Late this afternoon, the American “Family” Association’s AgapePress repeated an already disproven allegation about a playground altercation in Lexington, Mass., that is being promoted and politicized by antigay activists as a mob hate crime by liberal New England families against antigay families and their school kids:
AFA claims:
The young son of a Massachusetts pro-family activist was physically assaulted by fellow elementary school students on the two-year anniversary of same-sex “marriage” in the state.
On May 17, first-grader Jacob Parker was beaten up by a group of eight to ten kids on the playground at Estabrook Elementary School in Lexington. Just weeks before the assault, his father and mother had filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the school.
AFA’s repetition of David Parker’s disputed claim follows media hype generated over the weekend by TownHall conservative columnist Kevin McCullough and others who say:
“Liberals in Lexington Massachusetts have taken to beating up the seven year old children of their political opponents. This disgusting tactic should be ousted [sic] on the front pages of every newspaper across the nation, yet you’ve heard nary a word about it.”
But according to school faculty, parents and Lexington Cares, much of Parker’s story is false. Parker’s son was hit by a close friend in a brief playground altercation over cafeteria seating.
According to Lexington Cares, June 15:
Dr. Paul Ash, Lexington Superintendent of Schools, says, “The school department is conducting a thorough investigation. The safety of all children is our utmost concern.” A statement is expected after the investigation is complete.
Staff and parents at Estabrook School have related the following account of what happened on May 17.
A classmate, who is a friend of Mr. Parker’s son, was mad at him because he sat in someone else’s seat at lunch. At recess, the boy went over and started punching him. Other children stood around and watched. The playground aide noticed a cluster of children and headed over. She was met half way by a girl who ran to get help. The aide soon arrived and broke up the fight between these two 7-year-olds. Mr. Parker’s son indicated to the aide that he was not hurt and that he did not want to go to the nurse.The classmate who started the fight was brought into the assistant principal’s office to write a “think sheet”. He had to write down what he did wrong, what he could have done differently and how he could make it up to his friend. He also missed two recesses and wrote an apology to Mr. Parker’s son. Mr. Parker’s son wrote back “that’s OK. You can still be my friend.”
That afternoon the teacher discussed the issue with the entire class using the Open Circle format. At that time both boys had their arms around each other and were friends again. The teacher called both sets of parents and everyone seemed to be satisfied with the outcome.
Mr. Parker’s son subsequently went to the other boy’s house for a play date. The Parkers never contacted anyone at the school including the principal, assistant principal, nurse or teacher to say their son had been injured or that they were dissatisfied with how things had been handled. They also never contacted the school superintendent or the police to say their son had been “assaulted”.
According to Lexington Cares, June 16:
Some of you may be aware that the press has received a news release related to a playground incident at Estabrook. The Estabrook principal has investigated the issue over the past two days, talking to the adults and children involved. The following are the facts as she understands them.
On May 17, several first graders were involved in a disagreement over who would sit where in the cafeteria. As a result, upon going outside one child took another by the hand and brought him to a third student in an area of the playground that is somewhat difficult for the adults to see. (The student who was hit said that he went willingly.) All children who saw agreed that the third student then hit the student who had been brought to him two to four times in the chest/abdomen (children’s accounts vary) and he fell to his knees. The student who was hit says he was hit when down; the other children say he wasn’t. One child reports that one student held the arm of the student who was hit; however, the child who was hit and the other children did not report this. The children involved named five children who were nearby watching but not directly involved. Several other students were close enough to see a cluster of students but not close enough to see what was happening. The student who did the hitting suggested that others also hit, but none of them did so. Based on the children’s accounts, this all may have happened in under a minute. The aide on duty saw a group of children gathering, and as she walked toward them was approached by a child that said someone was being bullied. When the aide inquired what was going on, the child who was hit identified one student who hit him, and the other children agreed. The child who was hit said he was not hurt and did not want to go to the nurse. He reported that his feelings were hurt, because the child who hit him was his friend.
The child who did the hitting was sent to the assistant principal’s office and while talking with her acknowledged his behavior. As a result, he filled out a “think sheet,” to reflect on his behavior and choices, missed recess on two days, and wrote an apology. In addition, the classroom teacher called both sets of parents and a class discussion was held about not hitting and speaking up when there is a problem on the playground. The teacher indicated that both parents took the matter seriously and seemed satisfied with the outcome. Following the incident the boys were observed arm in arm at school and subsequently the child who was hit went to the house of the child who hit him for a play date.
On May 31, the parents of the child hit casually inquired of the assistant principal as to the consequence given to the other child, and they were told that the child’s parents were informed and a consequence given. Other than this brief interaction, between the time of the phone call by the teacher to the parents on May 17 until June 14, there were no complaints of injury or dissatisfaction with the process to the teacher, nurse, or the administrators. On June 14, school administration received a call from a local paper stating that they had received a press release that a child had been assaulted at Estabrook.
In this case, we followed all of our usual procedures and worked with both sets of parents to resolve this issue. We are surprised that it has resurfaced in a press release issued by a group calling itself Mass Resistance without any prior contact with the school. The press release states that the incident was “fueled and incited by adults (and yes, school officials).” We have found nothing in our investigation that would support this allegation in any way. Nonetheless, in the interest of an open and thorough review of the incident, the matter has been referred by the superintendent to the Lexington police, District Attorney’s office, and the Department of Social Services for independent investigation.
AFA cited no information sources other than Parker and reported only Parker’s side of the dispute.
For more information:
- Weblogs discussing or parroting the rumor
- Massresistance Watch, which monitors the publicity stunts of antigay activists Brian Camenker and David Parker on an ongoing basis.
Well shoot. . .what a little bearing of false witness when you have a theocracy to create?
You should copy and paste those accounts and we should flood the AFA with nasty emails asking them which “christian” tenet authorizes deliberate publication of falsehoods. . .oh. . .I forgot. . .that IS their ministry.
I find it ironic that the AFA would decry kids being beaten up because they are perceived as anti-gay but screech the loudest if any school district takes any action to protect kids who are perceived as gay.
Kids fight over lots of things.
“What we’re concerned about,” Parker says, “is actually the environment being created in the schools, where children, maybe in the normal course of scuffling, will translate the aggression that they may be hearing from parents and administrators to other children.”
And these are the same people who will tell you that there is no bullying of gay kids and – if there were – it surely has nothing to do with the vile hateful things that kids hear their parents say about gays.
Ironically, his kid really wasn’t hurt because of daddy’s extreme nuttiness. Yet on a daily basis gay kids are tortured due to the atmosphere that the AFA creates and reinforces.
I am curious about one thing. What is Jacob Parker’s little friend going to think when he hears that Jacob’s daddy told lies about him in a press release? Will he stay Jacob’s friend?
I suspect other parents will warn their children to stay away from Jacob lest they too get lied about or accused of things. And should Jacob actually be picked on, will the administrators believe him or will they think “oh, this is the kid who lies and issues press releases”.
David Parker may well be doing real harm to his son by attacking other parents’ kids and lying about them. Jacob Parker may well end up being attacked for real as a result.
Sadly, somehow I suspect that having little Jacob mistreated as school would make his father happy. He’d be delighted to prove how evil everyone else is and if his kid had to suffer the bruises for daddy’s “faith”, well Jesus suffered too.
This father embodies what it means to be a bad parent: putting his religous/political agenda ahead of the physical well-being of his child.
What a ridiculous act of deception. Most of the sites seem to be repeating this quote:
This appears to be the only tidbit of fact in the entire story, however they fail to include that it was planned after an incident in the cafeteria earlier in the day – over seating arrangements, not anti-gay marriage amendments. How willing others are to regurgitate this falsehood without any basis whatsoever. Who is actually exploiting the kids here?
David Roberts
I remember reading this story on Stephen Bennetts blog. I thought it was the father raising hell about his kid? It also occured to me that these ministries happen to go against hate crime legislation and antibullying. I thought isn’t that ironic? They may blame 2nd anniversary of Massachusetts gay marriage and all the other pro gay things occuring in our nation. But when you get down to it. It was all just a pack of their propaganda. I am so glad that I didn’t post that story elsewhere.
Good point, Timothy, about relating the father’s worries about the violent environment to similar issues with an anti-gay environment.
For this guy to claim, and the Agape Press to repeat, that 7 year olds beat up his son because they are just that pro-gay is beyond the pale, honestly.
What ninth commandment? Seriously. What ninth commandment? This kind of thing is what says it all about the anti-gay religious right’s commitment to biblical morality. There is none, or at best, it is conditional. Very, very conditional.
Bearing False Witness is the least of the problems for this parent.
He’s using his child to further his social/political goals, making his child’s life the battleground…and shows no hesitation or remorse in the manipulation of his own child.
Meanwhile any gay or lesbian couple that adopts a child is accused of doing the same thing…sickening.
I am so glad that this story was caught before it ballooned out of proportion. I read Kevin McCullough’s column and I can’t get over the fact that he would print such lies without verification.
Lexington Cares is a second-source quote, but they have reported it accurately. And we need not rely on them: from the horse’s mouth…
The Lexington Public School have now released their SECOND public statement. From all (accurate) accounts the school community has behaved very commendably. And with great patience.
Brian Camenker (together with David Parker) retain the original and utterly false claims that AFA et al are promoting. A quick review of the blogs of “the usual suspects” finds them ref. to the lies from Article8, but none have bothered finding out what actually occured.
Looks like it’ll be standing room only in hell. Be sure and wear some confortable shoes.
Does this really surprise anyone? Sensationalist extremists will always twist the facts into something so distorted that they don’t resemble reality any more. It’s how you create propaganda and manipulate those whom you know will take what you say at face value.
I think I told this story before, but it bears repeating on this subject
Focus on the Family reported that a multiple shooting and mass killing at a church in Texas, was because of anti Christian bias. That Christians were under attack for their beliefs.
They left out a very, no EXTREMELY important aspect for the motive of the attack.
The gunman (who committed suicide at the incident) was an avowed anti Semite. He’s stockpiled guns and printed material that made him distinctly a white supremacist.
He went to this church on the specific day set aside when Southern Baptists try to have Jews come in to convert to Christianity.
His motive was to shoot any Jews who showed up and any Christians who tried to have Jews around.
Focus on the Family took this horrendous tragedy for their own gains and didn’t even mention AT ALL the anti Semitic foundation for the attack.
They never acknowledged it later when it was brought to their attention by the ADL and didn’t apologize for their misinformation.
Their misinformation was deliberate, not an oversight.
This is typical of their organization and that of the AFA and the legal organization, the Alliance Defense Fund that defends Christians in contention with anti gay bias.
Most often this is the issue they fire up their blogs over.
When they overstep or commit and infraction that breaches the rights of gay people and they are restricted or admonished for it, they cry foul and anti Christianism.
The irony is, that a moral compass is firmly in the right direction when you don’t do something at someone else’s expense and you know it when you are doing it.
Treating other people any way you feel like it, damn all the scientific, social and legal evidence against doing so, just so you can call it faith motivated is bull***t.
But it’s the bitching and moaning about taking the lumps they are oh so eager to dish out to GAY people exclusively that really pisses me off.
They don’t have the courage of their convictions and they know they can’t do it regarding ALL the ‘sins’ they are SUPPOSED to object to.
It’s time for all of them to pack it up.
I hope that their repression of the truth, basic citizenship rights and shredding of the Constitution for a distinct minority gets the criticism it deserves.
“Treating other people any way you feel like it, damn all the scientific, social and legal evidence against doing so, just so you can call it faith motivated is bull***t.”
True, Regan. And even more relevant to AFA, it’s contrary to the teachings of Christ. In all their efforts to force others to observe AFA’s interpretation of Levitical Law, they forget how Jesus interpreted that law:
Matthew 7:12 – So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
And distortions of the facts just keeps on going…
Where’s The Outrage Over The Beating Of David Parker’s Son?By Rev. Louis P. Sheldon Chairman, Traditional Values Coalition Excerpt:
Also sad, and to be honest infuriating, is that the average believer wants it to be true and won’t listen to any evidence to the contrary.