Philocrites

Alliance 8, all three dozen of 'em.

by Philocrites

Boston's Channel 5 offers the first news story I've found that mentions the automated telephone calls many Massachusetts residents received this week urging people to show up to a rally at noon today calling for the ouster of the four Supreme Judicial Court justices who formed the pro-gay marriage majority in the Goodridge case:

Linda Hossfeld was planning her son's June wedding when she received an unsolicited telephone call Wednesday night.

"Four judges in our state have acted against the will of God," the caller said.

"It's very difficult to listen to that kind of a message in my own home," said Hossfeld. "When my son said to me that he was gay, my first thought was, 'Oh my God, there will be people who will hate him just because of who he is.'"

The message invited her to a rally at the Statehouse Thursday asking the Legislature to approve a resolution calling for the removal of four Supreme Court justices who have ordered gay marriages legal beginning next month.

"The train of judicial activism that changes the laws without the people getting involved has to stop here," said Brian Camenker of the Article 8 Alliance.

Ah, the Article 8 Alliance! Nowhere in the phone call I received on Monday was the group that made the call identified — which strikes me as a potential violation of telecommunications law — and until today I couldn't find any on-line mention of the rally or its sponsors. But by 12:30, I counted almost three dozen people outside the State House, holding "Don't Tread on Me" flags — ain't it ironic? — and a variety of anti-gay banners. Many of the banners loudly proclaimed "www.article8.org". I think it's safe to assume, based on the absence of any other recognizable organization or even any significant turnout, that the Article 8 Alliance paid for those calls. It looked like Rep. Emile J. Goguen's flash mob didn't quite come together. (He introduced legislation today to remove the four justices in the Goodridge majority.)

Brian Camenker is also the guiding force behind the Parent's Rights Coalition, which set up the Article 8 Alliance Web site. Meanwhile, a handful of gay marriage supporters showed up for the rally, too, but the sparse turnout from gay marriage opponents seemed like a clear indicator that most of them have largely concluded that it's "a bad idea whose time has come."

Copyright © 2004 by Philocrites | Posted 22 April 2004 at 11:21 PM

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