Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Hate group bragging about work to stop marriage equality

Brian Camenker
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Massachusetts group Mass Resistance is an anti-gay hate group for the following reasons:

MassResistance, “the leading pro-family grassroots activist group in Massachusetts,” began life in 1995 as the Parents’ Rights Coalition, became the Article 8 Alliance in 2003, and took on its current name in 2006. Its leader, Brian Camenker, is a programmer who was an official of the Article 8 Alliance and also headed the Newton, Mass., chapter of the National Taxpayers’ Association.

As president of yet another group, the Interfaith Coalition of Massachusetts, Camenker spearheaded the drafting of a bill that passed in 1996 and required that parents be notified of any sex education in their children’s schools. That same year, Camenker claimed that suicide prevention programs aimed at gay youth actually were “put together by homosexual activists to normalize homosexuality.” Later, MassResistance charged that groups like the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), which support school anti-bullying programs, actually want to lure children into homosexuality and, very possibly, sadomasochism. At a 2006 religious right gathering in Washington, D.C., Camenker insisted that gays were trying to get legislation passed to allow sex with animals. "One bill in Massachusetts takes away all the penalties for bestiality," he claimed. "This is where this [homosexual] agenda is going." A little later, he added, "They [gays and lesbians] are pushing perversion on our kids."

In 2006-2007, Mass-Resistance pushed for an amendment of the 1996 statute that would have required that parents be notified of any discussion of gay or lesbian issues in the schools. The group proposed language that lumped sexual orientation (which includes heterosexuality, homosexuality and bisexuality) in with criminal behaviors like bestiality and polygamy. During legislative testimony supporting the amendment, Camenker falsely claimed that no homosexuals died in the Holocaust and that the pink triangle the Nazis forced imprisoned gays to wear actually signified Catholic priests. The amendment did not pass.

Camenker, who has long focused on the purported “homosexual agenda” in the schools and frequently claimed gays are dangerous to kids, has repeatedly cited discredited claims from organizations like the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality that link homosexuality and pedophilia. 

Allow me include that additionally, Camenker and a local parent David Parker orchestrated a two-year long moral panic by first falsely claiming that Parker was arrested for merely wanting his son to be opted out of classroom discussions of homosexuality and then claiming that his son was physically assaulted by the children of lgbt household for his father's stance.

In 2008, another person affiliated with the organization, Michael Olivio, was arrested after he was caught taking pictures of children at a local middle school school. He and Camenker claimed that he meant to take pictures of students at a high school because the state Commission on Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual and Transgendered Youth had held a meeting there (taking pictures of gay students is another sideline of Mass Resistance).

And last but not least, it was Mass Resistance behind repeated smears of Obama appointee Kevin Jennings, including the phony "fistgate" scandal.

One would think that an organization such as this wouldn't be consulted by those supposedly trying to save traditional marriage. However, if Camenker is accurate, Mass Resistance is being consulted.

RHODE ISLAND (1): Last week the House Judiciary Committee held a public hearing on a terrible Domestic Partnership bill. MassResistance was at the Rhode Island State House to testify. We also worked with Rhode Island activists. We will have a full report, plus video, of that. The committee will be voting on it this week.

RHODE ISLAND (2): Yesterday the House Judiciary Committee held a public hearing on their "transgender rights" bill. MassResistance has supplied activists with material for their testimony.
NEW YORK: This week the New York Senate is poised to vote on a "gay marriage" bill. Horribly, key Republican legislators have been caving in on this right and left. Even wealthy Republican donors, such as the publisher of the "conservative" Manhattan Institute, have jumped ship and are funding the "gay marriage" push.  Over the past week MassResistance has been working with Orthodox Rabbis (both in New York and as far away as Israel) on strategy and other help to mobilize people in key districts. (More may be announced soon.)
MINNESOTA: On the good news front, the Republican-controlled Minnesota House of Representatives is poised to vote this week on a state-wide referendum for an anti-gay marriage Constitutional Amendment. It has already passed the Minnesota Senate.  MassResistance got a call this past week from a key activist who wants us to get involved right away.

ILLINOIS: Pro-family citizens from across Illinois, led by Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth, are gearing up for a state-wide non-binding referendum on state's recently passed Domestic Partner law. Brian Camenker of MassResistance recently led part of a conference call session of key statewide activists, and may come and do a pro-marriage tour across the state.

Fascinating. If marriage is such a holy and sacred sacrament, why does one need the help of devils to defend it?

To the folks using the "services" of Mass Resistance, God does not like ugly, even if it's done in his name. You may gain momentary victories by allowing this group to aid you, but you have already lost the war over integrity and values.

And soon, you will lose the war over marriage equality.




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