Opinion

Candidate's, group's agenda has no place in Rockport schools


Published: May 5, 2008

I am writing this letter because I am very concerned with this Tuesday's School Committee election in Rockport — in particular with regards to Jonathan Ring, who is running for one of the two open seats. I oppose Mr.

Ring's election.

Mr. Ring's group, Cape Ann Marriage and Family — of which he is the chairman — partners with such groups as Focus on the Family, VoteOnMarriage and the Massachusetts Family Institute as we find from his Web site

www.coalitionformarriage.org.

These groups call themselves "pro-family" in an attempt to shroud what their true agenda is — to vilify and demean those who do not conform to their picture of the "ideal" family.

In Rockport and Cape Ann there exist many types of families including those with children being lovingly raised by single parents, divorced couples and same-sex couples — and these families and their children should never be subjected to a "less than" status or political agenda.

I am very fortunate to have had as a mother the late Fran Carver, who was an early pioneer in placing unwanted children in homes of same-sex couples. She understood before many who sought homes for these children, that

same-sex couples could provide the loving homes that these children needed.

At my mother's funeral service, I was approached by scores of people, most of whom I did not know and who had come from all over Massachusetts to pay their respects. Over and over again, many introduced themselves as the

children of these couples, and they told me that if it hadn't been for my mother, they would never have known a family that loved them. I could not have had a better legacy to pass to my own son as his grandmother truly

understood what it meant to be "pro-family."

Though Jonathan Ring and members of his group have the right to their opinions, I do not believe that the Rockport schools need to become a battleground for him or his organization and its agenda.

Suzanne Carver

Normanstone Drive, Rockport