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  <title>Right Wing Watch</title>
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  <updated>2008-08-07T15:56:43-05:00</updated>
  <entry>
    <title>FRC Previews &#039;Liberty Sunday&#039;: Parents&#039; Religious Expression Is for Public Schools to Enforce Their Anti-Gay Regimen</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/frc-previews-liberty-sunday-parents-religious-expression-public-schools-enforce-their-anti-g" />
    <id>http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/frc-previews-liberty-sunday-parents-religious-expression-public-schools-enforce-their-anti-g</id>
    <published>2006-10-12T16:17:17-05:00</published>
    <updated>2008-08-07T15:56:43-05:00</updated>
    <author>
      <name>Ezra</name>
    </author>
    <category term="Anti-Gay" />
    <category term="Family Research Council" />
    <category term="Massachusetts" />
    <category term="Tony Perkins" />
    <summary type="html"><![CDATA[<p>In gearing up for its &ldquo;Liberty Sunday&rdquo; telecast   this weekend, the Family Research Council suggested that the real-life examples   of how the &ldquo;homosexual agenda&rdquo; is supposedly infringing on religious liberty   would be &ldquo;pro-homosexual &lsquo;diversity&rsquo; training at work&rdquo; and students being &ldquo;<a title="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/2006/10/frc_office_work.html" href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/2006/10/frc_office_work.html">subjected</a>&rdquo;   to &ldquo;pro-homosexual books or rhetoric in school.&rdquo; In yesterday&rsquo;s &ldquo;Washington   Update,&rdquo; FRC President Tony Perkins named some of his <a title="http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WA06J26#WA06J26" href="http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WA06J26#WA06J26">guests</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You may remember us reporting last   year on David Parker, the Lexington, Massachusetts father who was arrested because   of insistence on being notified by school officials anytime homosexual topics   were discussed in his son's classroom. He made this reasonable request after his   six-year-old kindergartner came home from school with a &quot;diversity&quot; book bag and   a book discussing homosexual relationships. A year later, the Worthlin family   experienced a similar attack on their parental rights after their seven year old   read &quot;King and King&quot; in his second grade classroom - a book promoting homosexual   romance and same-sex &quot;marriage.&quot; The Parkers and the Worthlins will be my guests   at Liberty Sunday which will be held this weekend   in Boston. You   will hear from them and others on how the homosexual agenda is impacting   religious liberties in Massachusetts and around the   country.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As was widely reported, Parker was   arrested for trespassing after <a title="http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/04/29/arrested_father_had_point_to_make/" href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/04/29/arrested_father_had_point_to_make/">refusing   to leave</a> the school without a signed agreement from the   superintendent about gays being mentioned: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Parker said he met with school   officials to gain those assurances and then refused to leave until he got them.   Parker stayed at Estabrook   School for more than two hours,   according to Superintendent William J. Hurley, as officials and Lexington police urged him   to leave. Finally, they arrested him for   trespassing.</p>
<p>Parker, who refused to bail himself   out of jail Wednesday night, said he spent the night in custody to prove a   point.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Specifically, Parker&rsquo;s <a title="http://www.article8.org/docs/news_events/parker/timeline_events.htm" href="http://www.article8.org/docs/news_events/parker/timeline_events.htm">demand</a> was that the school guarantee that &ldquo;Discussions concerning homosexuality issues   will not take place in front of our son.&rdquo; Apparently, notifying parents ahead of   time that a book describing various family structures, including same-sex   parents, would be voluntarily distributed was <a title="http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/04/29/arrested_father_had_point_to_make?pg=2" href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/04/29/arrested_father_had_point_to_make?pg=2">not   enough</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Parents received notice about the   book bag at the beginning of the year and the date that it was scheduled to be   sent home with their child. The bag's contents also were put on display at a   back-to-school night earlier in the school year, [PTA copresident Rachel F.   Cortez] said, and parents are not required to have their child bring it   home.</p>
<p>''The kids don't have to take them   [the materials] home,&quot; she said. ''Parents can either opt out entirely or use   whatever materials they want.&quot;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Parker&rsquo;s apparently unilateral   demand that the public school ensure his child was not exposed to any mention of   same-sex families &ndash; in a state where same-sex marriage is legal &ndash; is exhibit #1   in FRC&rsquo;s attempt to prove that what it calls the &ldquo;homosexual agenda&rdquo; &ldquo;puts   religious freedom on a <a title="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/2006/10/frc_office_work.html" href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/2006/10/frc_office_work.html">course of   extinction</a>.&rdquo;</p>
    ]]></summary>
    <content type="html"><![CDATA[<p>In gearing up for its &ldquo;Liberty Sunday&rdquo; telecast   this weekend, the Family Research Council suggested that the real-life examples   of how the &ldquo;homosexual agenda&rdquo; is supposedly infringing on religious liberty   would be &ldquo;pro-homosexual &lsquo;diversity&rsquo; training at work&rdquo; and students being &ldquo;<a title="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/2006/10/frc_office_work.html" href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/2006/10/frc_office_work.html">subjected</a>&rdquo;   to &ldquo;pro-homosexual books or rhetoric in school.&rdquo; In yesterday&rsquo;s &ldquo;Washington   Update,&rdquo; FRC President Tony Perkins named some of his <a title="http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WA06J26#WA06J26" href="http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WA06J26#WA06J26">guests</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You may remember us reporting last   year on David Parker, the Lexington, Massachusetts father who was arrested because   of insistence on being notified by school officials anytime homosexual topics   were discussed in his son's classroom. He made this reasonable request after his   six-year-old kindergartner came home from school with a &quot;diversity&quot; book bag and   a book discussing homosexual relationships. A year later, the Worthlin family   experienced a similar attack on their parental rights after their seven year old   read &quot;King and King&quot; in his second grade classroom - a book promoting homosexual   romance and same-sex &quot;marriage.&quot; The Parkers and the Worthlins will be my guests   at Liberty Sunday which will be held this weekend   in Boston. You   will hear from them and others on how the homosexual agenda is impacting   religious liberties in Massachusetts and around the   country.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As was widely reported, Parker was   arrested for trespassing after <a title="http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/04/29/arrested_father_had_point_to_make/" href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/04/29/arrested_father_had_point_to_make/">refusing   to leave</a> the school without a signed agreement from the   superintendent about gays being mentioned: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Parker said he met with school   officials to gain those assurances and then refused to leave until he got them.   Parker stayed at Estabrook   School for more than two hours,   according to Superintendent William J. Hurley, as officials and Lexington police urged him   to leave. Finally, they arrested him for   trespassing.</p>
<p>Parker, who refused to bail himself   out of jail Wednesday night, said he spent the night in custody to prove a   point.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Specifically, Parker&rsquo;s <a title="http://www.article8.org/docs/news_events/parker/timeline_events.htm" href="http://www.article8.org/docs/news_events/parker/timeline_events.htm">demand</a> was that the school guarantee that &ldquo;Discussions concerning homosexuality issues   will not take place in front of our son.&rdquo; Apparently, notifying parents ahead of   time that a book describing various family structures, including same-sex   parents, would be voluntarily distributed was <a title="http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/04/29/arrested_father_had_point_to_make?pg=2" href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/04/29/arrested_father_had_point_to_make?pg=2">not   enough</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Parents received notice about the   book bag at the beginning of the year and the date that it was scheduled to be   sent home with their child. The bag's contents also were put on display at a   back-to-school night earlier in the school year, [PTA copresident Rachel F.   Cortez] said, and parents are not required to have their child bring it   home.</p>
<p>''The kids don't have to take them   [the materials] home,&quot; she said. ''Parents can either opt out entirely or use   whatever materials they want.&quot;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Parker&rsquo;s apparently unilateral   demand that the public school ensure his child was not exposed to any mention of   same-sex families &ndash; in a state where same-sex marriage is legal &ndash; is exhibit #1   in FRC&rsquo;s attempt to prove that what it calls the &ldquo;homosexual agenda&rdquo; &ldquo;puts   religious freedom on a <a title="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/2006/10/frc_office_work.html" href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/2006/10/frc_office_work.html">course of   extinction</a>.&rdquo;</p>
    ]]></content>
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