Massachusetts News Staff

The Commissioner of Education, David Driscoll, has apologized for the explicit teaching of homosexual sex to teenagers at a conference which was sponsored by a homosexual organization, GLSEN, at Tufts University on March 25.

He said, "There is no question that the comments of the Department of Education staff and the other consultant in those workshops go beyond the boundaries of what our staff should have done."

Earlier, the Deputy Commissioner, Alan Safran, had apologized on the Jeanine Graf talk show. He said that if the reports were true, it should not have happened. But there is no question that the reports are true because there are tape recordings of the conference.

The Deputy Commissioner said, "This piece of graphic discussion is beyond the scope of what we’re about….That won’t happen again."

"This is a very important event," said J. Edward Pawlick, Publisher of Massachusetts News, "because it has taken us over a year to explain to the people of the state exactly what is being taught in the schools, both to homosexual and heterosexual students. When we first started writing about this, the establishment tried to brand us as ‘right-wing, homophobic kooks.’  But if that’s true, then 90% of the citizens are also of that persuasion."

He continued, "Now it is clear to everyone that we have a serious problem in the state." 

Nobody Would Listen
Although the tapes were made at the conference on March 25 by Scott Whiteman of the Parents Rights Coalition, he could not get any interest from anyone in the establishment. On April 25, he traveled to Pittsfield with a group of citizens to attend the meeting of the State Board of Education. But the Board wasn’t interested in learning about the event even though he described it in detail to them. Instead, it passed a law forcing schools to accept a Gay/Straight Alliance if the state wants a school to have one.

Commissioner Driscoll, who is Safran’s boss, told Whiteman at that meeting that this type of conduct by the state is not a "parents’ rights" issue. It was not until Massachusetts News published a story in its May issue and included some of what was said at the event that the story began to get attention. The May issue appeared on the paper’s Internet site and was mailed to 225,000 people.

Even the Boston Globe was forced to recognize the story on May 2 although it could not bring itself to recognize Massachusetts News. It merely said in a very small story that Whiteman "taped the seminar and put some of the frank exchanges on the Internet." (The only Internet site with the material was Massachusetts News.)

Safran was quoted by the Globe in the May 2 story to the effect that Commissioner Driscoll would talk to participants that week to discover whether anything inappropriate had happened. Two weeks later, Safran said on Graf’s show that they still hadn’t listened to a tape. None of the other media in Massachusetts had apparently even mentioned the story.

The news was subsequently picked up across the country because of the story in Massachusetts News. The largest Internet site in the country, WorldNetDaily, wrote a large article.

Talk show host Graf was given a copy of the tape recording by a mother. Graf was so incensed that she spent an entire week reporting the story on her 7 p.m. show at 96.9FM, calling state officials and interviewing many people.

She says she was encouraged to note that many of the callers were homosexuals who were also outraged that this was being done to children. A physician from South Hadly, John R. Diggs, told her listeners that the sexual practices that were urged on these teenagers, some as young as 12-years, cause irreparable damage to the internal organs of the body.

Forced to Use Spin
When he was on the air, Safran apparently felt he was forced to say many things which were not true, according to Brian Camenker, President of the Parents Rights Coalition. Safran said many times while on the radio that this was a federal program and the state was not involved.

"This is bogus," said Camenker, "because state and federal monies are so blended together that no one knows where the money is coming from. The homosexual group which sponsored it receives money from both the federal and state government. You’d have to be a CPA to know where the money for this conference ‘came from.’

"Safran also said that because this was on a Saturday, the  schools were not involved. But children were bussed to this event from Gay/Straight Alliances all over the state. In addition, are we to believe that these adults spoke this way to these children on Saturday and then went out on Monday to schools across the state and totally changed their views? Also, the teachers who attended this event received credit for it from the state. The state clearly had a part in sponsoring and supporting this conference."

Homosexual Activists Threaten
The reaction from the homosexual group which sponsored the event, GLSEN, was to try and stop the news from getting out. It sent a letter to Whiteman on April 26 threatening him with criminal action if he released the tapes. It didn’t dispute that the event took place.

It said, "This is to inform you that Massachusetts law prohibits the interception, through unlawful taping, of oral communications which includes any and all statements made during the course of the workshop. G.L. c.272 para99(C)(1). The law also provides that anyone who willfully commits an unlawful interception shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned for up to 5 years."  The letter mentioned many other possible consequences and ended, "This letter is to apprise you of the fact that GLSEN intends to ensure full enforcement of relevant Massachusetts law and strongly urges you to desist from any further distribution of the unlawfully obtained audiotape."

A copy of the letter was sent to Attorney General Thomas Reilly and District Attorney Martha Coakley.

The homosexual organization told the Globe that it was illegal for Whiteman to tape the event and the organization stood behind the discussions. "The students were asking questions, they are assured anonymity…it would have been irresponsible not to answer them. The instructors allowed the students to talk about their issues and get good, accurate information."

Dirty Old Men
"We’ve all seen people like this," said Camenker. "We used to call them ‘dirty old men.’ They would love to sit around and talk dirty with young children. Now we pay them to do it and we put them in our schools. If you listen to the tapes or look at the transcript, it is sickenly obvious that these people were having a great time leading the kids into the discussions."

The two instructors from the Department of Education were Margot E. Ables and Julie Netherland, who are Coordinators with the HIV/AIDS program. The instructor from the Department of Health was Michael Gaucher, who is a Consultant with the same program.

WorldNetDaily reported that various organizations had set up tables in the hallways to distribute male and female condoms and other sexual paraphernalia. The Sidney Borum Community Health Center, for example, was handing out ‘Pocket Sex’ kits, which included two condoms, two antiseptic moist towelettes and six bandages. According to the teen who was handing out the sex kits, the bandages were for "when the sex got really rough."

Although it made repeated calls to GLSEN for comment, the calls from WorldNetDaily were not returned. Michael Gaucher referred them to a Department spokesman who referred them to a person who was on vacation. Julie Netherland said she was forbidden by policy from speaking to the press and referred them to Darrell Pressley, the Director of Media Relations in the Massachusetts Department of Education. He said the Department was investigating what was said or not said at the conference. He said it would be a violation of policy for HIV/AIDS teachers to do what was alleged.

92% Don’t Agree
Pawlick said that the telephone poll taken for Massachusetts News last fall of 600 Massachusetts residents indicated that 92% of the respondents believed that teenagers should not be encouraged to be sexually active, whether heterosexual or homosexual. The only daily newspaper that printed the results of the poll was the Boston Herald, which presented an accurate, impartial story, says Pawlick.

"At that time, the state denied that it was encouraging sexual activity, but everyone knows better," he continued. "It is now abundantly clear that they are doing so. The results of the poll were remarkably similar for age, sex and every other factor. Even the 47% of the respondents who identified themselves as liberals agreed, with an astounding 91% of them voting against teenage sexual activity."

The story about the March 25 event that appeared in the May issue of Massachusetts News can be foundat<www.massnews.com/maygsa.htm>.

A cassette tape of the tape is available for $5 from the Parents Rights Coalition of Massachusetts, PO Box 175, Newton, MA 02466, unless the embarrassed employees of the Department of Education are successful in getting the courts to stop its distribution.
 

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