Parker v. Hurley Prental Rights Violation or Elaborate Setup? I'll Explain

Hello everyone,

I was researching on Parker v Hurley in which a man was arrested because he didn’t leave his child’s school because he  said that he didn’t want to leave unless he was under arrest. When it came to the media and other Christian Right groups like Mass Resistance, he simply said he was arrested because he didn’t want his children learning that gay marriage is okay.  Now, of course there is a lot that wasn’t told in this whole thing: It was planned because there is a picture of him being lead away in handcuffs as well as footage of him speaking at a Board Meeting about the fact that books like Heather has Two Mommies and King and King were used as materials to teach kids about all kinds of families as well as the fact that two men and women are able to be married in MA. Now, the thing is I don’t see how any one learning about gay marriage in school is really detrimental since they don’t learn much about marriage unless it is being discussed as a matter of fact. When in school I was told about Henry VIII many marriages, but we never learned about anything sexual when discussing marriage. 

Someone put it this way in regard to Mr. Parker’s conduct during the school visit: The video (from Focus on the Family backing Prop 8 in California) is also misleading in the way it treats David Parker’s being jailed.  It seeks to give the impression that he was hauled off to jail because of his religious beliefs.  In fact, David Parker went down to the school and refused to move unless the school administrators agreed to his demands.  (Remember, his child was not required to read anything.)  When the police were finally called they tried to talk him into leaving voluntarily.  They waited more than two hours, and when he would not budge, they arrested him for trespass.  When he got to the jail, he refused to post bail, choosing instead to spend the night in jail.  As he put it, he wanted to “prove a point.”

<----David &Tonia Parker

To the case: Hurley wanted parental notification whenever anything of homosexuality, was to be discussed. This would be nearly impossible because of the fact that people talk about this in many ways, what if the kids were to talk of what they did with their Dads and that they hung out with Monty who has two Moms? Should the kid be excused then?  How do you notify them to excuse them?  The Hurley and Wirthlin (also plaintiffs in the case) kids are I believe being home schooled now. The other point the court mentions is that while the school can’t stop the parents from teaching in keeping with their values, that the parents have no right to demand that the school conform to those values either. The fact is that school being a reflection of society, has a lot of diversity within it, The Who’s In A Family which was one of the books has families of all kinds in it: Extended, Grandparents, single parents, interracial families and same sex families. This is what a lot of school boards in conservative areas want, no mention whatsoever of gay and lesbian persons in order to make it disappear…if only... but the interesting thing about the case is that they didn’t dispute the fact that a parent has an interest in raising their child, but they can’t ask that the school conform to it, to do so would not serve the school’s best interests. 

The court said citing Brown v. Hot, Sexy and Safer Productions that the constitutional right of parents to raise their children does not include the right to restrict what a public school may teach their children and that teaching which contradict a parent’s religious beliefs don’t violate the First Amendment to exercise their religion. I think that this is the ‘dialogue’ that the conservatives are always talking about which is usually: It’s wrong because I say it is and the only thing you can do is accept it, whenever they’re told they can’t do that it’s always judicial overreaching—aka activism. 

The court also dispelled the “indoctrination” claim by using the definition of it and saying that teaching is not indoctrination and is defined as to teach to accept a system of thought uncritically.

From a comment posted here from Alvin McEwen

(article is here, and I suggest you read it: http://mormonsformarriage.com/?p=44)

Truth—In a January 17, 2005 email to the school, Parker said: “There is a book included entitled, Who’s in a Family (with pictures) that include lesbian and homosexual couples with children—implicitly equating this family structure as a morally equal alternative to other family constructs. We stand firmly against this book or any other subject matter pertaining to homosexuality ever being indoctrinated to our child, discussed in school, or sent home. We don’t believe gay parents constitute a spiritually healthy family and should not be celebrated.”

Joseph Estabrook Elementary principal, Joni Jay, wrote Parker an email clearly saying homosexuality is not a part of the kindergarten curriculum. She also said she cannot control what students say to one another and that many children attending Joseph Estabrook Elementary live in same-sex households.

The Court also stated: It is reasonable for public educators to teach elementary schools about individuals with different sexual orientations and about various forms of families, including those with same sex parents, in an effort to reduce the risk of future discrimination and, in the process, to reaffirm our nation’s constitutional commitment to promoting mutual respect among members of our diverse society.

I feel that a lot of people will say that children shouldn’t learn about same sex families at all, until about 7^th grade. I say that they should be able to learn about other kinds of families including same sex parent led families for the reason the court stated above. However, the thing is this: While it won’t stop parents from teaching their children that gay and lesbian parents, and thus people are less than, it also won’t stop other parents from teaching their gay kids as such. If they are being taught about same sex parents, it will definitely help gay and lesbian children know that they too can have a family. I wish I would’ve been told about same sex parent led families when I was a kid, because I wouldn’t have had to wonder if I would be able to adopt in NYS, especially not seeing any gay from the start families. I’ve often seen people who were married and tried to live the lie and then had to acknowledge the reality because that was the only thing to do. Even though this doesn’t change the landscape entirely for all gay kids, one gay kid reached is enough for me. 

A lot of conservative groups have painted this as something that would happen whenever marriage was legalized in the state, and I have to say that students should learn about the diversity of families because they live in such a world. When they cite this case, they make it seem as if a parent has no say in how their child is raised and what material they can have in school—let’s see what happens in conservative areas conversely. So, anyway I wanted to write about this because I wanted to make folks aware that if someone discusses this with you from a conservative bent, you can counteract them with the facts. In fact, conservative and truth are oxymorons now because I’ve never met a conservative—social anyway, that actually delved into facts like this and actually knew of what they spoke

This was another case of distortion by the Religious Right when they cite the Parker case in order to push for marriage bans like Prop 8, I have heard of no case arising out of California. There is also a difference in the laws that the two states have and CA schools if I am correct already have family recognition as well as same sex families. This was an isolated incident in which the Parker had only wanted to ‘make a point’ have his day in court and become a martyr for religious freedom. However, his arrest was for trespassing and while they their day in court, they were slapped down by logic and reason. However as David Boies said: You can lie in TV ads, you can’t lie unchallenged in court

Until Next Time

Terry