News

By Gudrun Schultz

BOSTON, Massachusetts, October 6, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) -Â National pro-homosexual lobby groups and organizations have joined an ongoing legal battle over the right of Massachusetts parents to shield their children from exposure to homosexual material in the classroom, filing a court brief attacking the parents’ legal right to file suit.

David Parker filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in April 2006, together with other concerned parents, against school officials and the Town of Lexington for refusing to notify him about the introduction of classroom material promoting homosexuality in his son’s elementary school, despite parental notification laws in place in the state.

The lawsuit was the culmination of a lengthy battle between the parents and the school over the issue. At one point Mr. Parker was arrested and jailed over his request—and the school’s refusal—to notify him when homosexuality or transgender issues would be taught to his 6-year-old son.

Now, multiple homosexual activist organizations have joined the battle by filing an amicus brief attacking Parker’s right to file suit, the pro-family Massachusetts coalition MassResistance reported yesterday.

Among the groups behind the brief are the Human Rights Campaign—the world’s largest homosexual advocacy group—the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (Glad), and the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts.

“Why are all these groups—especially the national groups—so interested in a parent’s right to decide what moral issues are taught to his children by adults in elementary school, especially regarding homosexuality?” Brian Camenker, president of MassResistance, said in a press release yesterday.

“This is outrageous and very frightening. They must see David Parker’s case as quite a threat to their ability to push their message on children.”

The brief claims that the state has a legal obligation to teach homosexual issues to young children in the public schools, and said parents do not have the right to remove their children or even to be notified. “This really seems to expose their true agenda,” said Camenker.

MassResistence said they anticipate the groups will offer legal and financial support to stop the Parker lawsuit, given the level of interest shown toward the case at this point.

The brief was filed days after Parker’s lawyers, with the law firm Denner Pellegrino, LLP, filed a rebuttal to a motion to dismiss by the case, defending Parker’s right to file suit.

A full listing of the pro-homosexual groups follows:

Human Rights Campaign
  Human Rights Campaign Foundation
  American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts
  Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders
  Massachusetts Teachers Association
  Lexington Teachers Association
  Lexington C.A.R.E.S.
  Respecting Differences

Read the amicus brief here:
https://www.massresistance.org/docs/parker_lawsuit/aclu_brief.pdf

Read the MassResistence press release:
https://www.massresistance.org/docs/parker_lawsuit/press_release_100506.html

See previous LifeSiteNews coverage:

Father of 6-Year-Old Arrested Over Objection to Homosexual Curriculum in Kindergarten Class
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/apr/05042910.html

Massachusetts Superintendent Instructs Schools: Parents Do Not Have to be Informed About “Diversity” Classes
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/sep/05092602.html

Parents Sue Massachusetts School for Promoting Homosexuality to Young Children
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/apr/06042802.html

Charges Dropped Against Father Who Objected to Promotion of Homosexuality in School
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/oct/05102106.html