Mass. dad says he is in an "ultraliberal twighlight zone"

[Bluebear]

Wonderful, another self-styled "icon" of the right, this time a transplant to Massachusetts who says the state is too liberal for him. This no doubt from the same ilk who says if one doesn't like Bush they can "move to France".

==
PRESS RELEASE
Mass. Dad Becomes Icon for Pro-Family Protest Against Homosexual Agenda in Schools

By Jim Brown and Jenni Parker
May 17, 2005

(AgapePress, Mississippi) - A Massachusetts father who was arrested for protesting a homosexual curriculum being used in his son's kindergarten class is considering legal action against the school district.

Lexington parent David Parker had repeatedly asked for parental notification and the right to opt his son out when same-sex and transgender issues are discussed by authority figures at Estabrook Elementary School. But instead of granting his request, school officials had him arrested for trespassing after he refused to leave the campus, vowing he would not leave until he was granted the right to remove his son from classes dealing with homosexuality.

And according to Parker, the school district went even further. "They also, at their discretion, have banned me from setting foot on any Lexington school grounds," he says, "and I used to go there to ride bikes with my kid." But now, the concerned parent is forbidden to go onto the school's play areas, walking trails, or any other part of the premises. He adds, "I'm banned even when my child is in class in kindergarten, to pick him up and drop him off."

All this has been upsetting, but Parker is making every effort to channel his anger over the situation into positive action. He maintains that because of his Christian convictions and the fact that he is a Lexington taxpayer, he has no intention of giving up his fight for parental rights.

"When I talk, I seem calm," the Massachusetts dad says. "But, the thing is, I'm trying to convert the rage into a galvanized will to take this thing as far as I can. I do not accept what has happened. I get questioned as to whether I've taken it too far, and it makes me laugh in a way. They definitely have taken it too far."

According to Parker, he feels as though he is caught in an "ultraliberal twilight zone" in his state and, in retrospect, cannot believe what has taken place there recently. He says he will announce whether or not he will file litigation in the matter sometime before his June 1 court appearance.

http://headlines.agapepress.org/users/worthynews/worthynews1.asp

[Oreo]

1. this from everyone's #1 news source

This is a 100% Reader Supported Ministry!

The Agape Press of Mississippi

Move to Nazi Germany if you don't like it.

[tabasco]

13. Saudi Arabia, maybe. Germany is quite nice.

I have a suspicion ol' daddy is a closet gay himself.

[Oreo]

31. Germany is quite nice

I visited a while back. I was actually hoping he'd somehow travel back in time to nazi germany ;)

[MN ChimpH8R]

35. As unprejudiced a source

as Die Sturmer or Volkischer Beobachter. :rofl:

[ET Awful]

2. Well . . .

If you TRESPASS on the school grounds and refuse to leave, you can be ordered not to come on the property again under penalty of arrest.

Moving to Massachusetts when you don't like liberals is a bit like moving to Alaska if you don't like snow.

[DireStrike]

6. Agreed, right-wing logic would leave him to his fate.

Something bad happened? Don't expect any help. It's your fault.

[crispini]

3. Boy, that news souce sounds kind of biased to me.

"Headline News from a Christian Perspective" ?

[Maat]

37. I research and write on the Relgious Reich.

This is simply my favorite site to laugh while I read bull-bleep.

[dogday]

4. Actually I have to agree with him

As a parent you have the right to set limits at your child's school. This father has a child in kindergarten that was being taught about same sex families. Now I don't have a problem with that, but I do agree that a parent has the right to set these limits. This dad probably went over the line with his indignation, I would not of, but I do understand his concern of limiting knowledge to a child of 5 or 6

[Bluebear]

10. The child was NOT in kindergarten

The problem was with his older child and the book was one that was available to read, not being taught in any kind of curriculum if i understand correctly.

[dogday]

11. I beg to differ, this child was in kindergarten-read the article

The book showed pictures of different family situations. One of the images was of a same sex couple. Like I said I don't have a problem with that, but understand as a parent what you want to limit your child to know at that age. The father said the child was in kindergarten...

[Bluebear]

15. I don't know all the facts

The book was "Who's in a family" but the "Christian" media is portraying it like was teaching same-sex positions.

[dogday]

16. Read the article, he talks of not being able to pick his child up

And according to Parker, the school district went even further. "They also, at their discretion, have banned me from setting foot on any Lexington school grounds," he says, "and I used to go there to ride bikes with my kid." But now, the concerned parent is forbidden to go onto the school's play areas, walking trails, or any other part of the premises. He adds, "I'm banned even when my child is in class in kindergarten, to pick him up and drop him off."

[MissB]

19. That is par for the course when you are arrested on school grounds.

He pitched a fit, wouldn't leave and ended up being arrested. The school has every right to keep him off the school grounds.

[Bluebear]

26. In this climate schools don't cotton to out-of-control students or parents

If he refused to leave and got irate, I can see where they would ask him not to return to the school. You never know these days!

[Realityhack]

45. He commited beligerent tresspass

They guy refused to leave when ordered to by the police. And you think they should let him back to do it again? The school has a legitimate safety concern with someone who refuses to follow police orders on their grounds.

We can sit here and say 'yep peaceful civil disobediance' all day but the superintendet (or whoever) has responsibility for every child on those grounds AND a responsibility for runing a disruption free learning environment.

I see NO problem with them banning him from the school grounds in response to creating this scene.

RH

[MissB]

17. The original article on this

said that the parents were notified at the beginning of school that the children would be bringing home these packets at some point during the year.

That would've been a good time to opt out, had the parent actually been paying attention.

I don't think tolerance has an age limit, frankly.

[chelsea0011]

30. Exactly. Parents from Lexington were interviewed on Greater Boston,

a local show here. They were told that a packet of books would come home with the children. The book was part of a packet. This guy is over the top. He refused to leave the school, got arrested and refused bail so he could spend the night in jail. This story has nothing to do with teaching about same sex marriages. It was on cartoon picture in a book. He could have simply said he wasn't interested in the books earlier.

[6000eliot]

48. Is the RW trying to make up an issue

to balance out what's happening in Kansas?

[Lone_Wolf_Moderate]

14. Exactly. I have concerns about the political climate involved in this,

meaning that right-wingers will use this to bash liberals, but where is this father wrong? He ought to have the right to opt his child out of school events he finds objectionable to his faith. I wish this story told us more. Did he make a ruckus? What did the cirriculum entail? As it stands now, it seems like they just kicked him off school grounds for trying to raise his kid the way he wants.

Maybe the school didn't want a controversy, so instaed of confronting the issue, they just kicked him off?

[MissB]

20. There were posts about this back when it happened

And from what I recall, the material was sent home with students. The parents were told at the beginning of the year that the materials would be sent home with the kids.

Yes, he went to school and made a ruckus. No, he wouldn't leave. Yes, they had him arrested to get him to leave.

[Bluebear]

21. It wasn't a curriculum and he had the chance to opt out

He refused to leave the meeting and I don't know what kind of ruckus he stirred.

[dogday]

25. He would not leave the school

Had a meeting with Principle and others after school and stayed there and would not leave, so they called the police.

[bicentennial_baby]

24. He wanted the child removed from any spontaneous discussion!

see my post below.

[Maat]

38. From what I have been able to gather during my research ..

(of the Religious Wrong), these are simply lawsuit setups.

I suspect that 'Christian' attorneys find someone willing to challenge a certain type of policy. I don't know how else to put this, but they plan the incident, and their response. They want to build case law and policy in their favor, if that makes sense. With each court opinion, they get more powerful.

[Ysolde]

29. I agree, but...

Parents have a right to set limits, that's why the sexuality classes always have permission slips sent out and the parents can view the material beforehand. But, this isn't that kind of material. It was a diversity information packet. I haven't seen the material, but I can imagine it having info about other family structures and other cultures and probably even stuff about same sex families in it. You know, "Paul has 2 Mommies", that kind of thing. The parents who would limit their child's exposure to this kind of stuff are the ones whose kids need it the most. We've got to acknowledge that there is no "right" family structure, except one that nutures our children. Our children will hate less if diverse groups are more familiar.

Also, I read about this guy before and they were allowed to refuse to take the packet home (it rotates, I believe), but they didn't. I almost believe they intended to cause a ruckus when they saw it. You know, make sure nobody's kids see it.

[Realityhack]

43. I Totaly dissagree

Parents do not have the 'right' to dictate every last thing their child is exposed to in school. If I went to my school and said 'oh my child needs to be removed from class whenever you discuss math because we don't beleive in it' or even 'you need to take him out of class whenever you discuss girls being equal to boys because we beleive they are evil' you would be laughing at the rediculusness of my claim to that 'right'.

From what I could tell in the article (and taking into account the source) it sounds like this 'moral equivilency' was probobly strictly a factual account (ie some families have two mommies kind of thing). If the school is teaching about home life situations and they include single parent households and homosexual households I see no problem with that. Even in kindigarden.

I see no reason why a school should be required to remove a student durring that type of factual instruction, and I know of no law that requires it. If the father feels that stronly he can either move the child to a privit school or home school.

Its not like they were going over details of what daddy and other daddy do in private. This type of a family situation is a FACT of life reguardless of gay marriage. The group upset about this is perverting this into a 'they are teaching gayness' issue and that should be recognized in analizing wither this was really inappropriate.

As far as you saying the father 'probobly went over the line' he was arrested for beligerent tresspas AFTER a warning directly from the police. thats pritty clearly over the line.

RH

[NoPasaran]

5. Exactly what does the homosexual curriculum consist of in kindergarten?

:wtf:

[livinginphotographs]

7. Consider the source of this article.

It could be a lot smaller deal than what this article makes it out to be. I can't see a kindergarten class mentioning anything about sex, whether its homo- or hetero-.

I'm sure we'll find out when this loon ends up on Scarborough Country or something.

[Bluebear]

12. It wasn't a curriculum

Just a book showing different family situations.

[Divameow77]

18. That's what I want to know.

The other day my 7 year old son asked me what "gay" means (he heard kids calling each other that in our neighborhood, not school). He had never heard anything about it in school.
It was kind of funny trying to explain it to him. I just told him that sometimes boys like boys and girls like girls, his response "that's sick" but then I told him that while some people think it's wrong, we don't. That's just the way some people are born, just like people are born different colors and from different countries, some people just like others of the same sex, it's just as normal as boys liking girls, just not as common.
Oh I also told him that at the same time it's not nice to call people gay, because only the people that think it's wrong will call others that name in a bad way, because they think it's bad.
I hope someone will explain to that man's child how being gay is okay.

[proud2BlibKansan]

42. I was just going to ask the same thing

Sounds like Dad is more interested in getting attention than protesting the curriculum.

[NoPasaran]

46. Yeah, this is kindergarten after all

They don't even let these kids use real scissors.

[proud2BlibKansan]

50. I want more details

What is this guy so pissed off about?

[jmowreader]

47. Well, according to Jack Chick...

Miss Henn will bring two gay dentists into the class to stand in front of the room and suck each others' lips off.

No, we need to quit teaching this lib'rul faggit agenda and get down to Good Far Right Whacko Approved Teachings About Sex using such Winger Approved Sexual Instructional Texts as "How to Nail the Family Mule, An Illustrated Book" by Neal Horsley.

[NoPasaran]

49. Kinda makes me glad I was in kindergarten in 1961

Before sex was invented.

[Bluebear]

52. MISS HENN!!! LOL

[jmowreader]

53. Now, this is the thing about that particular tract...

Say Miss Henn was real.

Say she really did bring two DENTISTS to show and tell.

The next panel would show the Rush Limbaugh-shaped one with a dumbfounded expression on his face, and the other one asking "where did everyone go?"

I mean, this is ALMOST as realistic as Sister Mary Elephant bringing "Mr. Stedenko" to class. "And Mister Stedenko is a narcotics officer." <Dead silence.>

[ianrs]

8. these creeps are too much

here they are on a well known politico-sociological phenomenon: enforced homosexualisation. Reading and weeping springs to mind.
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/5/162005a.asp

[BamaLefty]

9. Funny How They PICKED Massachusetts

they are trying to paint that great state as extreme once again.

I love MA and would like to live there someday. Not because of the state's politics, I just generally like what MA has going for it... nice place.

[bicentennial_baby]

22. Here's an in-depth, non-Xtian account of the issue

from the local Lexington paper:

"There's no simple way to answer the question "What is a family?" - especially in Lexington.

However, the town has been forced to face this question directly after a parent was arrested at Estabrook Elementary School last Wednesday after a long meeting with school officials regarding materials sent home with his child.

David Parker, of Bedford Street, was arrested by Lexington police after he refused to leave the school building at the conclusion of his meeting with principal Joni Jay and Director of Curriculum and Instruction Andre Ravenelle.

Parker, who has a kindergartner at the school, objected to the content of a book inside the diversity book bag his son brought home. The book, "Who's In a Family," by Robert Skutch, depicts a variety of family situations including same-sex couples with children. Parker informed the school he wanted his child removed from any discussion regarding sexuality and homosexuality, including spontaneous discussions within the classroom.

-snip-

Parker informed the detectives he was not leaving the school until his demands were met. Jay and Ravenelle had already informed Parker it would be impossible to act on his request of removing his child whenever an objectionable topic spontaneously arose and his request did not fall under policy or statutory language, a fact the detectives again relayed to Parker.

much more: http://www2.townonline.com/lexington/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=238628

[dogday]

27. Thanks

[bleedingheart]

23. CrackPot Makes Up Crisis to Get on TV

Okay...I have a feeling that the school administrators didn't want to waste money on this non-issue and this pscycho just wouldn't stop.

What the hell kind of conspiracy is this man dreaming up...pro-homosexual issues being taught??? Oh yea...and I have swamp land for him to check out.

Personally I agree with the administrators in not drawing up any kind of contract for him. If they did it would be construed as some sort of acknowledgement that they had some "hidden agenda" so more CrackPots could come out of hiding.

[MsTryska]

28. he's gay.

they all are.


or he's wife-sodomizing, pedophiliac, mule-fucker.


one or the other.

[fob]

33. Best. Summary. Ever.

:toast:
:toast:
:toast:

[MsTryska]

34. *lol*

thanks!

:toast:

[ET Awful]

41. Has me wanting to re-write the Terrance and Phillips song from the

South Park movie :)

Shut your fucking face Mule Fucker!

Buahahaha

[MsTryska]

56. baha! we totally need

a mule-fucker song!

[Bandit]

32. What is that famous right wing saying.."Love it or Leave it"

Don't let the door hit you on the way out either....

[kwolf68]

36. News?

Maybe he'll show up on the next episode of COPS.

[NoPasaran]

39. I hope he remembers to put a shirt on

Wouldn't want any of them HOMOSEXUALS gettin' impure thoughts.

[jayctravis]

40. Take the kid out of school if you don't like it.

And as much as I hate to say it, find a school you can deal with, or homeschool. He's the parent, it's his right. If the school is doing something bad, other parents will follow suit.

[estaog]

44. .

What a moron....

[dddem]

51. People like this make me crazy

First of all, notice went home about this packet - I'm guessing it was ignored.
2. This was a "book bag", NOT curriculum - this was a take home reading book - not taught in the classroom
3. How can this good, caring, christian dad not realize that his behavior frightens and embarrasses his (and other people's) children.
This guy is not from Lexington, he's a transplant from New Jersey (or maybe I should just say "plant").
4. There are many good private schools in this state, plus I know a lot of people who home-school their kids - perhaps he should consider this.
Oh, and by the way - Happy Anniversary to legalized Gay Marriage, and to all the couples who enjoyed their new-found equal rights!

[Arkana]

54. This Masshole says if he doesn't like it he can get the fuck out of here.

[lukasahero]

57. Ditto that! nt

[annabanana]

55. Proud Lexingtonian here!

Grew up there.. plenty of good old-line Patriots up there..

(that guy is IN for it)