Page 1 of 16 12311 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 229
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    a place called, Liberty
    Posts
    9,922
    Thanks (Given)
    102
    Thanks (Received)
    314
    Likes (Given)
    0
    Likes (Received)
    2
    Piss Off (Given)
    0
    Piss Off (Received)
    0
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Rep Power
    441561

    Default 'State interest' argued in teaching homosexuality

    Posted: February 14, 2007
    1:00 a.m. Eastern
    Lawyer for parent says school's agenda amounts to 'indoctrination'

    © 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
    David Parker and his team of lawyers approach the reporters and TV cameras. Left to right: Robert Sinsheimer, Jeffrey Denner, David Parker, Neil Tassel

    Lawyers representing a Massachusetts school district named as a defendant in a parent's civil rights complaint have said teachers at Estabrook Elementary School have a "legitimate state interest" in teaching the homosexual lifestyle, and parents have no input into those decisions.

    The arguments came in a recent hearing on the district's motion to dismiss the complaint filed by David Parker, a parent whose concern over the school's promotion of the homosexual agenda to grade-schoolers prompted a meeting with school officials, for which they had him arrested for trespassing.

    According to a report from the activist group MassResistance.org, those arguments echoed the claims made earlier in the case when a brief in support of the school's position was filed by a collection of homosexual advocacy organizations.

    "The state must fight 'discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation' in ways that 'do not perpetuate stereotypes,'" the lawyers for the school district argued. They also explained to the judge that, in their opinion, parents have no right to control what ideas the school presents to elementary schoolchildren, and if parents disagree with that dictate, they can take their children elsewhere.

    "Once I have elected to send my child to public school, my fundamental right does not allow me to direct what my child is exposed to in the public school," said the school's lawyer.

    Dozens of parents' rights supporters of the Parker family braved freezing temperatures to offer moral support to David Parker in the hearing on his case against school officials in Lexington, Mass.

    Parker was represented by lawyers Jeffrey Denner, Robert Sinsheimer and Neil Tassel, who argued before Judge Mark Wolf that what the school calls "diversity training" more accurately would be called "indoctrination," since several viewpoints were absent from the school's presentations, and only the pro-homosexual position was present.

    And lawyers said the school "ultimatum" to "remove yourself and go somewhere else" was vulgar.

    "American values rely on religion. Religious rights trump the secular. Parents have the right to direct the moral upbringing of their children," said Sinsheimer. "It is the Constitution that protects the minority segment from the majority… The Parkers choose to send their children to the Lexington Public Schools to be part of the fabric of the community."

    The elementary curriculum promoting homosexuality, he said, was specifically intended to change a child's outlook of the world to something that his parents didn't teach him.

    An ACLU lawyer, however, told the judge that "it is a tremendous bonus" for children to be given information of which their parents wouldn't approve, and that teaching children homosexuality when their parents' Biblical beliefs do not support that has nothing to do with a violation of religious freedom, according to the MassResistance.org reports.

    "David Parker's dilemma … threatens the parental rights and religious freedom of every Massachusetts parent, and indirectly every parent in America," said John Haskins of the Parents' Rights Coalition.

    "As the Lexington schools themselves are arguing, the state's right to force pro-homosexuality indoctrination on other people's children arises directly from former Gov. Mitt Romney's nakedly false and unconstitutional declaration that homosexual marriage is now legal."


    Supporters march in front of the courthouse where arguments over parental rights were being held in David Parker's case

    Haskins said when the Massachusetts state Supreme Court demanded homosexual marriages in the state, it didn't have the constitutional or legal authority to order the governor to act or to order the Legislature to make any changes.

    Officials said Wolf usually announces a decision within several weeks of a hearing, and that's what is expected in this case. Parker's lawyers are scheduled to supplement their oral arguments with written briefs this week.

    The brief filed earlier by the Human Rights Campaign, the ACLU, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, and Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders in support of the school's homosexual promotions said parental rights "have never meant that a parent can demand prior notice and the right to opt a child out of mere exposure to ideas in the public schools that a parent disapproves of."

    Brian Camenker, a spokesman for MassResistance.org, said the high-profile groups must see Parker's claims "as quite a threat to their ability to push their message on children."

    He said his organization, a "pro-family action center for Massachusetts" which equips citizens to fight attacks on freedoms, constitutional government, children and parental rights, can see the "true agenda" of the homosexual organizations in their demands.

    Parker was arrested and jailed in Lexington in April 2005 over his request – and the school's refusal – to notify him when adults discuss homosexuality or transgenderism with his elementary-age son. The school took that position despite a state law requiring such notification.

    Then in April 2006 the same school chose to present the same single-perspective information, and again refused to notify Parker, who followed with the federal civil rights lawsuit.

    Just days later, David Parker's son, Jacob, was beaten up at the school, officials said. MassResistance said a group of 8-10 kids surrounded him and took him out of sight of "patrolling aides," then pummeled and beat him.

    Joining David and Tonia Parker in the lawsuit were Joseph and Robin Wirthlin. They allege district officials and staff at Estabrook violated state law and civil rights by indoctrinating their children about an immoral lifestyle, circumventing parental responsibilities.

    The school is claiming a state law permitting parents to pull their children applies only to classes in which such sensitive topics are the main focus, and the books promoting homosexuality were not the main focus.


    David Parker's son brought home the book 'Who's in a Family?' in school's 'Diversity Book Bag' (Image: Article 8 Alliance)

    The arguments on behalf of homosexuals were remarkably similar to a recent European court's conclusion.

    The European Human Rights Court several months ago concluded in a case involving similar objections that parents do not have an "exclusive" right to lead their children's education and any parental "wish" to have their children grow up without adverse influences "could not take priority over compulsory school attendance."

    That court said a German family had no right to provide homeschooling for their children. The family had argued the public school endangered their children's religion beliefs and violated the family's Christian faith.

    Irrelevant, said the court. "The parents' right to education did not go as far as to deprive their children of that experience," it said.

    "The (German) Federal Constitutional Court stressed the general interest of society to avoid the emergence of parallel societies based on separate philosophical convictions and the importance of integrating minorities into society," the European ruling said.

    In Germany, the situation has continued to deteriorate for homeschoolers, with one 15-year-old student recently being taken into custody by a SWAT team and ordered by a judge to a psychiatric ward of a hospital because she was being homeschooled. WND's latest update on that situation has confirmed authorities now have removed the teen from the psych ward, and she has been taken to a location that is being withheld from her parents and lawyer.
    http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/ar...TICLE_ID=54241
    "A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself."
    Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC)

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    a place called, Liberty
    Posts
    9,922
    Thanks (Given)
    102
    Thanks (Received)
    314
    Likes (Given)
    0
    Likes (Received)
    2
    Piss Off (Given)
    0
    Piss Off (Received)
    0
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Rep Power
    441561

    Default

    In the last half of the article I posted above..It talks about the European Court findings....And the German courts finding on a family who wanted to homeschool..They took the child away and put them in a psyc. ward...
    Well, this article caught my eye earlier today..I'll just say I'm glad my child only has five more yrs of school..


    Try Parenting Instead Of Mental Health Screening


    by Phyllis Schlafly February 7, 2007

    Mental health screening of all children is the goal of legislation introduced into many state legislatures this year. Typical of these highly controversial bills is the Missouri bill that would require every Missouri school district, in collaboration with "the office of comprehensive child mental health," to develop "a policy of incorporating social and emotional development into the district's educational program."


    The Missouri bill requires schools to "address teaching and assessing social and emotional skills and protocols for responding to children with social, emotional or mental health problems." The bill also requires the Missouri state board of education to set "social and emotional development standards."

    One marvels at the arrogance of government officials who think they can set children's social and emotional standards. Where on the chart would they place a child crying because he fell and skinned his knee?

    Cortland County, New York, has already announced a plan to annually screen every fifth-grader and ninth-grader for mental health problems. The purpose, according to the county director of youth services, is "to raise awareness that mental health issues are in essence no different than other physical issues, such as heart disease." Apparently, you are not "aware" if you think otherwise.

    The screening process, which takes 15 minutes, involves getting the kids to answer a series of yes-or-no questions, on either computer or paper. It is claimed that parental permission will be necessary, but all children of any age in foster care will automatically be screened.

    Mental health screening is based on the assumption that ten percent of children suffer from a mental disorder severe enough to cause impairment, and that five percent of children have emotional or behavior difficulties that interfere with learning, friendships and family life.

    Cortland County plans to refer the ten percent to the county mental health clinic or other providers for further evaluation, and it is well known that referrals often result in orders for drug therapy. The clinic will be rewarded with $50 of taxpayers' money for every child sent to the clinic.

    Parents are starting to wake up to this invasion of their authority over the care and upbringing of their own children. A bill that would prohibit school personnel from making mental health recommendations or requirements for children, including the use of psychotropic medications, just passed out of a committee of the Utah legislature.

    This bill would also prohibit schools from requiring a student to take psychiatric medication in order to attend school and prohibit the state from removing a child from parental custody based on a parent's refusal to consent to the administration of psychotropic medication.

    A bill introduced into the Connecticut legislature is more specific. It would require that all parents who are requested by the school to have their child evaluated be first provided with a statement that the government does not recommend any particular checklist, assessment or evaluation for psychiatric or psychological disorders, plus a copy of the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (the federal law that requires prior written parental consent before schools can require students to submit to psychological or psychiatric testing or treatment).

    Last year, Alaska enacted a law forbidding schools from conducting psychiatric or behavioral health evaluations and from requiring that a child take a psychotropic drug as a condition for attending a public school. Also last year, Arizona passed a law requiring that schools obtain written parental consent before conducting any mental health screening on any pupil and must make the actual survey questions available for inspection by parents.

    Someone should notify state legislators and school districts that are contemplating mental health screening requirements that the American Psychological Association recently urged that "in most cases" of childhood mental disorders, non-drug treatment should "be considered first." This should include techniques that focus on parenting skills as well as help from teachers.

    Even the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, an organization whose members strongly favor drug treatment, just completed new guidelines recommending that children receive talk therapy before being given drugs for the common complaint of moderate depression.

    Parents should take on the responsibility of being parents, and they should beware of the psychotropic drugs that have unfortunate or even tragic side effects. Parents should help to pass pro-parent legislation before those who think the "village" should raise all children use mental health screening to label their child as nuts.
    http://www.eagleforum.org/column/200.../07-02-07.html
    "A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself."
    Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC)

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    The Biggest Little City In The World
    Posts
    1,569
    Thanks (Given)
    0
    Thanks (Received)
    2
    Likes (Given)
    0
    Likes (Received)
    0
    Piss Off (Given)
    0
    Piss Off (Received)
    0
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Rep Power
    0

    Default

    When I read articles like this, my blood just boils. I just want to run outside and find the first liberal and beat the fucking dog piss out of them.

    "Once I have elected to send my child to public school, my fundamental right does not allow me to direct what my child is exposed to in the public school," said the school's lawyer.
    THEEEERRREE'S your LIBERAL doctrine RIGHT THERE. "YOU ARE TOO STUPID TO THINK FOR YOURSELF, YOU NEED US TO THINK FOR YOU". And that folks is hitlery's vision, "The Village", and the village is COMMUNISM.
    Last edited by Pale Rider; 02-15-2007 at 10:35 AM.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    18,758
    Piss Off (Given)
    0
    Piss Off (Received)
    0
    Mentioned
    139 Post(s)
    Rep Power
    21475233

    Default

    God...what are we coming to? Quickly God...C'mon...we're ready. Your creation has given up truth and made a mockery of reason and logic.
    “… the greatest detractor from high performance is fear: fear that you are not prepared, fear that you are in over your head, fear that you are not worthy, and ultimately, fear of failure. If you can eliminate that fear—not through arrogance or just wishing difficulties away, but through hard work and preparation—you will put yourself in an incredibly powerful position to take on the challenges you face" - Pete Carroll.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    The Biggest Little City In The World
    Posts
    1,569
    Thanks (Given)
    0
    Thanks (Received)
    2
    Likes (Given)
    0
    Likes (Received)
    0
    Piss Off (Given)
    0
    Piss Off (Received)
    0
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Rep Power
    0

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by dmp View Post
    God...what are we coming to? Quickly God...C'mon...we're ready. Your creation has given up truth and made a mockery of reason and logic.
    I'd love it. I'm ready. I just think I'd have mixed emotions as I ascended looking back at my home. I'd be happy I was ascending, but I'd be sad to know what the godless have done to my world, my home.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    18,758
    Piss Off (Given)
    0
    Piss Off (Received)
    0
    Mentioned
    139 Post(s)
    Rep Power
    21475233

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Pale Rider View Post
    I'd love it. I'm ready. I just think I'd have mixed emotions as I ascended looking back at my home. I'd be happy I was ascending, but I'd be sad to know what the godless have done to my world, my home.
    Eh? I couldn't give a rat's behind about this place. This place isn't my home. I'm a stranger here. An Alien.
    “… the greatest detractor from high performance is fear: fear that you are not prepared, fear that you are in over your head, fear that you are not worthy, and ultimately, fear of failure. If you can eliminate that fear—not through arrogance or just wishing difficulties away, but through hard work and preparation—you will put yourself in an incredibly powerful position to take on the challenges you face" - Pete Carroll.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    The Biggest Little City In The World
    Posts
    1,569
    Thanks (Given)
    0
    Thanks (Received)
    2
    Likes (Given)
    0
    Likes (Received)
    0
    Piss Off (Given)
    0
    Piss Off (Received)
    0
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Rep Power
    0

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by dmp View Post
    Eh? I couldn't give a rat's behind about this place. This place isn't my home. I'm a stranger here. An Alien.
    In a sense yeah, but we're also custodians of the earth. I hate to see it get so messed up.

    Heaven is our real home. With the Son and the Holy Ghost.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    18,758
    Piss Off (Given)
    0
    Piss Off (Received)
    0
    Mentioned
    139 Post(s)
    Rep Power
    21475233

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Pale Rider View Post
    In a sense yeah, but we're also custodians of the earth. I hate to see it get so messed up.

    Heaven is our real home. With the Son and the Holy Ghost.
    ..we're merely travelers. This earth will pass away, brother.
    “… the greatest detractor from high performance is fear: fear that you are not prepared, fear that you are in over your head, fear that you are not worthy, and ultimately, fear of failure. If you can eliminate that fear—not through arrogance or just wishing difficulties away, but through hard work and preparation—you will put yourself in an incredibly powerful position to take on the challenges you face" - Pete Carroll.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    12,504
    Thanks (Given)
    6
    Thanks (Received)
    210
    Likes (Given)
    0
    Likes (Received)
    2
    Piss Off (Given)
    0
    Piss Off (Received)
    0
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Rep Power
    565783

    Default

    Since when do lawyers rather than the people themselves determine what the states interest are? The state is the people.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Ohio
    Posts
    1,081
    Thanks (Given)
    0
    Thanks (Received)
    0
    Likes (Given)
    0
    Likes (Received)
    0
    Piss Off (Given)
    0
    Piss Off (Received)
    0
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Rep Power
    264

    Default

    ...the Human Rights Campaign, the ACLU, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, and Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders in support of the school's homosexual promotions said parental rights "have never meant that a parent can demand prior notice and the right to opt a child out of mere exposure to ideas in the public schools that a parent disapproves of."
    Since when do homosexual activists worry about the HISTORY of rights? Marriage in history HAS NEVER MEANT two people of the same gender getting married. If the meaning of marriage is "evolving," why aren't parental rights allowed to "evolve" also?
    Blessed be Your name, when the sun's shining down on me, when the world's "all as it should be," blessed be Your name!
    Blessed be Your name on the road marked with suffering, though there's pain in the offering, blessed be Your name!
    Every blessing You pour out I'll turn back to praise. When the darkness closes in, Lord, still I will say...
    Blessed be the name of the Lord!
    Blessed be Your name!

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    College Park, GA
    Posts
    4,749
    Thanks (Given)
    0
    Thanks (Received)
    0
    Likes (Given)
    0
    Likes (Received)
    0
    Piss Off (Given)
    0
    Piss Off (Received)
    0
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Rep Power
    1680

    Default

    Couldn't they have avoided all of this by just saying that they were going to teach tolerance in the schools?
    Quote Originally Posted by Gaffer
    Science wants to explain things and understand why they happen. Creationists want to use science to justify their own causes.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Thunder Road
    Posts
    1,104
    Thanks (Given)
    0
    Thanks (Received)
    0
    Likes (Given)
    0
    Likes (Received)
    0
    Piss Off (Given)
    0
    Piss Off (Received)
    0
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Rep Power
    0

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Nienna View Post
    Since when do homosexual activists worry about the HISTORY of rights? Marriage in history HAS NEVER MEANT two people of the same gender getting married. If the meaning of marriage is "evolving," why aren't parental rights allowed to "evolve" also?
    Marriage also, historically, never meant inter-racial marriage. Luckily, that went by the wayside when Virginia's law preventing it was struck down during the 70's.

    What parental rights concern you?

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    12,504
    Thanks (Given)
    6
    Thanks (Received)
    210
    Likes (Given)
    0
    Likes (Received)
    2
    Piss Off (Given)
    0
    Piss Off (Received)
    0
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Rep Power
    565783

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by jillian View Post
    Marriage also, historically, never meant inter-racial marriage. Luckily, that went by the wayside when Virginia's law preventing it was struck down during the 70's.

    What parental rights concern you?
    While there were laws against inter racial marriage in early decades. I find your argument difficult to sustain because inter-racial marriage has indeed happened throughout history.

    Gay marriage on the other hand has not. Indeed, allowing it creates something that is no longer marriage.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Thunder Road
    Posts
    1,104
    Thanks (Given)
    0
    Thanks (Received)
    0
    Likes (Given)
    0
    Likes (Received)
    0
    Piss Off (Given)
    0
    Piss Off (Received)
    0
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Rep Power
    0

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by avatar4321 View Post
    While there were laws against inter racial marriage in early decades. I find your argument difficult to sustain because inter-racial marriage has indeed happened throughout history.

    Gay marriage on the other hand has not. Indeed, allowing it creates something that is no longer marriage.
    The 70's are "early decades"??? Cause that's when the last of the laws were struck down by Loving v Virginia (you know, under that lovely right to privacy, that the right hates so much).

    Personally, I don't care what you call it. People shouldn't be prohibited from entering into a lawful relationship because you have a problem with gays and think it's ok to discriminate against them.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    18,758
    Piss Off (Given)
    0
    Piss Off (Received)
    0
    Mentioned
    139 Post(s)
    Rep Power
    21475233

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by jillian View Post
    People shouldn't be prohibited from entering into a lawful relationship because you have a problem with gays and think it's ok to discriminate against them.

    First explain how gays are discriminated against. How many times can rational people explain to irrational "Straights and Homos have the SAME regulations regarding marriage".

    wow. Thick.
    “… the greatest detractor from high performance is fear: fear that you are not prepared, fear that you are in over your head, fear that you are not worthy, and ultimately, fear of failure. If you can eliminate that fear—not through arrogance or just wishing difficulties away, but through hard work and preparation—you will put yourself in an incredibly powerful position to take on the challenges you face" - Pete Carroll.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Debate Policy - Political Forums