The Big Smear: Anti-Gay Bigotry in MA Special Election, 12th Suffolk District

The most animated far-right group in Massachusetts since the Supreme Judicial Court ruled same sex marriage constitutional, has been the Article 8 Alliance, a project of the Waltham-based Parents Rights Coalition (PRC). The Alliance's main project has been to seek the removal of the court majority in the Goodridge decision on marriage equality.

But last Fall, the Alliance distinguished itself with an ugly, antigay smear campaign against Democratic candidate for State Representative, Carl Sciortino, who went on to oust incumbent State Representative Vincent Ciampa (D-Somerville). Their featured tactic was a nasty pamphlet delivered to every home in the district. The Alliance was widely denounced, and Ciampa, their champion, lost decisively in the general election, after losing narrowly to Sciortino in the Democratic primary.

Typically, these groups issue distorted attacks on anything to do with homosexuality, but especially efforts by the public schools to try to teach about it and to promote tolerance and understanding. These distortions become further magnified in the heat of an election campaign.

Now, the PRC/Article 8 Alliance has issued a campaign flyer -- a last-minute hit piece -- which it is mailing and otherwise distributing around the 12th Suffolk District prior to Tuesday's Democratic primary to fill the seat vacated by former House Speaker Tom Finneran. According to the Alliance, the Kerby Roberson campaign is collaborating in the distribution of the flyer.

"In our last email," The Alliance reports on thier web site, "we asked for contributions to mail out the flyer. (Thousands of copies of the flyer were already printed.) We needed as much money as we could get by Thursday -- less than 24 hours. We received about $450.00, which paid for about 1100 stamps and some other materials. This was given to the Roberson campaign, which immediately started mailing and passing out the flyers in the district!"

The flyer urges voters to support Roberson ("the one candidate you can trust") and denounces Linda Dorcena Forry ("supported by homosexual extremists pushing their gay propaganda in the schools") and Stacey Monahan (supports homosexual marriage. Will she represent you?") The flyer ignores the other candidates.

"Kerby Roberson, according to the flyer, "is willing to protect our children from the homosexual fanatics in our public schools;" and "will vote to stop homosexual marriage, no matter what the powerful politicians say."

The fear-mongering flyer asks: "Do you want a State Representative who SUPPORTS pushing homosexuality on your children in the public schools? Or a Rep. who will vote to stop it?"

There is plenty more ugliness in the flyer, which I will leave for others to dissect. In the meantime, voters in Dorchester, Mattapan, Hyde Park and Milton (Roberson's home town), can expect to be seeing this hate literature around their neighborhoods, in their mailboxes, and perhaps even stuffed in their front doors.