Editor, Townsman:
I was disappointed with the nature of your article entitled "Light fight goes to vote" dated Feb. 4, 2010. The online responses to your article were not unexpected, and I would like to state the following.
Gays and Lesbians have marched, and continue to march, in the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade sponsored by the South Boston Allied War Veterans' Council. The issue in the case was the forced inclusion of a group that had protest messages and sexual themes that were rejected by the parade sponsors. The Mandated inclusion of values and messages endorsed by the Supreme Judicial Court into a privately permitted First Amendment activity was reversed by a unanimous 9-0 judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States. Hurley v. Irish American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston, Inc. 515 U.S. 557 (1995).
Not mentioned in your article was the fact that I represented a group of gays and lesbians in Lawrence that had been denied a permit for a Gay Pride Parade. After two days of tumultuous hearings before the Lawrence City Council, I secured their parade permit.
As to my representation of a minister that "whipped" his son with a leather belt, my client actually spanked his fully clothed 9-year-old a couple of times on his rear end, resulting in an "injury" described as "a teeny tiny pink mark that went away in 10 minutes." This crude attempt by the Department of Social Services, the Attorney General of the Commonwealth, and a Superior Court Judge, to eliminate spanking in the Commonwealth, were tossed out by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts in a unanimous 5-0 judgment.
As to the nativity scene on the Battle Green in Lexington, Massachusetts, I was unable to restore the religious expression that had been on the Battle Green for over 80 consecutive years, due to residents who objected to a Christian display. I also successfully represented a Rabbi and his congregation that were denied the placement of a Menorah on the Boston Common during two holiday seasons.
Chester Darling
9 Mayflower Road
The writer refers to the first sentence of the "Lights" article, which referenced court cases in which he had been involved.
