On Tuesday of this week, we held our annual Pro-Family Lobby Day in Boston. Pastors and concerned citizens from churches all over the Commonwealth (including a bus from Springfield!) came to learn about key legislation affecting parental rights and religious freedom. After lunch, we marched up to the State House to meet face to face with our legislators. (Our red MFI “Faith, Family, Freedom” t-shirts seen in this picture made a strong visual statement as well.) We had chosen two bills in particular on which to advocate, and they both proved to be very timely.

The first bill, the notorious Sex Ed Mandate, would force public and charter schools to teach, among other things, “age-appropriate information about gender identity and sexual orientation for all students, including affirmative recognition that people have different sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions.” Notice the language of the bill says “all students.” What exactly is “age appropriate” for Kindergartners to learn about “different sexual orientations” or “gender expressions”?  A Boston Herald article from Monday reveals what the answer will be. The Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth has released a new curriculum that features “LGBTQ-themed history, English and health.” It will include “lessons on the 1969 Stonewall Riots and writings by gay and lesbian authors.” Even more disturbing are the statistics used to justify this new wave of indoctrination into the ideology of the sexual revolution.

The Herald quotes a report claiming that “11 percent of Massachusetts high school students identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or questioning their sexual orientation and 2.9 percent indicated they were transgender.” Those are shockingly high numbers!  Less than a year ago, is was typically claimed, by LGBT proponents, that the percentage of the population which identified as transgender was 0.3 percent. These statistics represent a TEN FOLD increase in cross-gender identification amongst our children. The constant barrage of messages (see the ubiquitous gender unicorn below) to young boys and girls going through puberty that they need to “explore” their sexual identities are no doubt fueling this social contagion. This is just one more example of why our elected representatives should oppose this bill, which takes control over curricula decisions out of the hands of local teachers, administrators and parents and gives it to radicalized state bureaucrats.

We also visited Governor Baker’s office on Tuesday, delivering letters urging him to pledge to veto the Christian Counseling Ban if it is passed. This type of legislation has been making national headlines the past two weeks, as an expanded version of it in California threatens to outlaw even the selling of books which encourage the pursuit of a Biblical sexual ethic. Our friends at Liberty Counsel reported yesterday that one of the main activists behind the MA Counseling Ban legislation has gone on record saying he’s trying to expand it from only applying to licensed mental health professionals to eventually include pastors and ministry organizations. “LGBT activist Samuel Brinton said he wanted to ‘figure out a way to stop’ pastors and churches from offering counsel to help people change unwanted same-sex attractions. He went on to say, ‘I may not be able to FIND every little camp…every pastor, but I can make it something that is culturally unacceptable.’ He added, ‘Yes, it’s directly affecting mental health professionals, but by proxy, it’s affecting everyone else.’”

Many legislators and pastors have no idea of the broad implication of this legislation in Massachusetts, or the blatantly anti-Christian bigotry behind it. As I explained on Tuesday, if the Counseling Ban passes in Massachusetts, parents whose children suffer from gender confusion will have no one to turn to for help, and if they do find someone willing to counsel their child, they would be reported for child abuse. If you weren’t able to join us on Tuesday, you can still reach out to your state legislators here and let them know the dangers of this bill. Also, I would ask you to make sure your priest or pastor is aware of the bill and that any mental health professionals you may know are aware as well. Feel free to reach out to me with questions, and thank you to all those who helped make our 2018 Pro-Family Lobby Day a huge success!

For our families,