Interesting Items

Interesting Items

The article in Bay Windows took a soft tone on the lawsuit against Camenker and Whiteman. It made the following comment: “Scott Whiteman secretly – and possibly illegally – recorded the confidential workshop.” [emphasis added] This statement doesn’t indicate much confidence in the suit.

Abels says she was disappointed by lack of support from the homosexual community. The newspaper said, “Abels says there was no sustained support from the gay community on an issue which has broader political implications beyond her losing her job. Meanwhile, the Right has continually used the controversy as a rallying point – for instance, to jeopardize the state’s funding for the Safe Schools Program for Gay and Lesbian Youth and to attempt to derail Gov. Paul Cellucci’s nomination for ambassador to Canada earlier this year.”

She believes that Camenker has great political power. “I think what people haven’t really looked at in the press is the kind of control that the far Right has over the state agencies and how when Brian Camenker and his people came in and taped us and made this horribly distorted recording of us and got someone from [radio station] 96.9 to put it all over the airwaves and make a big deal out of it, there was nobody saying this is the act of a very hateful man who’s trying to dismantle programs that save the lives of kids.”

Fistgate gave “incredible power” to Camenker and MassNews, says Abels. “So on a personal level, it was heartbreaking but on a bigger, more political level, I don’t think people really looked at the implications of not challenging both the Parents Rights Coalition and the [Massachusetts News], which continues to print articles about us and tried to use this case to get Cellucci not to have his nomination. I think they’ve really effectively used this to leverage incredible power and control over the state agencies.”

Does Abels Feel Vindicated? “People ask me if I feel vindicated, but I don’t know that I was looking to feel vindicated. I’m more concerned about the work. And I’m more concerned about the political nature. Nobody’s fooling themselves to say that sexuality education isn’t politicized and limited by fear, but I think that’s a shame and I think that this was really an opportunity to be a rallying point and it wasn’t.”