Lexington C.A.R.E.S.Learn the Facts
about the David Parker/Lexington Public Schools incident
Lexington C.A.R.E.S.On April 27, 2005, David Parker, then a father of a kindergarten student, met with school officials at Lexington's Joseph Estabrook Elementary School. He was demanding to be notified whenever classroom materials were used that depicted families headed by same-gender parents or if an adult participated in any discussion of such families so that he could remove his son from the class. He claimed he had the right to do this based on the state's sex education opt-out law. The school officials explained to Mr. Parker that the materials and situations in question were not covered by that law and that there was no practical way to implement his request in any case. When the meeting concluded, Mr. Parker refused to leave the school grounds unless his demands were met. Both the school officials and the police spent hours trying to convince him to leave. When the building finally had to be secured for the night, Mr. Parker stated, "If I'm not under arrest then I'm not leaving". He was then arrested for trespassing.
Mr. Parker has since waged an ongoing media campaign against Lexington with the Article 8 Alliance, an anti-gay group committed to overturning same-gender marriage in Massachusetts. Mr. Parker and his supporters incorrectly claim that he was arrested for his views, not for trespassing. They blame the school officials and police for arresting him when in fact every attempt was made to get Mr. Parker to leave the building on his own. The police tried to do everything in their power to not arrest him. Mr. Parker gave them no choice.
The police chief and interim school superintendent issued a joint statement on May 2, 2005 describing the incident at Estabrook School.
The first news article to appear in the Lexington Minuteman was Estabrook father arrested by Bethan L. Jones.
In June of 2005, an out-of-state hate group, Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church, came to Lexington as a result of David Parker's actions. Read the Lexington Minuteman coverage of this event.
Between June and November 2005, David Parker participated in multiple events in Maine, joining forces with those who wished to overturn a recently enacted law that provides protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation.
David Parker supporter Jesse Segovia ran for, but did not win, a position on the Lexington School Committee. Prior to his campaign, Mr. Segovia was one of Mr. Parker's most visible supporters in Lexington, but Mr. Segovia's campaign was quiet about his involvement with Mr. Parker.