Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Massachusetts Family Institute Admits It's Fighting The Tide

Massachusetts Family Institute is the anti-GLBT rights group backed by Focus on Family doing their bidding in our state. Both groups have been sharply criticised by other groups as well as esteemed individuals such as Professor Emeritus Carol Gilligan of New York University's School of Law, about dishonest practices. During the failed attempt to write discrimination into the Constitution, the petition came under fire for signature fraud. Although the firm that handled the paid per signature gathering efforts had previously been cited for instances of signature fraud in other states, Kris Mineau (spokesman for MFI) dared act surprised.



The fraud in question caused a special hearing of the Judiciary Committee in October 2005 in which one of MFI's spokesman (Chip Faulkner) said citizens who where duped must be as "dumb as eggplants". As a result of the legitimacy of the fraud complaints legislation was proposed by Senator Edward Augustus that would prevent future public harm of similar nature.

Now MFI wants to further insult the public intelligence. They tell us that we should not support transgender rights bill H1722. The reason they give, get this, is on the off chance a sexual offender would use this law to gain access to the women's bathrooms around the state. The insult here is two fold; on one part they want us to see this cockamamie reason as meritorious enough to deny others needed protection and equality. The other insult is that we would not see through the more obvious reason for their interest; simple bigotry. We do not live in a magical world that prevents sexual predators from entering a women's bathroom simply because a transsexual's rights have been denied. To defend such a position is insanity.

MFI is the same group that found themselves at the losing end of a vote on their failed petition last June 16, then without proof had accused those legislators who changed their votes as having been bribed to change them. The number of the vote alone can tell the story; 151-45. Here is an email from MFI that someone received by them and forwarded to Live, Love, and Learn:

Further Action Needed on H1722
Email the Judiciary Committee on the Transgender Bill ASAP

Last week the Judiciary Committee held a hearing on H1722, the so-called "Transgender Rights Bill." Many more supporters of alternative sexualities than supporters of traditional values came to testify, numbering in the hundreds. In a scene that would be disturbing to most Americans, men and women dressed as the other sex paraded in and out of the Statehouse bathrooms designated for the sex opposite of their biological make-up.

From what we have heard, emails to the committee in support of H1722 far outnumber emails against it. WE MUST NOT LET THIS STAND!

We need to turn up the heat in opposition to this bill. Rumors abound that after the intense hearing last week that the bill will emerge from the committee and be taken up by the full House very soon! We need to prevent that from happening.

H1722 would add the vague category of "gender identity or expression" to the state ban on discrimination. Among the negative consequences of this law are: a) school children would be taught that they can change their gender if they want and b) women and children would be put at risk since access to sensitive areas such as single-sex bathrooms, locker rooms and women-only fitness facilities would be open to anyone, regardless of biological sex.

Please take 30 seconds to click on the link below to email the Judiciary committee:


Click the link below to log in and send your message:
http://votervoice.net/target.aspx?id=mafi:21707572


Indeed, please take a moment to add your voice to those of your courageous neighbors before you. Help end discrimination once and for all by standing up for your neighbors in their time of need. Let us all pray to see the day our children can grow up proud of who they are inherently, and as a friend of mine said, when groups like Massachusetts Family Institute "can't fool enough people to stay in business".

When equality happens, and it will, there will come a day your children's children will ask what it was like before we all had equality. Will you be able to tell them you did your part when it mattered most? I hope so. Until this day comes it is comforting to know that even MFI now finally recognizes themselves as fighting the tide.

For more in depth reading about Massachusetts Family Institute CLICK HERE.

20 comments:

Paul Jamieson said...

"your children's children will ask what it was like before we all had equality?

Yes - there will come a day when your child is subjected to a man in woman's clothing peeing next to him in a public restroom

What a wonderful world this will be

John said...

This is good news, indeed. I notice that the opposition to equality seems to be getting weaker every day.

ryan charisma said...

"Yes - there will come a day when your child is subjected to a man in woman's clothing peeing next to him in a public restroom"

so a man in a dress in a men's bathroom bothers you too? you did write "him" in your comment.

So HIM - irrelevant as a transgendered person would use a bathroom stall toilette as any woman would.

So HER - irrelevant as a transgendered person would use a bathroom stall toilette as any woman would.

Either way there's no man standing at a urinal in a dress.

Paul Jamieson said...

You people need professional pyschological help

Trans is a mental problem - deal with it

John said...

"Trans is a mental problem - deal with it "

And YOU know this? How?

Paul Jamieson said...

Top psychiatrist concludes liberals clinically nuts

Eminent psychiatrist makes case ideology is mental disorder

WASHINGTON – Just when liberals thought it was safe to start identifying themselves as such, an acclaimed, veteran psychiatrist is making the case that the ideology motivating them is actually a mental disorder.

"Based on strikingly irrational beliefs and emotions, modern liberals relentlessly undermine the most important principles on which our freedoms were founded," says

Dr. Lyle Rossiter, author of the new book, "The Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness." "Like spoiled, angry children, they rebel against the normal responsibilities of adulthood and demand that a parental government meet their needs from cradle to grave."

While political activists on the other side of the spectrum have made similar observations, Rossiter boasts professional credentials and a life virtually free of activism and links to "the vast right-wing conspiracy."

For more than 35 years he has diagnosed and treated more than 1,500 patients as a board-certified clinical psychiatrist and examined more than 2,700 civil and criminal cases as a board-certified forensic psychiatrist. He received his medical and psychiatric training at the University of Chicago.

Rossiter says the kind of liberalism being displayed by the two major candidates for the Democratic Party presidential nomination can only be understood as a psychological disorder.

A social scientist who understands human nature will not dismiss the vital roles of free choice, voluntary cooperation and moral integrity – as liberals do," he says. "A political leader who understands human nature will not ignore individual differences in talent, drive, personal appeal and work ethic, and then try to impose economic and social equality on the population – as liberals do. And a legislator who understands human nature will not create an environment of rules which over-regulates and over-taxes the nation's citizens, corrupts their character and reduces them to wards of the state – as liberals do."

Dr. Rossiter says the liberal agenda preys on weakness and feelings of inferiority in the population by:

• creating and reinforcing perceptions of victimization;

• satisfying infantile claims to entitlement, indulgence and compensation;

• augmenting primitive feelings of envy;

• rejecting the sovereignty of the individual, subordinating him to the will of the government.

"The roots of liberalism – and its associated madness – can be clearly identified by understanding how children develop from infancy to adulthood and how distorted development produces the irrational beliefs of the liberal mind," he says. "When the modern liberal mind whines about imaginary victims, rages against imaginary villains and seeks above all else to run the lives of persons competent to run their own lives, the neurosis of the liberal mind becomes painfully obvious."

ryan charisma said...

blah blah blah

John Hosty said...

I'm going to enjoy reading the peer review of that book. He doesn't sound very scientific so I am not sure if they will even bother with it.

Paul, at every instance you claim we need to drop the "Us/Them" mentality, yet you continue to support that same mentality from your point of view. Very interesting...

Paul Jamieson said...

no I just think you are all a bit wacko

with your posturing and diatribes

I am just responding to the lunacy

Tranwhatever is a mental problem in my book.

But you are effective - a good offense beats defense in my opinion

Its just the old cliche of you having more time on your hands and being more activist, whilst us conservatives are raising families, working and doing our civic duties

We need to get back on offense

ryan charisma said...

OR, you stupid shit, you could live and let live.


?

John Hosty said...

I would ask that everyone refrain from using insults to communicate yourselves. Yes, we are all frustrated at our opposition's (both sides) inability to see things our way, but we need to be more articulate with that frustration if anything productive is to come of it.

Paul, you think transgender is a mental problem because you are not well educated in this matter. The peers you look to for guidance from are no more informed than you, that is why they concur with your opinions. Fear and the hatred fear brings are not family values, and they do not promote the motto, "United We Stand". We are in the end all citizens of the same great nation, the same great state, rich in the heritage of fighting for equality and justice for all.

Like it or not we are neighbors. Like it or not the reality is that more and more each day people are seeing true equality as something they want in their government.

The mistruths of the past have come into the view of public awareness, now these groups have the loss of credibility that dishonesty bestows. Yes, MFI is fighting the tide, and that tide is eroding their base more each day. So long as they continue to use such tactics that dishonesty can and will be used against them.

I bumped into Kris Mineau at the State House today. He was all alone. There was a day when he was unapproachable, but it seems his following is gone. I walked up to him and we had a quick conversation as we walked down the stairs together. As we parted ways I said to him that it was my hope we could all live in peace. He said, "That would be nice." I replied, "It all comes down to how much effort each of us puts into that mutual goal." He smiled and walked away.

I always find it ironic how kind he can be in person, then how uncompassionate he can be while looking at us as a group. I guess that is the root of the trouble, isn't it? If we could get all people to just see us as the indiviuals we are purhaps we could end this nonsense and move on to more important matters.

John said...

That was a nice sermon, Reverend, and spot on.

The battle in Massachusetts is all but won. It will take a while for the vanquished to think through the damage they've done and eventually to heal themselves.

But most will; most do.

Paul Jamieson said...

"Paul, you think transgender is a mental problem because you are not well educated in this matter"

You mean I haven't been subjected to the relentless psychobabble and compassion arguments from liberal and homosexual activists.

Its simple Hosty

A man in drag using a ladies room is a sign of an unstable person

I believe that person needs help and I have compassion for him.

I pray for you and others to see the errors in your judgement and hope you will come around to see the light.

John Hosty said...

Paul, I do appreciate how you word yourself here, thanks for your prayers.

Science supports the idea that people's sexuality in part could come down to hormone levels in the mother's womb before a person is even born. Check out borndifferent.org, there is a link on the right of this screen. The great thing about science is that it is based on fact, not opinion. The findings are measurable and able to be reproduced in rats.

I can easily make the leap in my mind that if my sexuality can be altered, why not someone's sexual identity? I have no reason to doubt them when they claim severe emotional suffering for having to live against the nature they feel. Their liberty in this matter "neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg." I do not see a need to control people in the manner people would use as remedy here.

Paul Jamieson said...

Its easy John

If you have a penis - you are a man

If you have a vagina - you are a woman

Get over it and get on with your life, or go get help, but for God's sake, don't torture the rest of us.

John Hosty said...

"don't torture the rest of us."

This is the part you need to explain. How does someone else wanting to be known as the other sex "torture" you?

Just to remind you, I'm gay, not transexual. I have no better perspective in understanding their needs than you do. Being gay gives me no advantage here. The difference between us seems that I can see that their actions need not concern me, but you are very concerned. Why?

Paul Jamieson said...

'How does someone else wanting to be known as the other sex "torture" you?"

By putting children in danger in a public restroom

I won't allow them to go alone today anyway because of homosexuals having public sex.

John Hosty said...

OK, so the torture is only a feeling you have when you think about your children being in danger. That would be a logical feeling.

What is the danger here that you fear? On one hand you are saying that you don't want children exposed to danger by allowing transgender people to use the facility of their choice, then on the other hand you say that your children are already unsafe because of homosexuals having sex in the bathrooms.

Do you see the conflict here? You can't say that public bathrooms are already unsafe, then say that we need to deny transgender people their rights because it makes the bathrooms unsafe.

Why, that would be as ridiculous as watching the sanctity of marriage fall apart at the hands of heterosexuals, then trying to say that gays would ruin the sanctity of marriage... ;)

You're on the right path here Paul, just try a little harder to communicate what you're thinking so there is less guessing on our part.

Paul Jamieson said...

"Do you see the conflict here? You can't say that public bathrooms are already unsafe, then say that we need to deny transgender people their rights because it makes the bathrooms unsafe."

No Conflict John - things CAN get worse you know

It makes an unsafe situation even more unsafe. Now we are talking about men in women's restrooms.

Please take a deep breath and try to remember what planet you live on

I can't believe I am even having this conversation.

John Hosty said...

Paul, I can clearly see the frustration you're having in communicating what it is you want to say. Just relax and have a conversation for a change instead of letting loose with the sharp comments. If things can be worse try explaining how. I don't see a man (what you would call a trans female) in a restroom a threat. He/she would actually have to do something wrong in order for me to call them dangerous.

Bathroom concerns are a poor excuse to deny people civil rights.