Posted on 07/06/2006 4:34:51 PM PDT by lexfreedom
Angry callers threatened to beat up the school superintendent. A school principal, bombarded by nasty e-mails, left town.
Even David Parker, the father who stirred the controversy when he asked that his son be removed from class if homosexuality was covered, now is worried about his son's safety at school. The anxiety and suspicion that has gripped this progressive town over the past year shows the consequences for a community when a national political issue hits home. On May 17, 2004, Massachusetts became the only state to legalize gay marriage, in a nation with a president who wants to ban same-sex unions.
In Lexington a debate over whether to mention gay marriage in schools divided parents, and a playground fight escalated the tension. Parker's 7-year-old son was punched on May 17 by another first-grader at Estabrook Elementary School as other children watched. A conservative group issued a press release almost a month later, saying students attacked the boy because of his father's protests over storybooks depicting gay relationships. School officials said students squabbled over where students would sit at lunch.
"It's made life miserable for everybody," said Jill French, whose child is a classmate of Parker's son. "This has all been blown way out of proportion."
Paul Ash, 56, the new superintendent of schools, said news of the playground fight posted on blogs intensified the attacks. The conservative group's press release accused school officials and other adults of inciting students to fight, and claimed the spat was timed to coincide with the anniversary of the legalization of gay marriage. Then, a blogger posted Ash's phone numbers and e-mail address.
At 4 a.m. on June 18, a man from Japan called Ash's home and angrily asked why the school was beating up children. The phone rang until Ash took it off the hook.
By the next day, his e-mail box was clogged with nearly 400 messages, and his work voice mail filled with vitriolic messages.
Ash, who has gone on Fox News and NPR to state the school system's case, said he is outraged about the threats, largely from people outside of Lexington.
"My family is really upset," he said. "If their intention is to intimidate or get people riled up, it worked."
Ash said Parker has been "a gentleman." But he worried that MassResistance, the Waltham-based group that issued the press release about the playground fight, is using Parker to further its cause.
Sitting on his living room couch, Parker denied that he is being used by anyone. But in retrospect, he acknowledged there was no evidence that an adult had directly incited students to bully his son.
He is worried that adults who criticize his views against homosexuality might have led some children to not want to play with his son or to pick on him.
"Are parents and administrators telling little children to get [my son] on the playground because of his father's beliefs? No, I doubt it," Parker said, but added: "You have children being exposed to the notion that this guy, or this family, is wrong and maybe is a bad guy. That can influence their actions."
He said his son overheard another child say Principal Joni Jay was leaving because of Parker's protest.
Jay said the controversy contributed to her resignation after seven years at Estabrook, but she also liked that her new school in Sudbury was closer to her home and offered more vacation.
She said she was upset when someone took a picture of her in a meeting and splashed it on the Internet.
"That kind of thing makes people feel anxious," she said. "Is somebody going to be taking a picture of me or recording me?"
Like Ash, she received more than 300 e-mails after the playground scuffle became public. Her replacement was named last week.
Also shaken by recent events, Parker said he has considered pulling his son out of school. His son, though, loves Estabrook.
Parker, 43, a scientist, said he is a regular father, not an activist. He, his wife, and their two children moved into a modest Lexington home from New Jersey about two years ago because he was transferred for work.
He sparked a standoff with school officials in April 2005 when he refused to leave the school in a protest over a storybook the school had sent home months before with his son, then in kindergarten. One of the books mentioned same-sex parents. Parker was arrested on a trespassing charge and temporarily banned from school grounds.
In April, Parker and another family filed a federal lawsuit against the school system over the discussion of homosexuality in public schools. The other family this school year had protested that a teacher read "King & King," a fairy tale about gay marriage, to second-graders.
Parker has become a celebrity to opponents of gay marriage. He has appeared on talk radio and TV, and given speeches, mostly to conservative groups. He and his wife, Tonia, started a nonprofit, United Parents of America, to support parents' rights. He has accepted donations to pay "huge" legal fees, though he won't say how much.
Brian Camenker, president of MassResistance, said Parker has "unquestionably helped the cause," but is not a pawn.
"There's no possible way I could persuade somebody to spend the night in jail. I'm not sure I would do it," said Camenker, of Newton, who championed a law that allows parents to keep their children out of sex education classes.
Maria Sacchetti can be reached at msacchetti@globe.com.
Ash said Parker has been "a gentleman." But he worried that MassResistance, the Waltham-based group that issued the press release about the playground fight, is using Parker to further its cause.
Thanks for the ping.
From what I understand about the Mass population exodus,,these must be the only people left in the state.
OH, I almost forgot. Skerry, TerAYZUH and Fat Teddy are there too.
"The anxiety and suspicion that has gripped this progressive town...".
Yes, how could these things be happening in a "progressive" Massachusett's city? Oh, barf.
As this newspaper sees it, of course, the problem is the president and not the fruitcake state.
Jay said the controversy contributed to her resignation after seven years at Estabrook, but she also liked that her new school in Sudbury was closer to her home and offered more vacation.
She said she was upset when someone took a picture of her in a meeting and splashed it on the Internet.
"That kind of thing makes people feel anxious," she said. "Is somebody going to be taking a picture of me or recording me?"
-------------------------------------------------
Like this?
My personal opinion is that this book and the agenda behind it has caused far too much controversy and disruption to the students and both should be eliminated for the sake of the student's learning experience.
This is so easy if you just think about it.
The last discussion on this topic was pulled by the moderators because of personal attacks. My advice: do not feed the leftist trolls that wish to silence the message that David Parker delivers. Rather than join in with personal attacks and get the topic pulled it is far better to relax and patiently let any visiting trolls get themselves eventually zotted.
Regardless the tangential spins and whining coming from the left -here is what specifically underlies the continuing conflict -- the taxpayer subsidized homosexual propaganda campaign that David Parker opposes and is up against -what his federal lawsuit filed on April 27, 2006 against the school and the administrators is all about
EXCERPT:
WHEREFORE, plaintiffs, jointly and severally, respectfully request this honorable court:
1. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 5 2201, to declare and rule that there exists a justiciable controversy between the plaintiffs and the defendants;
2. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 5 2201, to issue a declaratory judgment declaring that each defendant has violated each of the plaintiffs' constitutional rights of due process as set forth above;
3. Order equitable and injunctive relief ordering that:
A. The plaintiff parents be expressly and clearly notified prior to any adult-directed or initiated classroom discussions of sexuality, gender identity, and marriage constructs, until such time as the children are in seventh grade. Such notification must be explicit about the content, given in a timely manner, and involve the written consent of parents to opt children into these presentations/discussions.
B. The plaintiff parents be presented with an opportunity to excuse the children from classroom presentations or discussions the intent of which is to have children accept the validity of, embrace, affirm, or celebrate views of human sexuality, gender identity, and marriage constructs.
C. The plaintiff parents be presented with an opportunity to excuse the children from classroom presentations or discussions when the intent is to have children accept the validity of, embrace, affirm or celebrate belief systems or religious perspectives.
D. The plaintiff parents be presented with an opportunity to attend, as silent observers, and record any school presentations or discussions of the aforementioned ideological/socialization perspectives.
E. That no materials graphically depicting homosexual physical contact be submitted to the students until the seventh grade, with the provisions of Sections 3A and 3C.
4. Order payment of compensatory damages to the extent allowed by law;
5. Order payment of special, exemplary, or punitive damages, to the fullest extent allowed by law;
6. Order payment of attorney's fees, expert fees, prejudgment interest, interest, costs and;
7. Provide such additional relief as the court deems just.
Another good link to information about the "Fistgate" episodes:
http://www.parentsrightscoalition.org/Fistgate.htm
From reading the letters going back and forth between Joni Jay (pictured above) and David Parker:
http://www.article8.org/docs/news_events/parker/timeline_events.htm
It sounds like more than that book, King of King.
- "award winning guest speaker and GLSEN representative." The entire talk was about homosexuality.
- anti-bias group
- books with homosexual issues/families will be placed in every classroom in our school. (in addition to the said book, King and King)
- the anti-bias group said parental rights assertion would not be honored or respected at Estabrook.
Letter exchange at that link for review.
Thanks for the reminder. I know you had asked last time what Mr. Parker had said that wasn't true. I had previously posted this to you in response to your earlier question. The thread is listed below. I do have some others if you would like to see them also. This is the message that Mr. Parker delivers.:
According to Mr. Parker, school authorities determined from an investigation into the assault that the beating was indeed planned and premeditated.
Mr. Parker described the incident at the school saying:
"During the recess period, a group of 8-10 kids suddenly surrounded Jacob and grabbed him. He was taken around the corner of the school building out of sight of the patrolling aides, with the taunting and encouragement of other kids. Jacob was then positioned against the wall for what appeared to be a well planned and coordinated assault.”
According to Parker, his son related that one student in particular performed the actual physical assault while, “many children stood, watched silently, and did nothing as the beating commenced.” "The group of kids surrounded Jacob and he was beaten and punched. Then, as he fell to the ground, another child was heard saying to the group of children, 'Now you all can finish him off,' and as he was down on his hands and knees, the beating continued on his back. Then, fortunately, one little girl ran to contact the oblivious playground aides to stop it.
"Four of the attackers were from Jacob's first-grade class; the others were from other classes at Estabrook.
"The teachers' aide apparently determined that since she could not see external bleeding, and since Jacob apparently was not hit in the face, she did not send him to she school nurse." The family was immediately notified of the incident.
Speaking to LifeSiteNews, Parker speculated that the cause of the attack is most likely what he called “displaced aggression.” “If children hear venomous things from their parents, the children do internalize this,” he said. "We also know that activist lesbian mothers and vehement anti-David Parker parents are spewing hateful, inflaming rhetoric, and probably also to their young children".
This was given to lifesite.net. It is very close to the version he gave to mass resistance too, though that one was far worse, and one he received attribution also. I think the kids especially would appreciate it if he reconsidered this. If he does, I would have a lot more respect for him, even after last year. But I think it's gone too far now for him to retract anything. Hopefully in the future he'll realize how inflamatory these things can be, especially where the kids are concerned.
Look at the reaction here when those stories first came out. People were ready for war. And I can understand it. Yes, sometimes a news site will elaborate. But all the stories from the "conservative" sites were pretty much the same, and David Parker gave the interviews. He now needs to come forward and either confirm or deny. He knows for sure whether it was just a friend of Jacob's. A lot of people fully support what he is doing, and he owes them the truth and nothing but.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1652776/posts?q=1&&page=101
I am stunned that the Parker attorney would tell a completely different story than Mr. Parker. Why do you suppose that is? I also notice that Mass Resistance has taken the link to its original story completely off it's site and rewrote it. Strange, huh?
You are quite welcome.
LOL
There are too many freepers on these threads who have to believe Parker's previous lies about this story in order to hold their heads up.
Those freepers tried to get banned any freeper who dug a little deeper and exposed Parker's lies. Parker's lies are just about legendary at this point and like most good urban legends, just won't go away.
You know it's funny how when a freeper here askes me to prove that Parker lied about the May incident, and then I give the quotes, I never hear another word. I can only assume that means that he understands that Parker did make up the whole incident, using his son as the target, to help with the fundraising.
I know if it were my son and I went to jail to publicize the books he was being subjected to,I would not leave him in the same school for two years. But I guess if he removes the boy from the school, his case would probably suffer.
As another freeper pointed out to me in another thread, this is war, and every war has its casualties, which in this case is Jacob.
My pleasure. Don't mind exposing Mr. Parker whenever I can. For example when he told everyone he was arrested for complaining to the school about what his son was being taught. We now know of course that didn't happen. We know he provoked the police into arresting him for publicity. Like I said, I've got a few more to share if you want. I'll save them for the next predictable Lexington thread. I'm sure you would appreciate a fair and balanced thread.
Poor kid.
Also, it really was something to read Parker's statements early on about the beating that Jacob took at the hands of a "gang" of 8-10 kids with adults looking on. (Something we now know didn't happen. It was a playground scuffle between Jacob and a very good friend of his, a boy he is still friends with).
A lot of us knew Parker's initial story was bogus, especially when it became clear that Parker never even sought medical attention for Jacob after this "viscious" beating.
Anyway, it's a sad day to see freepers prefer their agenda at the expense of truth.
I was in Massachusetts this past weekend and visited a friend who has been working with pro-family groups the past three years, especially Focus on the Family (James Dobson's group). She explained to me that tomorrow, Wednesday, July 12th, the Mass. legislature is scheduled to vote on whether or not to put on the ballot in November 2008 a referendum on gay marriage.
Only 1/4 of the Mass. legislature has to vote for this referendum, which means only 50 legislators. BUT they have to repeat this legislative vote once more next year (2007). IF 1/4 of the legislators in Mass. vote YES -- to put the gay marriage issue to a vote of the people in 2008 -- and they vote YES two years in a row, then it will indeed go to the people of Massachusetts.
Of course, the people of Mass., by a large majority, want to protect the traditional definition of marriage as one man, one woman. So the gays of Mass. know they will lose if it is ever allowed to come before the people.
I ask all here on FreeRepublic to please pray (if you are so inclined) for the legislators of Massachusetts to vote YES for the people's referendum on Wednesday, July 12th.
Also, in case anybody here actually lives in Massachusetts, would you please, please call your state legislator and voice your approval of traditional marriage?
If there were no other reason, the most fundamental reason is the most important: Children cannot come into this world without a biological mother and father. They cannot function properly either, in the most healthy and productive way, without a loving mother and father. Of course, no law can force all heterosexual familes to be good for children, but the law should never work AGAINST public acknowledgement of the needs (and RIGHTS) of kids.
PLEASE, PLEASE do not give up on Massachusetts. There are many good, decent, God-loving people there who need to be supported. Also, don't descend to gay-bashing. Just uphold the positive, assert the rights and needs of the most vulnerable people in society (children), and stand firm. God is the author of the laws of Creation, and no human society can long thwart those laws and continue.
Thank you.
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