RIP Sally Naumann, one of our greatest – and most fearless – Massachusetts pro-family activists.
If everyone were like Sally, we’d easily win this battle!
October 22, 2024
Sally Naumann was unafraid to tell the truth in the State House, in writing, or on the TV news. She was an inspiration for all of us!Our beloved activist Sally Naumann recently passed away at age 93. In a time when so many pro-family people shy away from telling the truth or avoid public activism – fearing the wrath of leftists – Sally is an example for everyone. Well into her 80s, she was one of the best.
Personally, Sally was quiet, cheerful, unassuming, and even-tempered. She never yelled or even raised her voice. But she made a big impact. She was completely principled, fearless, and resolute. And the Massachusetts liberals hated her.
Sally was basically an old-style liberal, not a conservative. She lived in Carlisle, Mass. – a hotbed of leftism. She was a long-time member of the local leftist Unitarian Church. But when a young “gay” man in her neighborhood tragically died of AIDS, she was very moved. She became aware of how homosexuality often leads to terrible health issues, including death. She began to believe strongly that promoting “gay identities” – especially to children – was terribly wrong.
Sally first contacted us in 2004 as “gay marriage” flared up in the state. She wanted to get involved. She said that she was being harassed at church for her views and wanted us to come and speak there. (Of course, the church didn’t allow it.)
At first, she made phone calls for us, did research, and helped with meetings and rallies. But as time went on she was drawn to activism and did a lot more than that.
Sally exposed graphic “Little Black Book,” causing Governor Romney to react
In 2005, Sally went undercover at the homosexual GLSEN-Boston conference at Brookline High School. She picked up a copy of the pornographic and disgusting “Little Black Book,” a homosexual “how to” booklet that was being given to kids there. It caused such outrage that then-Mass. Governor Mitt Romney issued a statement saying: "This is not a state-funded publication. Graphic pornographic material on the gay lifestyle has no place in any school."
This Channel 7 TV report featured Sally (whom they call "Sally Turner") and also Brian Camenker:
After her State House testimony, Boston Globe attacked Sally in lead editorial
In 2011, a lesbian judge with a history of anti-family judicial activism (and who lived in the same town as Sally) was nominated as Justice for the state Supreme Judicial Court. At the public hearing, Sally calmly testified about the dangers of the LGB lifestyle – and how it shouldn’t be pushed through judicial activism. She was bullied and insulted by the leftist officials there, but it didn’t affect her. A few days later, the Boston Globe attacked her in their lead editorial. But Sally still didn’t back down. She wrote a strongly worded letter to the editor in rebuttal, which the Globe (to their credit) printed.
Formally kicked out of her “inclusive” leftist church for having the wrong opinion!
For nearly 25 years, Sally and her husband had been active members of the Unitarian Church in Carlisle. She served as co-chair of the Parish Committee. But in 2015, while speaking to several people after a Sunday service, she raised concerns about the church’s promotion of the homosexual lifestyle, and the church’s use of the sexually explicit children’s book, It’s Perfectly Normal. For simply saying those things, the church leaders declared her to be “unwelcoming.” After holding a formal “hearing,” Sally was banned from the church. She was told that she was “unwelcome” – and if she entered the church again, they would call the police!
Town erupted against Sally after her letter to the editor. Uproar reported on NBC-TV!
In 2017, Sally became upset that her former church, the Unitarian Church in the center of town, was flying a “gay” rainbow flag out front. She wrote a letter to the editor to the local Carlisle Mosquito newspaper discussing how homosexual behavior can lead to terrible life-ending diseases, and that a church should not be promoting it.
In a left-wing town like Carlisle, that really riled up the residents! In the next two issues of the Mosquito, 16 letters were published that attacked Sally. She was called every horrible name imaginable.
Next to the first batch of letters, the newspaper published a scathing editorial attacking Sally. Among other things, the editors said that Sally’s facts and opinions should be banned from the newspaper in the future. That's because the community must be protected from these views. The unhinged editorial stated:
[T]here are times when a position becomes so repulsive it is no longer suitable for discussion, and perhaps advocacy of homosexuality as a sickness has migrated into that territory.
But the rage didn’t stop there. The angry leftists in town put up hundreds of little rainbow flags alongside the streets all over town – as a “rebuttal” to Sally’s comments!
Rainbow flags were set up along the streets in Carlisle by angry leftists to "rebut" Sally's facts and opinions.The uproar from that one letter caused the local NBC-TV Boston news affiliate to report on Sally and the reaction she brought in Carlisle:
Throughout all of this Sally (then 85 years old) didn’t flinch at all. And the story of her upending the town was reported as far away as Romania!
Sally contributed much more!
Sally often went to offices of representatives and senators at the Massachusetts State House to lobby for the pro-family bills we filed – and against the horrible LGBT bills we helped stop. These included the various “transgender rights” bills and the deceptive “anti-bullying” bill.
She fearlessly told the truth in her many testimonies at State House public hearings on LGBT legislation. She even testified at local school committee meetings.
She went undercover at several GLSEN LGBT teacher conferences, GLAD (pro-gay-marriage legal group) events, and other “Pride” events. She took good photos and notes and collected everything they handed out for our office.
A former career as a scientist
Intellectually, Sally was no slouch. She had a BA in physics from Wellesley College and an MA in physics from Northeastern University. For many years she worked at the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratory, initially in the Cloud Physics Lab and later in the Microwave Physics Laboratory, and later at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory. They raised two sons.
After 2018, Sally stepped back from activism to care for her husband Art, who had also been a loyal activist. Art passed away shortly before Sally.
Sally’s style of calm, straightforward, and fearless truth-telling in the face of far-left lunacy – and her willingness to step far into enemy territory – had an oversized effect. It’s sad that it’s hard to get people on our side to engage as courageously these days.
We all miss Sally! She was the real deal, and an example for all of us!
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