Homosexual Activists Don’t Want Voters to Decide

December 2001

Three homosexuals stand right beside a man as he tries to sign the Protection of Marriage petition outside the K-Mart at Holyoke.

As he begins to sign, they close in and the blocker on the right appears to be attempting to bump the clipboard. If successful, this could invalidate the entirepetition, which could have up to 39 signatures.

The black blocker and a blonde blocker attempt to bump the clipboard of another man who is trying to sign the petition.

The blonde woman blocker attempts to intimidate a petition gatherer by writing down his license plate. Because cars of petition gatherers have been vandalized, it was necessary for the gatherer to spend time following this woman.

Signature-gatherers for the Marriage Amendment were continuously harassed by “blockers” at shopping centers and malls last month.

“It was a blatant attempt to subvert the political process. The opponents know they will lose dramatically if the issue is decided by the people,” says Bryan Rudnick, Chairman of Mass. Citizens for Marriage.

The blockers were radical activists who were trained by MassEquality, an organization which uses the euphemism, “truth squads,” to describe their illegal activities. Their purpose, they say, is to “convince” voters not to sign the petition.

One of their tactics was to encourage persons to telephone a report about any location where signatures were being gathered.

“We need to know where the signature gatherers are in order to dispatch volunteers to those locations,” the group said on its website. “This is the most important job that we have. If we can’t find them, we can’t block them.”

The homosexuals claim they are lowering the number of signers by 80%. “This obviously had some effect upon our efforts to get signers, because most people try to avoid any confrontation,” Rudnick tells MassNews. However, these nasty attacks actually caused our people to become more active and passionate. It is sad to see a handful of malcontents trying to block the democratic process.”

Aggressive, Obnoxious and Dangerous

Reports from petitioners in the field, say that the “truth squads” can be quite aggressive, obnoxious and dangerous.

A petitioner who asked that his name be withheld, who has been coordinating signature-gathering efforts for the last three weeks, reports that gay and lesbian “truth squads” that have descended on signing tables at various malls and stores are harassing the petitioners and blocking the public as they approach the tables.

“They try to head the public off at the pass. They will get between the public and us before we can talk to them. They are not only intimidating the public, but now we are being intimidated. Any time people enter your personal space, put their face close to your face, or spit at you or try to hit you with a petition board, we feel a certain amount of concern for the safety of those out there gathering signatures.

“Generally there are three to seven people in a ‘truth squad,’ male and female. They come in shifts. They never identify themselves and always work in teams. If we are there eight hours, they are there with us the whole eight hours.

“One of my friends two days ago was in Greenfield gathering signatures. A member of a ‘truth squad’ went up to him and spit in his face and screamed so loud that the manager came out to see what was happening.

“I personally have been grabbed by one of the blockers and moved out of the way so that they could talk to someone. I had to tell the guy, ‘Look, that’s assault and battery. I realize this is a heated debate, but let’s not physically touch each other.’ I told him I would have to call the authorities and he left immediately.

“When using a quiet voice doesn’t work, they just start to scream and yell that we are the ‘religious right’ and that we have targeted the gay community, that we don’t care about people, that we are lying about the petition so people will vote for it. One of their main arguments is that single women and children will lose their health care benefits.

“Three of them went up to me and a friend when we were gathering signatures in Springfield. They were handing out flyers. They were crowding us. They would surround us and tell people not to sign the petition, that it was going to take health care benefits from their children, things like that. It’s made it extremely difficult to gather signatures because when you bring up children, people become confused.

“If you have a camera, they will stay a foot or two away, but if you don’t, they will surround you on three sides and block you from talking to people. People coming out of the store don’t know what we are doing, so it just creates a massive amount of confusion.”

‘Phenomenally Successful’

A fund-raising email from the Campaign for Equality, that is being circulated by homosexual groups says, “If we can ramp this effort up statewide, we have an excellent chance at slowing down the signature drive enough to stop the ballot campaign before it starts.”

The e-mail boasts that efforts to block signatures have been “phenomenally successful,” so far. It says that whenever a “truth squad” is near a petitioner, signature totals drop by as much as 80%.

The e-mail mentions that “truth squads” are organized to work four-hour shifts. “All you need to do is hand out leaflets and talk to passers-by. Everyone who has worked in a Truth Squad says it’s an empowering and ‘downright fun’ experience.”

One carload of petition gatherers was driving from the North Shore to Worcester when they noticed that two cars were following them. They stopped and the other two cars also stopped. They were told that the people in the following cars were private investigators who had been hired by the opposition. But they were not given any evidence of that. They were followed into Worcester where some passengers were dropped off and they continued to be followed all the way into Holyoke.

Blockers were at Holyoke and Shrewsbury supermarkets that day, as well as the Square One Mall in Peabody. In the Natick Mall, the blockers harassed from noon until 2 p.m. when they were asked by Mall executives and security to leave for disorderly conduct. At Square One, the mall security told them to stay 10 feet from the table. So they left.

Large Sums of Out-of-State Money Flow In

The original training was done last June by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force from Washington, D.C. This and other national homosexual groups have received millions of dollars from people like Tim Gill, founder of the software giant, Quark. Just that one man has given $10 million to homosexual organizations. (He gave $225,000 to GLSEN which conducted the Fistgate scandal at Tufts University in 2000.)

Millions of dollars are pouring into the coffers of the homosexual activists, which explains their appeal to many politicians. The person who inherited the millions of the Hormel meat company, James Hormell, the homosexual appointed by President Clinton as Ambassador to Luxembourg, is the founder and benefactor of the largest homosexual organization in the country, the Human Rights Campaign.

“This is the reason that we need the help and support of everyone in the state who still believes that the family should remain as we have always known it in Massachusetts, with a mother and a father,” commented Rudnick.

Unions Are Also Involved

Rudnick asked the United States Attorney in Boston to investigate a move by the AFL-CIO of Massachusetts and the Campaign for Equality to distribute the home addresses of pro-marriage leaders.

“This is designed to give pro-homosexual union members and homosexual extremists this information to harass us and our families,” he said.

Rudnick said his group hears from union members daily who object to the AFL-CIO’s pro-homosexual stance. But the members had no voice in taking that position and no recourse to stop it.

“I don’t understand why the AFL-CIO is in this to begin with, but I do understand that passing around our home addresses is part of an effort to threaten and intimidate us,” Rudnick concluded.

Training sessions of the Campaign for Equality where the harassers were taught, were held at the Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union Hall, 58 Berkley St. in the South End of Boston.