Posted on 04/13/2006 5:04:12 AM PDT by billorites
Two years after President Bush backed calls for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, the White House may find itself in the unusual position of hosting hundreds of gay families from Massachusetts and beyond at next week’s annual Easter egg roll.
The families plan to line up Friday evening so that they can be the first ones on the White House lawn Monday as they tweak a 134-year-old tradition.
“We want our children to have access to the same great American traditions that other children do, and we can think of nothing better than doing that at the White House egg roll,” said Jennifer Chrisler, director of the Family Pride Coalition, an advocacy group for gay and lesbian families.
Chrisler plans to attend with her 4-year-old twin boys and spouse, former state Sen. Cheryl Jacques. The couple married in Boston two years ago after a Supreme Judicial Court decision making Massachusetts the first state to legalize same-sex marriage.
Since then, Chrisler said, gay and lesbian families across the nation have come under attack. The court decision led Bush to back calls for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Next month, Massachusetts lawmakers plan to vote on a similar proposal to amend the state constitution.
“The political rhetoric surrounding gay and lesbian families is at such a heightened pitch that it’s important the public realizes that real families and real children are being harmed,” Chrisler said.
But to make their case, the families may have to outmaneuver conservative groups that are planning to line up for tickets even earlier. “Yet again the homosexual community can’t gain acceptance in the American mainstream, so they’re just going to shove it in your face,” said Andrea Lafferty, executive director of the Traditional Values Coalition.
It was unclear this week whether Bush would attend Monday’s event. Peter Watkins, a spokesman for Laura Bush, who oversees the egg roll, said, “It’s a public event, and all families are invited.”
This is going to get interesting. Popcorn, anyone?
And if the gay families show up and Bush is there, he will be his normal, gracious self to everyone present. Any demonstration beyond mere presence will only hurt the activists' cause.
Jacques is a real piece of work. She has made perversion her life-project. For somebody like that to raise boys is just evil.
Then why is it again that you are making a big show of attending the White House Easter Egg hunt and making a spectacle of these families and children? Would it me more "political rhetoric"?
Please enlighten us. Always interested in hearing about another dysfunctional RAT.
Exactly....why not just show up and have the children take part in the tradition instead of USING your own children to make your political statement? Geeze
You have to remember their original premise is faulty -- "gay families" is an oxymoron. SORRY!
"We want our children to have access to the same great American traditions that other children do..."
Life is full of choices. And those choices have consequences.
If you want to be apart of the marriage tradition then you need to follow the tradition - duh. You can't grossly redefine a long time tradition and continue to call it a tradition... It becomes a perversion of a tradition...
I can't wait for her children to rebel. All children rebel. The rebellion of aggresively gay couples should be interesting.
They're Brett Messmer, Bianca del Rio and Princess Stephaney.
Sadly, we've missed the Gay Easter Fest held annually in New Orleans.
So, gay partners can conceive gay families? Didn't 'family' use to imply: a mommy, a daddy, daughter(s)and/or sons(s)? Are the gays cloning in the closets and I've missed it?
The problem with Cheryl Jacques is that she led the HRC down the “Bush is a moron” path. . . . Her agenda was firmly anti-Bush. In other words, it was in opposition to the political beliefs of over 50% of the country. It was done with such obvious animosity so as to be insulting. She never asked us to teach anybody anything about ourselves. She wanted George W. Bush fired and that was it.
Apparently you're guilty of being ""judgemental."
HA ping.
The White House Easter Egg Roll Scheduled for Monday, April 17, 2006The annual White House Easter Egg Roll will be held Monday, April 17 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the South Lawn of the White House.
The National Park Service will distribute free tickets on two dates for entry to the South Lawn. The majority of tickets will be available beginning at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 15, and a small allotment of tickets will be available beginning at 7:30 a.m. on Monday, April 17. The tickets, which are timed for entrance, will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis at the Ellipse Visitor Pavilion (southwest corner of 15th and E Streets). A maximum of five tickets will be issued per person. Children of all ages are welcome to attend, as long as there is at least one child seven years old or under and no more than two adults per group. Tickets are required for every attendee, including small children, to enter the White House South Lawn. No tickets are necessary for access to the events on the Ellipse.
For the most up-to-date information on the Easter Egg Roll and other public events at the White House, please call the Visitors Office 24-hour information line at (202) 456-7041.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/easter/2006/
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