaning Education Committee is having second thoughts about this one. Despite the emotional PR campaigns in the media, this kind of approach is not very popular with the public. Ordinary people tend to see this as more dumb (and expensive) left-wing bureaucracy trying to re-mold human nature. That's probably why it didn't get out of the committee last session.
One thing's for sure: This will be a battle over the next several months.
Professional PR media campaign before (and after) the hearing
The public hearing was just part of that week's battle. They had started out days earlier with a professionally-done PR campaign which included articles strategically placed in the Boston Globe (including the front page of the Sunday Globe), the Boston Herald, and "news" coverage on radio and TV stations. In addition, the morning of the hearing they had a press conference at the State House, and press coverage over the following week. See MassResistance report on their media campaign.
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Professional PR campaign by special interests. Front page of Sunday Boston Globe before the Tuesday hearing: "Support swells for anti-bully legislation". |
An ironic footnote. During the hearing, a man was demonstrating outside of the State House dressed as an Arab waving a copy of what he indicated was the Koran. He shouted angry epithets to some passers-by (including us) "Are you a Jew? You look like a Jew." The ADL, which was formed to fight anti-Semitism, was inside supporting a radical anti-family agenda. They didn't seem the least bit interested in getting involved with what was happening outside. As usual, their priorities are seriously out of kilter.
Un-retouched photo of front of State House during public hearing inside. Man in white Arab costume at lower right was marching back and forth holding up book (which he said was the Koran) and shouting epithets. |
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