News :: GLBT
Homophobes have hard time finding sponsors for anti-gay bills by Ethan Jacobs
staff reporterThursday Feb 19, 2009 No legislative session would be complete without some virulently anti-LGBT legislation from MassResistance, anti-gay activist Brian Camenker’s Waltham-based group. But finding sponsors for their bills apparently was not an easy feat. According to a post on MassResistance’s website the group "spent days in the State House, going door to door trying to get sponsors for these bills and talking to as many people as we could. We finally got what we needed, but it wasn’t easy."
The first of the group’s anti-gay bills, "An Act Regarding Parental Notification and Consent," is similar to a bill filed by Rep. Bradley Jones (R-Reading) and the Massachusetts Family Institute (MFI) (see "Bill would require parental notification for school discussions of ’sexual orientation issues,’" Feb. 12). Jones’ bill would require written permission from parents for their children to take part in any class involving "human sexual education, human sexuality issues, or sexual orientation issues." Camenker’s bill, filed by Rep. William Greene (D-Billerica) goes even further, extending parental notification requirements to anything involving "alternative sexual behavior," defined as "homosexuality, bisexuality, lesbianism, transsexuality, transgenderism, cross-dressing, pansexuality, promiscuity, sodomy, pederasty, prostitution, oral sex, anal sex, masturbation, polygamy, polyandry, sex re-assignment treatments, ’bondage and discipline,’ sado-masochism, bestiality, and similar behaviors. It also includes issues and relationships deriving from those behaviors, including but not limited to ’sexual orientation,’ and alternative family, parenting, and marriage constructs."
The second of MassResistance’s bills, filed by state Rep. Robert Hargraves (R-Groton), would abolish the Massachusetts Commission on GLBT Youth, which provides recommendations to the state on LGBT youth-related policy and programs. The commission has been a frequent target of MassResistance.
None of the group’s past anti-gay bills have gained traction in recent sessions, and with the appointment of two LGBT rights supporters, state Rep. Marty Walz (D-Boston) and state Sen. Robert O’Leary (D-Barnstable), as co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Education, there is little indication they will meet with greater success this year.
Ethan Jacobs can be reached at ejacobs@baywindows.com
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