Rhode Island Governor and proud member of the National Organization for Marriage Donald Carcieri is scheduled to speak at a fundraiser for an anti-gay group in Massachusetts. Activist groups in his state have asked him to cancel the appearance:
"Queer Action of Rhode Island sent a letter to the governor's office dated Aug. 29 asking him not to attend next month's $50-per-head fundraising banquet for the Massachusetts Family Institute in Newton, Mass. where he is the keynote speaker.
The group says in its letter that it's 'appalling' that Carcieri would support an organization that 'advocates against the lives of some R.I. citizens.'"
The MFI did everything they could to enact a ban on same-sex marriage in Massachusetts in 2007, and failed.
The Massachusetts Family Institute's position on homosexuality, printed on its Web site:
“MFI does not consider homosexual behavior to be merely an alternate lifestyle or sexual ‘preference'; it is an unhealthy practice and destructive to individuals, families and society. Our compassion for those plagued by same-sex attraction compels us to support the healing of those who wish to change their behavior…MFI strongly opposes any efforts by political activists to normalize homosexual behavior and all attempts to equate homosexuality with benign characteristics such as skin color, or the ‘gay rights' movement with the civil rights movement.”
The fundraiser is scheduled for October 5.
