Lexington Green, where Massachusetts colonists confronted the British in the opening battle of the American Revolution, will be the site for a rally to support a father who was arrested for questioning pro-homosexual materials at his children’s school.
Slated from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, September 6, the rally will feature David Parker and his wife Tonia.
David Parker was arrested on April 27 at Joseph Estabrook Elementary School in Lexington after refusing to leave when school officials declined to show him materials related to the promotion of homosexuality in the school. He had been alerted to the school’s materials when his child brought home some books, one of which celebrates “gay parenting.”
Massachusetts state law mandates notifying parents before discussing issues of human sexuality in the classroom.
“What’s getting lost in the details of this whole incident is parental rights and parental notification as it pertains to education,” said Tammy Mosher, Concerned Women for America’s (CWA) Massachusetts state director.
Mosher, who attended one of Parker’s pre-trial hearings and hosted him at a CWA gathering on August 20, said she hopes to attend Tuesday’s rally if she doesn’t head south to assist Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.
“The media are trying to make this out as a Christian issue, an anti-‘gay’ issue, but the fundamental issue is parental rights,” Mosher said. “I don’t recall ever signing a form when my kids entered school that gave total control to the schools to raise my children.”
As for David Parker, Mosher said, “I believe that he’s been called for such a time as this. He doesn’t want to become an icon; he’s a man who just wants to have control over what his child learns in school. He’s a very well-educated man; he’s not some book-burning militant.”
Michael Heath, president of the Christian Civic League of Maine, who led the successful efforts to overturn two Maine “gay rights” laws and is now leading a third “People’s Veto” effort, toured Maine with Parker during the past spring.
“He is the real deal,” Heath said. “He and his wife Tonia and their two young boys need our support right now. We must pray, and support them with our presence and our finances.”
The Lexington Public Schools superintendent has secured a restraining order.
According to the edict, Parker:
- cannot drop off or pick up his children from school;
- cannot attend his children's sports events or other school activities;
- cannot meet with his children's teachers at parent-teacher conferences;
- and cannot vote, since in Lexington, citizens vote at the public schools.
The Article 8 Alliance, which opposes the promotion of homosexuality in Massachusetts schools and is working to remove the four Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Justices who voted to impose homosexual “marriage” on the state, included this comment on its Web site:
David Parker is clearly, obviously of no danger to anyone. This is strictly a means of intimidation [emphasis in original]. He has repeatedly requested that this ban be lifted, but the town officials arrogantly refuse. They seem to want to want to make him feel as uncomfortable as they can, and also to send a message to anyone else who might want to stand up to them.
Parker faces another court hearing on September 21.
For more information about David and Tonia Parker, visit their
Web site.
