The past several years have given rise to many effective, parent-driven, grassroots organizations that are fighting to protect children from the educational onslaught of the Progressive Left. But one stellar group has been in the thick of the culture wars for decades: MassResistance just celebrated its 30th year of pro-family activism in 2023.

The organization’s beginnings were humble; a group of fed-up parents met around a kitchen table during the summer of 1993 in Newton, Massachusetts, which they describe as “a very liberal suburb of Boston.” The issue at the time was that the government school system was already introducing “a graphic, homosexuality-laced mandatory sex-ed program for the 6th grade.” The district kept very quiet about the content, but a few parents found out about it and were very upset.

Led by concerned dad Brian Camenker, a couple of dozen angry parents took on the Newton schools in opposition to the curriculum. As Camenker recounted in 2018, the parents attended a School Committee meeting and “read the disgusting parts of the curriculum to them. The school officials were very hostile and duplicitous. The local media accused us of being terrible people. Boston’s homosexual newspaper viciously attacked us. We were novices, and it was trial by fire.”

The fledgling group refused to be intimidated. Instead, they recruited candidates for the eight School Committee positions in the 1993 fall election. Their opponents made every effort to thwart their success, including attacks by the media. Planned Parenthood even set up a political action committee against them in Newton.

Camenker reflected that although their candidates didn’t win, the group’s efforts and growing notoriety opened new doors. The Archdiocese of Boston helped connect them with conservative leaders across the state, and they gained new followers when the same odious sex education programs threatened students all over Massachusetts. These programs included the distribution of condoms that provided “X-rated instructions allegedly for ‘AIDS prevention.’”

In 1994, the kitchen-table group officially organized as the Parents’ Rights Coalition, and later that year, wrote and submitted a bill to the Massachusetts Legislature “that would force schools to allow parents to view these programs — and opt their children out.” With the help of the Archdiocese’s lobbying group, the bill was introduced in the State House, and while Camenker observed that “most legislators wanted nothing to do with it,” the coalition was gaining strength in numbers, particularly among moms who “wouldn’t take no for an answer” from their state representatives. In the end, the bill passed and was reluctantly signed by then-Governor Bill Weld. It still remains law in Massachusetts.

Becoming MassResistance

The Parents’ Rights Coalition continued its work in Massachusetts, exposing the radical LGBT agenda and fighting the imposition of “gay marriage” on the state in 2003 by activist judges on the Massachusetts Supreme Court. Although their efforts proved unsuccessful, they published a comprehensive history of how it came about in a book titled Mitt Romney’s Deception: His Stealth Promotion of “Gay Rights” and “Gay Marriage” in Massachusetts.

In 2005, the group started a blog called “MassResistance.” The name caught on and became synonymous with the culture war battles the organization was waging against the dark forces targeting children, families, and society as a whole. By 2006, they had officially changed their name to MassResistance.

The organization continued to attract attention with its fearless defense of parents and other champions of moral decency. They supported David Parker, a Lexington, Massachusetts father whose kindergarten son was being taught that having “two mommies” and “two daddies” was the same as having normal parents. When Parker met with school officials and demanded he be allowed to opt his son out of such lessons, they refused — and had him arrested and jailed overnight. MassResistance rallied in defense of Parker, whose story became international news.

Next, the group supported Dr. Paul Church, a urologist who was dismissed from several Boston-area hospitals for telling the medical truth about homosexuality. MassResistance became such a force in the state that many “horrible anti-family bills” were stopped in the legislature due to the group’s influence.

Going national

During the next few years, pro-family activists in other states and internationally took notice of MassResistance’s efforts and sought to emulate them. In 2009, the first MassResistance state chapter was formed in Virginia. More states followed, and within four years the group boasted chapters “from Hawaii to Maine.”

Now, after 30 years, most states have MassResistance chapters, including Washington, D.C. and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. Countries around the world such as Australia, Canada, several Caribbean islands, the U.K., Mexico, Nigeria, and Taiwan, to name a few, have followed the organization’s lead and formed comparable groups.

One example of MassResistance successes in the U.S. is in forcing the removal of pornographic books from school libraries. For a year, the Wyoming chapter documented the proliferation of obscene “children’s books” in Campbell County schools with the blessing of County Commissioner Daniel Reardon, as well as the attacks on parents who dared to object. As Education Reporter described, Reardon abruptly resigned amid the controversy, and a more parent-friendly commissioner succeeded him.

The Wyoming chapter reports that as of January 2024, “There’s been a momentous turnaround.” The revamped county commission appointed a conservative-majority Library Board that has withdrawn from the corrupt American Library Association and created a new anti-porn library book policy. When the former library director refused to follow the policy, she was fired.

A particular win for MassResistance chapters has been the disruption and prevention of Drag Queen Story Hours around the country; for example, in the San Francisco, California area. In one instance, the story hour went on but “was greatly watered down” as a result of MassResistance protests. This time, reported group members, “the ‘Drag Queen’ was just an odd-looking woman who read mundane books to the kids,” unlike the garish, sometimes frightening looking men who read provocative, pro-LGBT books to young children.

On its website, MassResistance states that its strategy is “to engage in issues and events that most other conservative groups are afraid to touch.” While some may take issue with this assertion, MassResistance members have shown over the years that they “don’t compromise with the Left.” The website states: “We provide analysis so the average person understands what’s really happening. And we give citizens and activists everywhere the tools and strategy to effectively confront the anti-family forces against them ... We understand that the truth is a powerful force against the lies and propaganda of the Left.”

The organization points out the oft-proven conservative contention that the Left “cannot defend their radical positions through normal discourse and rational argument. Instead, their strategy is to demonize those who disagree with them.”

Without doubt, MassResistance is aggressively targeted; first and foremost by “the widely discredited Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a far-left attack group that libels conservatives.” MassResistance charges that the SPLC “has posted the most outrageous lies” about the group, its staff, “calling us a ‘hate group’ for protecting children from left-wing agendas.”

MassResistance insists its members will stand strong against the SPLC and other groups that defame them. “This serves as a method for angry leftists and dishonest journalists to demonize and intimidate us and others. But no one here is intimidated!”

From Education Reporter to MassResistance: Congratulations on 30 years of fearlessly fighting for the pro-family cause, and here’s to 30 more years of success.

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